Subscribe to download
The Garden

Ancient gardens were more than just spaces for growing plants; they were symbols of culture, spirituality, and artistic expression. They served practical purposes, like providing food and materials, but also held profound symbolic meanings for different civilizations.

Palace gardens first appeared in Egypt just before the Middle Kingdom (2040–1782). These gardens were very large in scale, and were laid out in geometric patterns. The ponds of palace gardens were enormous and numerous. In the third millennium BC, the garden pond of King Sneferu was large enough for boats rowed by twenty oarsmen.

Temples often had extensive gardens. The Temple of Amun at Karnak had twenty-six kitchen gardens, alongside a very early botanical garden, which, according to an inscription, contained "all kinds of beautiful flowers and bizarre plants which are found in the divine land which His Majesty has conquered."