Many of us have spent a lot of time in the last few winter months, so in this spring we look forward to going out and enjoying warm temperatures. Gardens are an amazing place to enjoy trees, plants and all kinds of flowers. The ancient Egyptian landscape was similarly lush and miserable with the Nile. In this blog, we will discover what ancient Egyptian gardens can look. Which plants did they cultivate?
Gardens and Egyptian landscapes
Every year, floods in the Nile river, and this annual sinking not only brings water, but also brings essential nutrients to the soil. Even today, a large part of the Egyptian population is near the river, with the help of farming. Although the flooded field on both sides of the Nile was a fertile soil for agriculture, the gardens were located on high ground far from the river.
Getting water where you need
Imagine the work and hard work needed to water the gardens. Until the early new kingdom (1,550-1,069 BC), there were no vast equipment to help lift water, so water carriers and other laborers had to take a water-filled pot (see the example above) to their gardens. A large invention in the new kingdom greatly facilitate this process: Water waves or Shedov In Arabic a long wooden pole is installed on the axis or beam (down). One weight is hanging on the small end of the pole behind the axis and on the other side is hanging from a skin or bucket. The system allowed the worker to easily lift the water from the river or channel to the high ground. On the other hand, people who were wealthy can have easy access to water, their wells can dig wells near their home.
Then we can make a picture of how easy the water process should be.
Find Egyptian Gardens
Next, let’s take a look at where the gardens are found in the Egyptian world:
- Temple Was the house of certain gods or the memory of the dead kings? The gardens here not only provided the necessary offers and provisions for the Daily Clot program, but also provided the statue to the symbol and fiction. Different types of trees, for example, were affiliated with some gods, and their involvement in the garden paid tribute to them.
- We know about entertainment gardens out of this Tomb Particularly on the West Bank, where the garden serves as a rest for the deceased. With the heat every summer, taking shelter under the tree cover was a welcome activity.
- In the gardens Royal palaces For the king, there is often a place for foreign honorees as well as for recreational purposes.
- Houses of wealthy people There were also gardens. Several tombs, including Nibamon (see below), include gardens scenes. Not only is they a pond of water, but also a crowd of trees and plants.
- Gardens, of course,, can also be found in and around Native. Although the evidence here is less, they will be small on a scale.
What trees and plants did the Egyptians plant?
We are fortunate that we can get a lot of information from Egyptian tombs. Views on the walls of the grave depict different types of trees, plants, and flowers, and even lush gardens with ponds! Their gardens were attached to the wall and kept in a parallel, organized fashion.
The Egyptians also developed wooden models, which they included as part of their burial. A model of the tomb of the machater (twelfth family-1,985-1,773 BC) shows a row of psychiatric fig trees around a pond:
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A wooden model of a garden comes from the tomb of Macharytry (TT 280, MMA 1101) from the Thabs (twelfth family – the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 20.3.13). There is a pond in the center and a row of psychiatrist is all around it. Also note the bright red fruits – right swipe to see them close! -
A wooden model of a garden comes from the tomb of Macharytry (TT 280, MMA 1101) from the Thabs (twelfth family – the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 20.3.13). There is a pond in the center and a row of psychiatrist is all around it. Also note the bright red fruit!
If you look closely you will see the deep red figs of the tree! In a beautiful text whose name is known Songs of the gardenThree different trees talk about lovers hiding under their umbrella (3). In the quote below, this is a psychiatmore fig tree that speaks:
“(Psymor fig tree) is beautiful, and its leaves are beautiful. It is green and flowering, it is full of ripe and unintended fruits. It is red than red jasper. Its leaves are like turquoise, their color (Flyans), its wood field is like spar.” (Translation of the writer)
– Sichemor fig tree inside Songs of the garden
The text brings different colors of the tree, which have many content references to the Egyptians. Imagine the full opening of the trees, no need to mention how the landscape looks alive and green!
The garden of Nabamon
A fancy -visible garden shown in the tomb of Niamone shows a pond in the center that contains a variety of trees and plants around it.
The pond is mixed with different birds, while the water floats on the lily lily. Figs and psychiatry fig trees, history and dams palm, as well as mandaric and grape ponds. Manderk is remarkable due to his yellow fruits and dates appear in various stages of ripening.
On the upper right, the goddess of the tree (is usually identified with a halt or nut) gives diagonal. Its involvement here is a good reminder of the symbol found in such leisure scenes.
The Egyptians knew the number of trees was substantially. Annie, who also lived in the new kingdom, not only showed a lush garden in her tomb (TT 81), but also included a long list of trees planted in her garden. The list includes the psychiatrist’s trees, the Parsa trees, the history and the dam Palm (its trunks is a “thorny” shape), the fig tree, the trees, the grapes, the pomegranate trees, the carob trees, the Willow tree, the Tumarask tree, and many more.
Bright colors of Egyptian flowers
Along with the trees, the Egyptians also cultivated a range of plants and flowers. The white and blue varieties of Pepires and water are the most famous. The famous scene of the NAB is shown to Peprei’s bushes near water to hunt for birds from its tomb. Many banquets in the tombs show that different flowers and even the king’s scenes can add different flowers to the gods.
We have already noted Mandrek, but the Egyptians have cultivated the purse, Cornflower, May seeds, poppy and more.
Trees and plants
What is involved in planting trees and plants? The tomb is once again helpful and we also have the remnants of the archeology of the original plots of the garden. In Amrana, for example, workers put plots in a symmetrical and grid sample. The grid consisted of small parts of the mud, and in the middle of it they used to grow their plants.
Recent excavations on the Thaban West Bank have revealed the remains of a real entertainment garden before the tomb of an official. Archaeologists there were picked up a rectangular garden (3 × 2 meters measurements) from the ground. This includes grid -like plots. The team received dates and other fruits along with the remains of the Amarask tree.
Why not when you drink yourself in your garden this summer?
- Relax in the shade provided by the trees.
- Feel the wind on your face.
- Imagine that thousands of years ago an ancient Egyptian would enjoy his garden.
Note
- Patri, WMF 1909. Corner. London: Bernards – Plate XXIV.
- Gers Davis, ND 1927. Two ramiside tomb in Thebus. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art – Plate Xxix.
- Gardens were often associated with lovers because they could find loneliness from the inside. The text that is cited is the genre of Egyptian love poetry, which appears in the late new kingdom.
All the pictures are the author of the author unless it is otherwise identified.
About Egypt, Thomas is currently completing his doctorate at Toronto University. When you do not work on your dissertation, it has to periodically find nature and enjoy local wine.
