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British Gardens During The Roman Years

To get a excellent picture of Romano-British gardens of antiquity, we have to think about their prototypes in Italy. Horticulture in primitive Italy, as in other countries, was at its beginning merely intended for practical purposes. Gradually the Latin word hortus, applied in the days of republican simplicity to some field of vegetables, was stretched, on the time from the luxurious emperors, to denote pleasure gardens in the utmost magnificence. In this latter period, the source of every new form of Roman art, including back garden architecture, was Greece, which in its turn had received inspiration from Egypt, Persia, and Assyria.

Egyptian gardens are the earliest of which definite records still exist. Pictures and inscriptions, dating far back to the centuries before Christ, show that most Egyptian dwellings had been built all around a series of courtyards containing vegetation both valuable and ornamental. Originally, a row of trees along the inner wall in the building shaded it as well as the enclosed quadrangle. Later, the tree trunks gave location to solid columns, and also the overhanging branches to projecting rafters, which resulted in the general effect foreshadowing the Greek peristyle (columned porch or colonnade) and monastic cloisters.

Religious significance was attached to almost every single feature in pre-Christian gardens, and tree worship was observed in all ancient countries. Among the favorites had been the pine, the emblem of Cybele, the oak of Jupiter, the laurel of Apollo, the myrtle of Venus, the poplar of Hercules, along with the olive of Minerva. The cypress was also grown in a lot of places. Yew, while common, was not very much esteemed; instead, juniper and rosemary were generally employed for topiary work. Box, too, was frequently clipped, and then, as now, considered the very best shrub for edgings.

The rose, the lily, as well as the violet were among essentially the most distinguished flowers of antiquity, but the narcissus, anemone, gladiolus, iris, poppy, amaranth, immortelle, verbena, periwinkle, and crocus had been also cultivated and admired. A lot of flowerless plants like basil, sweet marjoram, and thyme had been grown for their fragrance, while the acanthus was welcome on account of its wonderful foliage. Ivy covered the walls or was trained to form garlands between trees and columns.

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