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)

1. Linda Farrar, Ancient Roman Gardens (Stroud: Sutton Publication, 2000), 28-30.
2. Ibid., 44.
3. Ibid., 32.
4. Ibid., 36.
5. Ibid., 37-41.
6. Ibid., 42.
7. Ibid., 59-60.
8. Ibid., 160-161.
9. Ibid., 162.
10. Ibid., 166-170.
11. Ibid., 174.
12. Ibid., 173.