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Earthly Paradises: Ancient Gardens in History and Archaeology

by Maureen Carroll
Getty Publications, Los Angeles, CA, 2003
144 pp., illus. 30 b/w, 72 col. Trade, $35.00
ISBN: 0-89236-721-0.

Reviewed by Rob Harle
Southern Cross University, Australia


recluse@lis.net.au

This wonderful book is a rather difficult one to categorise. Whilst it is a scholarly, well-researched academic work, it is an easy pleasurable read and will also satisfy the dedicated serious amateur gardeners of the world.

It is not a "how-to" gardening book, though the numerous colour illustrations of ancient gardens and plants will no doubt inspire modern garden designers who want to incorporate an "old world" feel into their gardens.

Maureen Carroll’s extensive research covers all sorts of gardens from the second millennium B.C. to the middle of the first millennium A.D. and includes house gardens, orchards, parks, sacred, public and cemetery gardens. The gardens are mainly from the Near East, Egypt, Greece, Italy and especially from the provinces of the Roman Empire.

Ancient horticultural practices, the role of gardeners, and plant varieties are discussed in addition to the role gardens played in the religions and economies of these ancient societies. The book has nine chapters as follows: 1––Ancient gardens and the evidence, 2––Utilitarian and ornamental house gardens, 3––Orchards, groves and parks, 4––Sacred gardens, 5––Gardens of the dead, 6––Gardeners and gardening, 7––Plants of the ancient world, 8––Gardens in ancient poetry, 9––Gardens and paradises. I was a little disappointed with the brevity of Chapter 8, apart from the art of gardening itself, poetry probably best expresses the ephemeral nature and magical qualities of gardens better than most other art forms. For those ardent travellers there is even a short section listing replanted gardens to visit, particularly in Great Britain and on the Continent.

The connection between humans and plants for food is obvious; however, the pure joy and happiness that "messing about in gardens" has brought people of all cultures, and continues to bring many of us, is rather mysterious. The old saying, "One is nearer to God in a garden than anywhere else on earth" may give us a clue. In my part of our global village (Australia) a recent survey showed that after family, the next most important thing to Australians is their immediate environment including gardens, parks and so on. This is all well and good depending on the status of the gardener. In the ancient world garden designers were citizens of high rank, quite often architects entrusted by the ruler to create beautiful, productive paradises. For the hapless labourers, however, facing day after day of backbreaking work, gardening may not have been quite so pleasurable or satisfying (p. 80).

Much of Carroll’s evidence for ancient gardens comes from actual archaeological excavations, the Pompeii ruins being one of the richest sources. Findings from these sites combined with the more traditional references to gardens found in tomb, wall, and vase paintings and written sources have helped fill in much of the mystery of these ancient earthly paradises.

A delightful book for all interested in gardens and essential for all students of ancient history and "garden archaeology".

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