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Gardens of Pompeii - Page 2

© Kirk Johnson

The fourth and final chapter is entitled Essential Cultivation: Wheat, Olives, and Wine Grapes. The author begins this chapter by stating that "The expansion of Mediterranean civilization is due, among other things, to three plants: wheat, olives, and wine grapes." She then gives a history of these plants along with information about their role in Pompeii's economy. This chapter repeats much of the information about wine grapes that Jashemski gave in her book, but I did learn a few things about how olives were processed in the ancient world.

This book might have been more properly entitled "Plants in Pompeii's Gardens", but plants do play a central role in gardens. It is very possible to have a garden without having statues and frescos, but a garden without plants wouldn't really be a garden. By placing her emphasis on plants, Ciarallo has done a lot to bring Pompeii's gardens back to life for me.

If you are at all interested in Pompeii's gardens, I strongly recommend this book. The author manages to impart a lot of information in only 73 pages, but the book could have been longer. I would have been willing to pay for a few more pages. My main objection to this book is that there is no index. You have to search through the book for information. This isn't too difficult because there are so many images that you just have to look for the right picture, but it amazes me that a book which lists all of the plants that are known to have been grown in Pompeii's gardens (at least when the book was published) would lack an index.

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