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Paradise Gardens

© Kirk Johnson

There are two main traditions in garden design: the Eastern and the Western. The Eastern tradition is rooted in the gardens of China while the Western tradition is rooted in the gardens of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Because Egypt and Mesopotamia were separated from each other by desert, their cultures tended to develop independently, but they were always aware of each other and they were rooted in similar environments.

One of the main reasons why civilizations developed in Egypt and Mesopotamia was because there was very little rainfall, both civilizations were rooted in the need for elaborate irrigation systems; Middle Eastern gardens have sometimes been called "gardens of irrigation". The formal gardens of Western Civilization evolved out of this agricultural system of geometric plots which were watered by straight irrigation ditches.

The Iranian plateau is even more arid than the river valleys of Egypt and Mesopotamia; Persian gardens have always celebrated water, but water has always been a valuable resource which had to be managed carefully. Most water on the plateau came from the surrounding mountains where melting snows produced streams and rivers which usually dried up during the hot summers. The solution to the water shortage was to construct underground aqueducts (or quants) which lead water from the mountains to fields and villages on the plateau; this practice dates back to the sixth century B.C.

The history of the Middle East is one of empires conquering each other. At the time that Alexander the Great conquered Persia, both Egypt and Mesopotamia were part of the Persian Empire and the Persia had fully absorbed the garden traditions of both civilizations. Greece had never been known for its ornamental gardens. This was partially because much of the soil was poor; all good soil was needed for agriculture, and also because the Classical Greeks frowned on private displays of wealth.

Alexander's empire didn't survive him, after his death in 323 B.C. his generals carved up his empire into a number of kingdoms. In these kingdoms, Classical Greek culture combined with the local cultures, this produced a hybrid, international culture which we call Hellenistic. Hellenistic gardens weren't just descended from the agricultural traditions, they were also descended from the hunting parks of ancient Assyria. Assryia had conquered much of the Middle East before being crushed by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in 605 B.C. The Assyrians had ruled parts of Persia and the Persian monarchs continued their tradition of creating hunting parks, which they called "pairidaeza". The Greeks called the Persian hunting parks and gardens "paradeisos" and the word has entered the English language as "paradise".