Greek garden
**Ancient Greek Gardens:**
– Minoan Gardens:
– Minoan culture represented gardens in subtly tamed wild-seeming landscapes.
– Stylized floral sacred landscape with Egyptianising features in Middle Minoan fresco at Amnisos.
– Maria Shaw suggests planted fissures and tool-trimmed holes in the east wing of the palace at Phaistos.
– Literature:
– Homer’s works mention the lush gardens of Alcinous in a mythic setting.
– Poetic descriptions of Greek landscape, flora, and mythical gardens are well-known.
– Greek myth portrayed untended gardens maintained due to the natural order.
– Gardens of Greek myth were often orchards like the Hesperides’.
– Classical Greece:
– Limited evidence of gardens in Mycenaean palaces and Greek houses.
– Public or semi-public gardens linked to sanctuaries existed in Athens.
– Temple of Hephaestus in Athens had replanted myrtle and pomegranates in the 3rd century.
– Private pleasure gardens started appearing in literary sources in 4th-century Athens.
– Theophrastus inherited Aristotle’s garden, possibly a botanical garden, in 322 BC.
**Hellenistic Influence on Gardens:**
– Hellenistic Gardens:
– Ptolemaic dynasty in Alexandria had a grand garden with water-powered automata.
– Water organs and automata were popular features in Hellenistic gardens.
– Peristyle form dominated grand private houses in late classical times.
– Roman decorative gardening was influenced by Hellenistic garden traditions.
– The Library of Alexandria was part of the grand walled paradise landscape in Alexandria.
– References:
– Greek gardens were not prominent in European garden history.
– The Academy in Athens was a site in an ancient grove of plane trees sacred to Akademos.
– Theophrastus inherited Aristotle’s garden and lectured there.
– Epicurus founded The Garden in Athens for his school.
– Gardens of Adonis were simple plantings grown for mourning rituals.
**Ancient Gardens in Roman Culture:**
– Ancient Gardens in Roman Culture:
– Elizabeth B. Macdougall and Wilhelmina Jashemski edited ‘Ancient Roman Gardens.’
– Norman Neuerburg discussed the Roman development of decorative gardens.
– Plutarch and Xenophon provided detailed accounts of ancient gardens.
– Trees mentioned in inscriptions were noted by Thompson and Griswold.
– Myrtle and pomegranates were restored in ancient garden plantings.
**Historical Evolution of Gardens:**
– Historical Evolution of Gardens:
– Xenophon introduced the Old Persian term ‘paradeisos’ into Greek.
– Theophrastus and Epicurus were noted for their gardens.
– Nero included pseudo-sacred groves in the Domus Aurea.
– Voltaire mentioned gardens in a letter from 1755.
– The unsuccessful attempt to grow ivy in Mesopotamia was noted by Plutarch.
**Scholarly Works on Ancient Gardens:**
– Scholarly Works on Ancient Gardens:
– Claude Calame analyzed ritual encounters with gods in ancient Greek gardens.
– Kathryn L. Gleason provided a cultural history of gardens in antiquity.
– Robin Osborne discussed classical Greek gardens between farm and paradise.
– Ray Porter explored the flora depicted in the Theran wall paintings.
– Maria C. Shaw’s work delved into the Minoan garden in archaeological studies.