Gardens of Pompeii
Author: Kirk Johnson
The Gardens of Pompeii, by Wilhelmina Jashemski, is one of my favorite books. It was published in 1979 and I hadnt come across much new information about those gardens, so I succumbed to temptation and purchased Gardens of Pompeii by Annamaria Ciarallo, copyright 2001.
When the book first arrived from Amazon.com, I skimmed through it and was a bit disappointed because there wasnt much information about the design of those gardens. As the author explains in the opening sentence of the introduction of her book, A botanists approach to dealing with antique flora is obviously very different from that of an art historian, archaeologist, or architect. This helped me to settle down and listen to what the author wanted to tell me.
Ciarallos book is a wonderful addition to Jashemskis book precisely because Ciarallo doesnt focus on the paintings and sculptures that were found in Pompeiis gardens or on their architectural setting; her book is about the plants that were once grown in those gardens. When Jashemskis book was published in 1979, archeologists were just beginning to identify plants from ancient pollen samples and fragments of ancient trees. In the introduction to her book, Ciarallo states that Nowadays, it can be said that new species are acquired almost daily that increase the list of Vesuvian flora of A.D. 79.
In the first chapter, which is entitled Indigenous and Introduced species, The author offers evidence based upon frescos that lemon trees were grown in Pompeiis gardens, overturning the long accepted belief that lemons were introduced from Islamic countries during the Crusades. I found this chapter especially interesting because the author identifies many of the plants which were depicted on the walls of Pompeii.
Chapter 2 - The Landscape describes the natural landscape of the Vesuvian area and how it had been altered in ancient times. This information shows the strong connection between the city of Pompeii and the surrounding environment. This chapter brought Pompeii to life for me in a way that the ruins of the city never have.
Chapter 3 - Urban Vegetation, is the only one to touch on the subject of garden design and, as the title states, it is mainly about plants. There is some information about the garden of the House of the Chaste Lovers. The excavation of this house began in 1987, so of course it wasnt even mentioned in Jashemskis book. I wish that Ciarallo had dedicated an entire chapter to this garden, but the information that she gives is fascinating. This chapter does give quite a bit of information about the commercial vegetable gardens and vineyards that have been found inside the city of Pompeii. I just wish that the author had added a few more pages about ornamental gardens.
The fourth and final chapter is entitled Essential Cultivation: Wheat, Olives, and Wine Grapes. The author begins this chapter by stating that The expansion of Mediterranean civilization is due, among other things, to three plants: wheat, olives, and wine grapes. She then gives a history of these plants along with information about their role in Pompeiis economy. This chapter repeats much of the information about wine grapes that Jashemski gave in her book, but I did learn a few things about how olives were processed in the ancient world.
This book might have been more properly entitled Plants in Pompeiis Gardens, but plants do play a central role in gardens. It is very possible to have a garden without having statues and frescos, but a garden without plants wouldnt really be a garden. By placing her emphasis on plants, Ciarallo has done a lot to bring Pompeiis gardens back to life for me.
If you are at all interested in Pompeiis gardens, I strongly recommend this book. The author manages to impart a lot of information in only 73 pages, but the book could have been longer. I would have been willing to pay for a few more pages. My main objection to this book is that there is no index. You have to search through the book for information. This isnt too difficult because there are so many images that you just have to look for the right picture, but it amazes me that a book which lists all of the plants that are known to have been grown in Pompeiis gardens (at least when the book was published) would lack an index.
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