The Garden Magazine, April, 1922 



US 



Almond, Walnut, Plane tree, Acacia, and probably the Apricot. 

 The chief vegetables of the time included Pumpkins, Kidney 

 Beans, Vetches, Egg-plant, Lentils, and Chick Peas, besides the 

 ever present Onions and Beans. 



The custom of dining in the garden, and probably on the roof 

 garden, was certainly in vogue in those days. It may be 

 illustrated by a bas-relief dating about 650 B. C. of Ashurbanipal 

 and his queen. The king is pictured reclining on a couch, a 

 flower in his hand, and the queen sitting on a tall chair under- 

 neath a vine loaded with grapes, with Date and what appear to 

 be Cypress trees on either side. An interesting detail shows 

 courtiers keeping the insects away from the royal heads by 

 means of the clappers in use at the time. (Fig. V, below). 



These bas-reliefs enable one to construct a mental picture of 

 the famous hanging gardens of Babylon,* thus described by 

 Diodorus Siculus (a Greek historian born in Sicily in the first 

 century B. C), who no doubt took his account from Berosus, the 

 Babylonian priest who wrote a history of Babylonia in Greek 

 during the third century B. C. 



" There was likewise a Hanging Garden, as it is called, near the 

 capital, built by Cyrus for the sake of a courtesan, who, being a 

 Persian, as they say, by birth, and coveting meadows on moun- 

 tain tops, desired the king by an artificial plantation to imitate 

 the lands in Persia. This garden was 400 foot square, and the 

 ascent up to it was as to the top of a mountain, and had build- 

 ings and apartments out of one into another, like unto a theater. 

 Under the steps to the ascent were built arches, one above 

 another, rising gently by degrees, which supported the whole 

 plantation. The highest arch upon which the platform of the 

 garden was laid was 50 cubits high, and the garden itself was 

 surrounded by battlements and bulwarks. . . . Upon all 

 these was laid earth of a convenient depth, sufficient for the 

 growth of the greatest trees. When the soil was laid even and 

 smooth, it was planted with all sorts of trees, which both for 

 greatness and beauty might delight the spectators." 



Strabo the Greek historian (63 B. C.-24 A. D.), stated that 

 the hanging gardens were reckoned among the Seven Wonders 

 of the World, and that at the side of the steps which mounted 

 to them, were water engines, by means of which persons es- 

 pecially appointed for the purpose were continually employed in 

 raising water from the Euphrates into the garden. 



There are no ancient Hebrew pictures of gardens, but 

 several important notices of gardens and garden products may 

 be found in the Old Testament. In the forty-third chapter 



*On page 127 of Lord Frederic Hamilton's "The Vanished Pomps of Yester- 

 day" may be found the description of a somewhat similar "hanging garden" 

 more recently built to gratify the whim of a Russian Empress. 



of Genesis, we come upon Israel directing his sons to take to 

 Joseph as a present, "a little balm, and a little honey, spicery, 

 and myrrh, nuts (pistachio), and almonds." Of these products 

 four were from trees held in high esteem both in western Asia and 

 Egypt. 



The vegetables craved at the time of the Exodus, are plainly 

 indicated in the eleventh chapter of Numbers where the children 

 of Israel, wandering in the wilderness, protest: "We remember 

 the fish which we did eat in Egypt for naught; the cucumbers, 

 and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic: but 

 now our soul is dried away. There is nothing at all save this 

 manna to look upon." — A vivid outcry against a monotonous 

 diet, pacified by the promise of "a land of brooks of water, of 

 fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; a land 

 of wheat and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; 

 a land of olive trees, and honey." 



The vast size of the Assyrian garden, or rather park, is indi- 

 cated in the first chapter of Esther, where the king made a feast 

 "unto all the people that were present in Shushan ... in 

 the court of the garden of the king's palace." 



The most definite notices in the Old Testament of special 

 trees and plants occur in the "Song of Solomon," where the 

 church, considered as the bridegroom, is made the subject of 

 many metaphors. Some of the most beautiful have to do with 

 trees and flowers, and mention a number of species which we 

 have not already associated with the period. Note, for example, 

 the following liness: 



" The beams of our houses are cedars, 

 And our rafters are firs. 

 I am a rose of Sharon, 

 A lily of the valleys." 



The chief spices and incense are apparently included in the 

 following verses: 



"Thy shoots are orchards of pomegranates with precious fruits; 

 Henna with spikenard plants, 

 Spikenard and saffron, 



Calamas and cinnamon with all kinds of frankincense; 

 Myrrh and aloes with all the chief spices. 

 Thou art a fountain of gardens, 

 A well of living waters, 

 And flowing streams from Lebanon." 



That there were sometimes separate gardens for different 

 products seems probable as the poet states particularly that he 

 "went down into the garden of nuts." 



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V. "THERE'S NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN" 



King Ashurbanipal and his queen dining in the garden about 650 B. C. in equal comfort and considerably 

 more state than we twentieth-century folk with our more democratic standards ever aspire to 



