238 



The Garden Magazine, January, 1922 



from the Pharaoh was a garden, the notice of which in his tomb 

 runs as follows: " There was presented to him as a reward . . . 

 a villa 200 cubits long, and 200 cubits wide, built and furnished; 

 choice trees were set out, an immense pond was dug therein, 

 figs and vines were planted." 



Thus in the Third Dynasty, anywhere from 5,000 to 6,000 

 years ago, we find the Egyptians establishing walled-in gardens, 

 not merely for utility, but for ornament, and, as we shall see, 

 for religious purposes. 



One reason why this custom began so early in Egypt, was that 

 the whole country was essentially a cultivated one. The space 



important phases of Egyptian life, though garden scenes at that 

 period are extremely rare. 



A tomb painting of the Fifth Dynasty illustrates the gathering 

 of grapes and figs, and adds greater human interest to the scene 

 by picturing men trying to scare the birds away from the ripe 

 fruit. (Fig. IV shown below.) 



A picture which strongly emphasizes the religious use of 

 flowers, appears in a tomb of the Fifth Dynasty, where row upon 

 row of servants are bearing flowers and other offerings to the 

 soul. (Fig. VI II, page 240) Prominent among these flowers is 

 the Lotus, while the stalks and leaves of the Papyrus may also be 



IV. FROM A TOMB PAINTING OF THE FIFTH DYNASTY (EGYPT) 



The twentieth-century gardener may be amused to find his predecessors some five or six thousand years back 

 busily engaged in scaring the birds away from the precious harvest of grapes and figs which are being gathered 



between the desert plateaus was comparatively narrow, and 

 there were practically no wild forests. Though the annual over- 

 flow of the Nile fertilized the land, the lack of rain early led to a 

 system of ditches and watering. Thus the cultivation of trees 

 as well as plants was an artificial one, all of which made the es- 

 tablishment and care of the garden merely one phase of the 

 year's labor. 



By this period the Egyptian had developed the belief that the 

 soul would live as long as the mummy existed. For this reason 

 they built rock tombs and great pyramids to protect the mummy. 

 In the Fourth Dynasty, which reigned at Memphis, the walls 

 of the tombs were covered with pictures of offerings and laborers 

 at their work, with the idea that doubles of the gifts and work- 

 men would be at the command of the soul in the Kingdom of 

 Osiris. These paintings, very fortunately for us, cover the most 



discerned. The scene suggests how much the ancient Eygptian 

 must have thought of his flowers, since they were pictured so 

 prominently among the offerings to the soul. 



It is more than probable that the modern custom of laying 

 flowers on the coffin and the grave may be traced back to such 

 offerings of flowers in Egypt at practically the beginning of 

 history. 



In addition to the evidence of the pictures, we find flowers 

 playing a part in the ritual by which the priests assisted the soul 

 in attaining life and power in the other world. 



In early passages of the Book of the Dead which appear as 

 texts in the pyramid of Pepi, we find the following somewhat 

 mystical address to Pepi's soul: " Hail, Osiris (or soul of) Pepi, 

 the eye of Horus hath been offered unto thee: it is sweet to the 

 sense, and it accompanieth thee. 



