Table Of ContentPLANTS, POLITICS AND EMPIRE
IN ANCIENT ROME
ThebookinvestigatestheculturalandpoliticaldimensionofRoman
arboricultureandtheassociatedmovementofplantsfromonecorner
oftheempiretotheother.Itusestheconvergentperspectivesoffered
bytextualandarchaeologicalsourcestosketchapictureoflarge-scale
arboricultureasaphenomenonprimarilydrivenbyeliteactivityand
imperialism. Arboriculture had a clear cultural role in the Roman
world: it was used to construct the public persona of many elite
Romans,withtheintroductionofnewplantsfromfarawayregionsor
the development of new cultivars contributing to the elite competi-
tivedisplay.Exoticplantsfromconqueredregionswerealsodisplayed
as trophies in military triumphs, making plants an element of the
languageofimperialism.AnnalisaMarzanoarguesthattheAugustan
era was a key moment for the development of arboriculture and
identifies colonists and soldiers as important agents contributing to
plant dispersal and diversity.
is Professor of Ancient History at the
University of Reading and Professor of Classical Archaeology at the
University of Bologna. She is also a Fellow of the Society of
Antiquaries and the Royal Historical Society, and a Member of the
Academia Europaea. She has published two monographs, Roman
Villas in Central Italy (), winner of the Silver Medal at the
VIII Premio G.Boulvert, and Harvestingthe Sea().
PLANTS, POLITICS AND
EMPIRE IN ANCIENT ROME
ANNALISA MARZANO
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ThisbookarisesfromresearchfundedbyaLeverhulmeTrustMajorResearchFellowship.
To Guy P.R. Métraux
for his warm friendship, continued support, and kind
encouragements
Contents
List of Figures page ix
List of Tables xi
Acknowledgments xii
List of Abbreviations xiv
Introduction
Roman Gardens, Representation, and Politics
GardensandEliteSelf-Representation
TheSymbolicMeaningofPlants
ThePoliticalSignificanceofLucullus’Horti
ThePorticusPompeii
GardensforthePeople
Arboriculture, ‘Botanical Imperialism’, and Plants
on the Move
ATransitiontoGreeceandRome:EbonyandBalsam
TheCherryTree:ItalyandBeyond
Plants,theTriumph,andArboriculturalKnowledge:Scholarly
andPractical
PlantsandtheLanguageofCitizenship
PlantsontheMove:IncomingandOutgoing
PlantGlobalizationintheRomanWorld:NatureorNurture?
AgentsofDiffusion:Soldiers,Farmers,Tradesmen
The Augustan ‘Horticultural Revolution’
HorticultureandtheRomanSuburbium
HorticulturalTreatises:LateRepublicandEarlyEmpire
FromVegetablePatchestoGardenTombs
AgriculturalTechniques,Morality,andMarketForces
AgriculturalProductivity
Irrigation
IrrigationTechnologies:Examples
vii
viii Contents
Grafting Glory
GraftingandArboriculture
GraftingforDummies
SubduingNature
Names–AgriculturalandAristocratic
LiviaAugusta
Grafting,Boasting,andMarketing
FreedmenandArboriculture
AFreedmanandanArboriculturalMonstrosity
TheEconomicValueofGrafting
ASpecialCase:ChestnutTreesandTheirFruit
Of Peaches and Peach Trees
CultivationandPropagationofthePeachintheAgricultural
Treatises
PeachesinItalyandBeyond
AnAncient‘PeachFarm’atRome’sDoorstep
Campania and Cisalpine Gaul: Developments in
Commercial Arboriculture
CampaniaFelix
GalliaCisalpina
Plant Dispersal and Provincial Agriculture: The Iberian
Peninsula and Gaul
TheIberianPeninsula
Gaul
Viticulture versus Arboriculture: A Matter of Choice
TwoFarmsnearBéziers
GrowingWildGrape:TheHallmarkoftheSmallFarmer?
TheEvidenceforFruitCultivation
ComparingIberian,Gallic,andBritannicEvidence
Conclusions
Bibliography
Index
Figures
. Castellammare di Stabia (Italy): Villa S. Marco, view of the
lower peristyle garden with pool, replanted plane trees, and
casts of ancient root cavities of plane trees. Photo by
Bildagentur-online / Universal Images Group
Editorial / Getty Images. page
. The villa of Livia, Prima Porta, Rome: Wall painting
with garden scene from one of the walls of the underground
triclinium of the villa ad Gallinas Albas, now in the Museo
Nazionale Romano-Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Rome.
Photo by Leemage / Corbis Historical / Getty Images.
. Drawing of CIL ., a lost inscription which used to be
in the church of S. Maria on the Aventine, Rome.
The inscription attests to a public–private agreement
for water distribution. Drawing by Mehmet Deniz Öz.
. Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France: the grafting of a tree, detail
of one of the vignettes making a large mosaic floor depicting
an agricultural calendar, first half of the third century .
Photo © RMN-Grand Palais-Musée d’Archéologie
Nationale / Michel Urtado.
. Castellammare di Stabia (Italy): Villa Arianna, plan of
excavated garden in the Great Peristyle showing planting
beds, walkways and root cavities. Courtesy of Thomas N. Howe
and Kathryn Gleason.
. Herculaneum, House of the Stags: wall painting depicting
three still lives with fruit, including branches of peaches,
now in the Naples National Archaeological Museum,
inv. . Photo by Luigi Spina / Electa / Mondadori
Portfolio / Hulton Fine Art Collection / Getty Images.
. Map of the Iberian Peninsula illustrating the distribution
in percentage of the different groups of archaeobotanical
ix
Published online by Cambridge University Press
x List of Figures
taxa preserved by charring, as presented in Peña-Chocarro
et al. . Courtesy of Leonor Peña-Chocarro and
her co-authors.
. Map of the Iberian Peninsula illustrating the distribution in
percentage of the different fruit species preserved by charring,
as presented in Peña-Chocarro et al. . Courtesy of
Leonor Peña-Chocarro and her co-authors.
. Pompeii, garden of the Casa della Regina Carolina (..):
close-up of planting pot (olla perforata) in the middle
of a planting pit during excavation in summer .
© The ‘Casa della Regina Carolina Project’ / Parco
Archeologico di Pompei; photo: Danielle Vander Horst.
. Aerial photo of the Roman orchard excavated at Champ
Redon, near Valros, France, showing the rows of planting
pits. Photo: MRW Zeppeline-Inrap (Institut national de
recherches archéologiques préventives), courtesy of Cécile
Jung and Inrap.
Published online by Cambridge University Press
