Roman Garden Architecture and the Art of Gardening

When it comes to the actual architectural component of gardens there are different styles that the Romans used.  The most popular was known as the 'Italic' peristyle and it was characterized as having a garden that was surrounded by four colonnades, which acted as a border to the garden.  Another style was the pseudo-peristyle, which was more appropriate for smaller spaces.  Instead of four colonnades, it was surrounded by two or three and the remaining sides were walls that were decorated with paintings usually depicting landscapes or garden scenes.  Water features, known as nymphaeum, were also added to pseudo-peristyle gardens to make it more decorative.  The columns used in these structures were made of marble, stone, or brick.  The pluteus refers to the little border that connected each column and served as a barrier or even as a bench.  In terms of acting like a barrier, the pluteus was meant to keep children out so that they don't run over plants or knock anything over. (1)  Walls were also very important in acting as barriers to keep thieves out who wanted to steal the produce of the garden.  They were also used to make the garden more attractive; the more decorative a garden was the less art on the walls, and by art I mean frescoes.  Romans also used bricks to decorate their garden walls by alternating between light and dark bricks. (2)

Pseudo-peristyle garden from Ancient Roman Gardens by Linda Farrar.

The Romans also added paths in some of their gardens for multiple reasons.  One reason was simply to enjoy a nice walk throughout the garden that they put so much effort into creating.  These paths also served the purpose of leading to specific plants or features in the garden.  This made it easy for gardeners to water and take care of the plants.  In order to make these paths, the Romans used what they had.  Some of the resources used to make these paths include sand, pieces of ceramic, tile, or stone, or gravel. (3)

Pergolas (pergula) were also popular in Roman gardens and consisted of stone pillars as supports (not always stone, but sometimes even wood).  The top of the pergolas allowed for many plants to naturally grow on and climb, such as vines or ivies.  Pergolas were also used as a method for shade during the hot Roman summers by wrapping cloth around them.  If the pergolas stretched around the entire garden, then this would serve as a nice, cool walk. (4)

Two different depictions of pergolas from Ancient Roman Gardens by Linda Farrar.

Many mosaics recovered illustrate another important aspect of Roman gardens and that is the use of furniture.  Much of this furniture was portable and the majority were tables or couches used for the comfort of members of the household or visitors. Pliny the younger notes that the seats in his garden were made of marble and that seems true for most of the furniture the Romans used, however, not many are preserved.  While the supports of tables tend to be well preserved, the table tops are not because they are made out of wood.  Three types of garden tables were used in Roman gardens.  The first being known as monopodia because it had one decorated leg as a support.  The second had two wide legs designed with lions or winged griffins and a flat rectangular table top.  The third had three legs (included a lion head and leg) and a rounded table top.  Couches were also popular in Roman gardens.  Most popular were those that formed a "U"-shape, also known as a triclinium.  Each side of this couch was inclined, the taller part facing the center.  In the center was a table to rest possessions on.  The triclinium had two definitions, a couch or a dining room that contained couches (we are discussing the former).  Examples of these can be seen in the picture below. (5)

Roman Garden tables from Ancient Roman Gardens by Linda Farrar.

Triclinium from Ancient Roman Gardens by Linda Farrar.

Let us not forget how religious the Romans were.  In their gardens the Romans included shrines, also known as aediculae, dedicated to various gods of the household (Lares).  This was very important to the family , so important that on feast days or birthdays, the family members laid out garlands or made sacrifices to these gods.  These shrines were reliefs, or built out from the walls and many times was placed near the back wall to act as a focal point to the garden. (6)  Examples of shrines and even temples are evident in the work of many Roman agriculturalists.  Statius (AD 45-96) had a temple in his garden at the Villa or Pollius Felix that was dedicated to Hercules.  Likewise, Pliny the Elder (AD 23-79) had a temple dedicated to the goddess Ceres on his property at Laurentum. Some of the best evidence for such shrines comes from frescoes and mosaics, but these are very few seeing that the majority are small and not very detailed.  The frescoes depict that in many cases cult statues were placed inside the shrines and trees were planted outside of the shrine or temple for shading. (7) 

Shrine and tree from the House of the Small Fountain, Pompeii from Linda Farrar's Ancient Roman Gardens.

So who ran these gardens and what did they do you ask?  During the Early Republican Era homes were on farms and anything grown on the farm was a family business.  These farms were self-sufficient, anything grown on them was consumed by the family that resided on the far.  During the Late Republican Era this changed as gardens grew more popular and larger in size, and Rome was also flourishing.  For this reason, the Romans began to hire servants and slaves to work on their farms or gardens.  The larger the property, the more hands required to work it.  The various jobs included the following:

-olitor: took care of the vegetables in the garden

-arborator: looked after the trees and trimmed or grafted them

-vinitor: took care of the vines and did special work required in the vineyards

-aquarius: watered the plants

-topiarus: looked after the pleasant garden and clipped hedges

The last group of workers was referred to as topiarii and out of all the groups, they tended to have a higher status in Roman society; they were more respected. (8)

Roman garden scenes from Ancient Roman Gardens by Linda Farrar.

The picture below is a good illustration of the gardening tools that the Romans used as recorded by Cato (234-149 BC) and Varro (116-27 BC).  What is so special about these tools is that similar tools are used in gardening today, which means that the Romans had developed sophisticated tools during their time. (9)

Aside from tools, the Roman used many techniques to ensure that the vegetables and fruits they grew were of the best quality.  One method they used was to use the seeds or cuttings of plants from the previous year to plant new ones the following year.  If the soil was similar to that which the mother plant was planted in, then the Romans believed the cuttings would root faster.  As mentioned briefly in my previous blog, the Romans also search for varieties across the Roman Empire to bring back to Rome in order to produce the best fruit.  Some examples are the pomegranate from Carthage, the apricot from Armenia, and the peach from Persia.  Another important technique was to improve the actual soil.  If the soil contained too much gravel, then the Romans added clay, or vice versa. (10)

Some agriculturalists, like Columella (c. AD 60-65) left calendars behind with detailed descriptions of what to do on a monthly basis.  The most popular and labor-heavy months of the year were those of the spring and autumn seasons.  Records like these also include advice of what to do when the weather is unreasonably cold; usually required to push back the work by one month. (11) 

When it comes to illness the Romans used olive or wine lees to cure trees.  In order to rid of garden pests or diseases, worm-hood, horehound, or house-leek juice was used.  Some even soaked the plant seeds in house-leek juice so that it could ward of animals from eating them once fulling grown. (12)

Background in Roman Gardening

Before entering the realm of Roman Medieval gardening, I think it is important to discuss how gardening entered the world in the first place.  In other words, I think it is essential to look at the cultures that preceded that of the Romans and how they dealt with gardening.  Some of the earliest gardens could be found in Ancient Egypt.  While Egypt is known for its hot, desert like climate, one may wonder why or how a garden can even survive in such a climate.  The key to Ancient Egyptian gardening was their use of the Nile River as a water source.  The Nile provided water for an irrigation system that was linked to gardens throughout Egypt and allowed for various plant species to grow.  In Ancient Mesopotamia, the Tigris and Euphrates wee also used as natural water sources which were then used in the irrigation system across the region.  When the Assyrians conquered the area, they also took advantage of the two rivers, and written sources show how the Assyrians adored trees.  The Assyrians praised trees so much that they even took them as spoils of war and replanted them in palatial gardens.  What about the Ancient Greeks? The forefathers of the Romans?  Surprisingly enough, the Ancient Greeks were not very interested in gardens and horticulture   Unlike the Romans who were to come, the Ancient Greeks did not grow gardens in their home.  The living spaces of the Ancient Greeks were also considerably smaller than that of the Romans, which did not allow too much room for gardens.  Instead they enjoyed having courtyards completely paved with cement or beaten earth.  The Ancient Greeks in general believed in life outside the home, especially the men who spent countless hours talking about philosophy and politics.  The only time the Ancient Greeks relied on plants was when they needed shade in places like the Agora of Athens, where men would frequent and discuss relevant issues.  During the Hellenistic Period the Greeks began to plant ornamental gardens that were influenced by the East, especially after wars with the Persians during the 4th century BC.  The Persians were another civilization that valued gardens and were heavily influenced by the Assyrians and Babylonians.  Their gardens were known as paradeisos and had wild animals for hunting as well as plants for produce or for decoration. (1)  

A Roman fresco of a Persian paradeisos from Ancient Roman Gardens by Linda Farrar

So what about Ancient Roman gardens?  Romans seemed to always have this interest in gardens and what they entail.  To being with, the Romans recorded information about their gardens and used mosaics and frescoes, especially the latter, to make visual representations of them.   To the Romans the garden was referred to as the hortus and it had domestic and public purposes.  Gardens were planted in parks and around businesses to attract people, but they were also used as funerary monuments.  One of the main reasons Romans grew gardens was to display their wealth and share their culture with the outside world.  Some of the most notable sources we have for Ancient Roman gardens come from the Romans themselves.  Perhaps the most popular is Pliny the Elder who wrote 37 books on natural history, which included notes on trees, flowers, and vegetables.  He furthered his work by discussing how these various plants were utilized in medicine, cuisine, and even decor, contemporary to his time.  This skill was passed down to his nephew Pliny the Younger who also wrote about plants.  Cicero drew Roman garden art during a portion of the Republican Era (4th century to 27 BC).  The following four agriculturalists also proved to be helpful in providing us with detailed information about Ancient Roman gardens: Cato (2nd c. BC), Varo (c. 36 BC), Columella (c. 60 AD), and Palladius (4th c. AD).  The frescoes also prove to be good sources, however, many are fragile and have lost color throughout the years, seeing that they are 1900 years old at least! (2)

From these sources and others we get an idea of Ancient Roman gardens in a general sense.  For one, the Romans usually had vegetable gardens as oppose to decorative ones.  The reason for this being that vegetable gardens were beneficial to the family that took care of it.  The ager, or cultivated field as it was known to the Romans, was located next to the family's farmhouse.  The majority of the field work was done by the men of the family, but occasionally the women would pitch in. When the women would work on the fields they would bring their children along, especially infants and toddlers, since they could not leave them alone. (3)

An illustration of Roman women working in the field and their children playing next to them from Ancient Roman Gardens by Linda Farrar.

Gardens were also very popular within Roman homes.  The domus, the Roman town house, was widely used throughout cities and came in three different styles: the basic, peristyle, and central peristyle.  The basic townhouse had the garden in the rear; the peristyle had the garden towards the back, but not all the way in the back, and the central peristyle had the garden in the center.  In the Romanticized Greek East the homes gardens were not located inside the home.  Instead the Greeks kept to their tradition and paved their courtyard instead of planting gardens in them.  As time progressed, the Greeks also placed plants inside their homes, but usually in pots inside the house, on balconies, or window ledges. (4)

Roman home in Tunisia that had pots similar to those in Greek homes.  From  Ancient Roman Gardens by Linda Farrar.

When it comes to the usage of gardens and the plants they contained, the Romans had multiple uses.  As mentioned earlier, one of the man uses was for decor.  Important to note here is that many of the plants in Roman gardens were brought from other parts of the Mediterranean, which also meant that the plants could usually be grown in Rome.  The Romans identified their plants through shape and color, but in today's world we use a system developed by Linnaeus in 1737 AD. (5)

Pliny the Elder notes that Romans also used gardens to plant vegetables and fruits so that they can make salads.  The Romans did not cook as much because of the low availability of fuel.  Pliny also notes that Romans also used plants for medicine.  He claims that mustard was used to treat and cure mushroom poisoning, snake bites, and aches.  Pliny adds that people used fruits to make wine.  Along with grapes, they also used apples and pears. (6) Plants were also important for bee-keeping because the nectar served as food for the bees.  The more plants, the more nectar, the more bees, and thus the more honey for the Romans to use as a sweetener.  Some took bee-keeping so seriously that they even  believed gardens should be screened off using trees to block out the wind and bushes, such as thyme, to provide bees with food. (7)  Plants were also utilized for their scent.  Initially, they were used to freshen the air in homes, but later on they were used to make scented oils and perfumes.  The Romans boiled some parts of plaints and mixed them with oil.  Soon enough perfume making became a business, with the rose being the most popular scent. (8)

Among the decorative trees the Romans planted were the pitch-pine, cypress and box, oleander, strawberry tree, and plane trees.  The pitch-pine, cypress, and box were mostly used for shaping and blocking off areas.  The oleander was used for visual purposes to show off its flowers during the summer months, but it was also used to treat snake bites.  The strawberry tree was used for its decorative fruit that can be consumed by birds, but not humans.  The plane tree was brought to Rome from Sicily and was mainly used for shade, not for its nuts or fruits like many other trees. (9)  Speaking of fruits, the Romans brought in fruit from other parts of the known world for a couple of reasons.  The first being that they wanted to extend the flowering seasons.  The second reason was to create   new varieties with improved flavor or larger fruit. (10)  

As aforementioned the much of the evidence we have to Roman gardens comes from the frescoes they painted and left behind.  Although many of the frescoes are not detailed and  the majority are faded, they still give us an idea of the type of plants in Roman gardens.  While gardens tended to be associated with Roman and Greek gods, the frescoes do not reflect this.  Among some of the shrubs most often depicted in frescoes are the laurel, myrtle, oleander, and viburnum.  Trees are usually pines or cypresses.  Frescoes depict low-growing plants near the ground and taller trees in the back. (11)

Frescoe of the garden at the House of Livia, Primaporta, Rome from Ancient Roman Gardens by Linda Farrar.

Archaeologically, many species have been preserved near Vesuvius because the volcanic ash preserved it well.  Specifically, the lava covered everything so well and did not allow any air or light in.  At Vesuvius, tree branches, seeds, nuts of fruiting trees, pollen, and insect remains were uncovered, and the soil dates back to 79 AD.  It is important to note that the pollen may have blown over from plants outside the gardens they were discovered. (12)

Aside from plants, the Romans also incorporated birds in their gardens.  Among the birds that were encouraged to roam Roman gardens were doves, pigeons, blackbirds, thrushes, yellow orioles, gold finches, flycatchers, nightingales, buntings, and warblers, among others.  Doves were known to be popular pets.  Dogs were also used as pets, but were also used to guard the garden from thieves that would try and steal the produce.  Sometimes goats were placed in the garden to chew up the grass, but had to be supervised so that they do not ruin the gardens beauty. (13)

Introduction to Roman and Medieval Gardening

Today I am beginning a blog for the Medieval Gardens Center at Loyola University.  For the next fifteen weeks I will be exploring the Roman style gardens from the 5th c. BC to the 5th c. AD and also a little bit on Medieval Gardens (5th c. AD-15th c. AD).  I will be looking at various aspects of Roman gardening and horticulture such as the history of Roman gardens, the plants used in the gardens, how those plants were used in cuisine, and the upkeep of the gardens.  As the weeks go by, I might come across more interesting information about Roman gardens and may include that information in my research.