Gardens of the Roman World - Hardcover

BOWE, Patrick

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0711223874 ISBN 13: 9780711223875

Publisher: Frances Lincoln, 2004

Synopsis

Roman gardens are an essential part of Western garden history. Using a wide range of literary and archaeological sources, Patrick Bowe describes the design, uses and features of gardens across the Roman Empire, from Africa and the Middle East to Britain. He examines descriptions by Roman authors such as Cicero and Pliny of their own gardens, excavations of imperial palaces, city courtyard gardens and provincial rural estates, as well as contemporary depictions of gardens in wall paintings at Pompeii. The book goes on to explore the influence of these gardens through the centuries: on Italian Renaissance gardens, 19th-century neoclassical gardens and modern examples, such as the famous gardens at the Getty Villa in Malibu.

About this title

About the Author:

Patrick Bowe is a garden designer, author and historian. He has led dozens of garden tours to Italy, Greece and other Mediterranean countries.

From Booklist:

Inspired by the ancient traditions of Near Eastern, Greek, and Egyptian gardens, Roman gardens are to this day an important influence upon garden and landscape design. Bowe looks to the breathtaking accomplishments of Pompeii, Hadrian's Villa, and Herculaneum, using these archaeological sites to set the stage for his discussion of the development of Roman gardens. A lavish array of photographs helps to illustrate Bowe's finely detailed history, producing a reverie where one can feel the heat radiating from the sun-drenched ruins and imagine the resinous fragrance of Mediterranean plants. Images of reconstructed frescoes depict the elaborate architectural devices and ornamentation that characterized Roman gardens, in which trelliswork and mosaic floors, along with grand belvederes, fountains, and colonnades, shape the space. Flora like Madonna lilies, morning glories, and citrus trees appear as examples of specimens cultivated at the time. Bowe has escorted dozens of garden tours, and here he invites readers to traipse across continents from Turkey's Ephesus to England's Stourhead to the Getty Villa in Malibu, California, for an unforgettable journey. Alice Joyce
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: Frances Lincoln
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0711223874
• ISBN 13: 9780711223875
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 160