Earthly Paradises

Ancient Gardens in History and Archaeology

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by Maureen Carroll

Getty Trust Publications

Due/Published September 2003, 144 pages, cloth

ISBN 0892367210

In this beautifully illustrated book, Maureen Carroll examines the most recent evidence of the existence of ancient gardens, the horticultural practices used to plant and maintain them, and the many forms and functions they assumed. Surveying the ancient Near East, Egypt, Greece, Italy, and the provinces of the Roman Empire from the second millennium B.C. to the middle of the first millennium A.D., Carroll finds that whether grown as sources of food, symbols of wealth and prestige, or dwellings for the gods, the cultivation of gardens played an integral role in both the public and private spheres of the ancient world. She concludes with a chapter on the survival of ancient gardening traditions in the Islamic and Byzantine worlds and the ways in which gardens have figured in these cultures' perceptions and depictions of paradise. 70 color and 32 b&w illustrations