PART OF A FORMAL GARDEN FROM A WALL PAINTING AT HERCULANEUM 



A PICTORIAL HISTORY OF THE GARDEN-IV 



H. H. MANCHESTER 



Iris in the Gardens of Ancient Greece— Establishing Parks and Private Patios in the Heart of Athens 

 Two Thousand Years Ago— Lilies White and Roses Red Aflower in the Early Days of the Eternal City 



IN ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME 



|N spite of the Greek love for beauty, the ornamental 

 garden was much less developed in ancient Greece than 

 it was in Egypt or Babylonia. There are, however, a 

 number of evidences that it was not entirely lacking 

 among either the Asiatic or. European Greeks. 



The earliest Greek record of importance concerning the gar- 

 den is the description in the Odyssey of the garden of Alcinous, 

 king of Phaeacia, on the shore of which Odysseus was tossed up 

 by the sea. This was essentially a fruit orchard, as may be 

 seen from the lines : " Without the hall there was a large garden, 

 near the gates, of four acres, around which a hedge was ex- 

 tended on both sides. And there tall flourishing trees grew, 

 Pears, and Pomegranates, and Apple-trees producing beautiful 

 fruit, and Sweet Figs, and flourishing Olives." 



The most remarkable characteristic of the orchard was the 

 unbroken succession of crops from the trees, for Homer de- 

 dares: "Of these the fruit never fails, nor does it diminish in 

 winter or summer, bearing throughout the whole year; but the 

 west wind ever blowing makes some bud forth, and ripens others. 

 Pear grows old after pear, apple after apple, grape also after 

 .grape, and fig after fig. There a fruitful vineyard was planted: 

 one part of this, exposed to the sun in a wide place, is dried by 

 the sun; some (grapes) they are gathering and others they are 

 treading; while further on are unripe grapes, having thrown off 

 the flower, and others slightly changing color." 



Observe also that even at that archaic period, nearly three 

 thousand years ago, the palace and garden had a watering 

 system: "And there are all kinds of beds laid out in order to 

 the furthest part of the ground, flourishing throughout the 

 whole year: and in it are two fountains, one is distributed 

 through the whole garden, but the other on the other side goes 

 under the threshold of the hall to the lofty house, whence the 

 citizens are wont to draw water." 



The flowers most highly considered at that period are re- 

 vealed in the Homeric "Ode to Demeter," where Proserpine 

 tells her mother how she was seized by Pluto: "We were all 

 at play ... and were plucking the pleasant flowers with 

 our hands— the beauteous Crocus, and the Iris, and Hyacinth, 

 and the Rose-buds, and the Lilies, a marvel to behold, and the 

 Narcissus, which, like the Crocus, the whole earth produces. I 

 was plucking them with joy, when the earth yawned beneath 

 and out leaped the strong king, the receiver of all, and went 

 bearing me beneath the earth in his golden chariot." 



The queen of flowers in ancient Greek times was no doubt 

 thought to be the Rose. A hymn ascribed to Sappho, who 

 wrote some 2500 years ago, declares: 



" If on Creation's morn, the King of Heaven 

 To shrubs and flowers a sovereign lord had given, 

 O beauteous Rose, he had anointed thee 

 Of shrubs and flowers the sovereign lord to be. 

 The spotless emblem of unsullied truth, 

 The smile of beauty and the glow of youth; 

 The garden's pride, the grace of vernal bowers, 

 The blush of meadows and the eyes of flowers." 



Anacreon (a Greek lyric poet of the fifth century B. C.) also 

 proclaimed: 



"Rose! thou art the sweetest flower 

 That ever drank the amber shower. 

 Rose! thou art the fondest child 

 Of dimpled spring, the wood-nymph wild! 

 Ev'n the gods, who walk the sky, 

 Are amorous of thy scented sigh." 



It was not until after the Persian invasion that there were any 

 public gardens or parks in Athens, for Plutarch says that it was 

 the celebrated Athenian commander Cimon (died 449 B. C.) 

 who first "set the market place with Plane-trees; and the acad- 

 emy, which was previously a bare, dry, and dirty spot, he con- 

 verted into a well watered grove, with shade alleys to walk in, 

 and open courses for races." Cimon also pulled down all the 

 enclosures of his own gardens and grounds, that strangers and 

 his needy fellow citizens might gather the fruits. 



Many of the groves of Greece and even single trees were 

 consecrated to some god or goddess. In this case they were 

 frequently hung with offerings by those who wished to propi- 

 tiate the Deity. Plato has Socrates describe such a grove as 

 follows: "By Juno, a beautiful retreat. For this Plane-tree 

 is very wide-spreading and lofty, and the height and shadiness 

 of this Agnus-castus are very beautiful, and as it is now at the 

 perfection of its flowering, it makes the spot as fragrant as 

 possible. Moreover, a most agreeable fountain flows under the 

 Plane-tree, of very cold water, to judge from its effect on the 

 foot. It appears from these images and statues to be sacred to 

 certain nymphs and to Achelous. Observe again the freshness 

 of the spot, how charming and very delightful it is, and how 

 summer-like and shrill it sounds from the choir of grasshoppers. 

 But the most delightful of all is the grass, which with its gentle 

 slope is naturally adapted to give an easy support to the head 

 as one reclines." 



Since many of the Greek festivals and games required gar- 

 lands and wreaths, they encouraged the cultivation of the 

 foliage and flowers employed for the purpose. Thus we read 

 of the gardens of Adonis, which were sometimes merely flower- 



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