IMSS - Ancient Garden from Babylon to Rome

The existence of fabulous gardens, described in Archaic and Classical Ages literature, is revealed on painted vases. Striking examples lead visitors along an enchanted path, from the gardens of Alcinous to those of Adonis and Proserpine, long acclaimed by ancient sources for the marvels of nature within them.

At the furthermost boundaries of the world was the garden of the Hesperides, site of one of the Labours of Hercules, the slaying of the monstrous serpent that guarded the tree of the golden apples.

Green oases in the arid Hellenic landscape, the gardens were prized treasures. And in the Odyssey, we are unsurprised by Ulysses’ discourse with his father Laertes in the underworld, whose first concern is for his flourishing vineyard. In the sacred groves, protected areas on the city outskirts, altars and memorial stones were erected as testimony to the presence of the divine residing within them.

Attic lekythos with "Aphrodite in the gardens"

Red-figure lekythos portraying the "Adonis gardens"

The pinakes from Locris

These pinakes are terracotta votive plaques with bas-relief representations brightly coloured. They were hung on the walls of sacred buildings and perhaps also on trees in the sacred precincts; they were then ritually broken to ensure that they would not be used again in any sacrilegious way.

The subjects represented are linked to the myth of Persephone and the goddess’s cult celebrated at the sanctuary of Mannella at Locris, where most of these pinakes have been found. Persephone was venerated as the patron of matrimony. Girls about to marry offered her votive plaques to ensure her protection and the gift of fertility. The ears of corn often appearing in Persephone’s portrayals are, in fact, an allusion to fertility.

Fragments of pinax with Persephone and Hades enthroned

Pinax with Dionysus appearing before Persephone

Fragments of pinax with fruit harvesting scene

2.A - The gardens of the gods

The pinakes from Locris