The Roman Book of Gardening

"The Roman Book of Gardening "brings together an extraordinarily vivid selection of texts on Roman Horticulture, celebrating herb and vegetable gardening in verse and prose spanning five centuries. In an anthology of vivid new translations by John Henderson, Virgil's Georgics stand alongside neglected works by Columella, Pliny and Palladius, bringing to life the techniques and obstacles, delights and exasperations of the Roman gardener. For all the cultural differences, modern gardening enthusiasts will recognize much of the familiar heaving and chopping that the writers describe but may be surprised at other aspects of horticulture that have changed significantly over the centuries.
This is a timely and valuable contribution to our understanding of gardening history, Roman culture and Latin literature. "The Roman Book of" "Gardening" is the first book on the practice of Roman gardening and includes a full Index of Plants listing names in both English and Latin, the language of botany.

The first book to look at this particular subject, The Roman Book of Gardening brings together an extraordinarily varied selection of texts on Roman horticulture, celebrating herb and vegetable gardening in verse and prose spanning five centuries. In vivid new translations by John Henderson, Virgil's Georgics stand alongside neglected works by Columella, Pliny and Palladius, bringing to life the techniques and obstacles, delights and exasperations of the Roman gardener. We also hear of the digging, hoeing, planting and weeding which then, as now, went into creating the perfect garden. This is a timely and valuable contribution to our understanding of gardening history, Roman culture and Latin literature.

List of Illustrations Note on the Text Preface: Preparing the Ground Introduction: Reserving a Plot: From Virgil, Georgic Four 1. Produce in Prose: From Columella 11 2. Flowery Cerse: Columella 10 3. Nature's Miracles in Pliny's Encyclopaedia 4. A Year in the Garden with Palladius Notes: Tying up Loose Ends Further Reading: Where Next Date Chart: As and When Indexes: Names and Varieties Plants (English Names; Latin NamesGeneral Topics

John Henderson has taught Classics at Cambrdige since 1975. He has written many books and essays on Latin literature and Classics, including Classics: A Very Short Introduction (with Mary Beard).