Gardens Of Pompeii: Roman Gardens
If you have every wondered what the Gardens of Pompeii looked at the height of their beauty prior to the eruption of Vesuvius, they can be experienced by viewing the beautiful and delicate frescoes that were very perfectly preserved.
Imagine the heat of a Pompeiian summer, and how it would have been really wonderful to have a beautiful and shady retreat from the heat and scorching sun. If you were very wealthy you probably, had a room in your home that was painted with the most beautiful décor and opened out onto a garden terrace that boasted pools and fountains as well as some glorious shade. But this was not all, as the garden also held really stunning views of the sea and as the garden faced the sea, it also captured most of the gentle and cooling breezes. Sounds idyllic, yet places like this existed prior to the eruption of Vesuvius.
It was only in the 1960’s that a room such as the one described above was discovered by archaeologists. The archaeologists discovered the room that would have led in to the garden. The plants and trees that were illustrated on the fresco included oleander, bay, rose bushes and palm trees. The plants are not the only objects in abundance on the fresco, also painted are a profusion of birds such as nightingales and if there are birds there are also insects for them to feed on. The fresco also includes the family of four that lived in the house, a man a woman, a baby and a young child aged about five. The fresco illustrated a happy family that lived in a place of beauty. But there was a very sad side to the discovery of this very stunning fresco, the remains of the family were found crouched together under some steps on the terrace, all totally buried in ash.
Gardens were very important to the people of Pompeii. It was not just the wealthy people that enjoyed their gardens the poorer families also placed high importance to them although poorer families may have only had a small courtyard where they would have had a few decorative plants and lots of herbs. People who lived in apartments, kept pot plants on their balconies. It was a daily act for families to burn a few flowers as a daily offering to the Gods who watched over their households. To have running water in your garden in the form of a pool or fountain was a status symbol as water was a very expensive commodity.