Ancient Egyptian Gardens

Gardens and their requirements are a complex subject.

Ancient Egypt has a long and complex history. Combining

those two topics produce a subject well beyond the scope

of one amateurs blog. The botanical classifications, irrigation

techniques, sacred and medicinal uses of plants, all could be separate blogs and some have occupied whole books. This article attempts only a quick overview.

Throughout the history of ancient Egypt, gardens were prized. There

were gardens for every purpose, for pleasure and medicine, for

food and worship. Above all, there were gardens for shade and

coolness. Often the same garden served several purposes at once,

for the ancient Egyptians were in many ways a practical people.

They are credited with having the first botanic gardens. Pharaohs,

recording their great deeds, listed gardens they had created and expeditions

they had sent to far-off lands for trees and exotic plants.

Ordinary people had their own, less elaborate gardens; even poor peasants had their vegetable plots, though these would have been

outside of the village. These humble gardeners, or at least the results

of their work, were important enough that Horemheb (The last pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of Egypt.) warned

his officials not to take the best of the peasants’ produce.

In many cases, we rely on wall paintings, tomb reliefs, or documents

for our information concerning the plants of ancient Egypt.

Analysis of pollen grains found in mud bricks from several archaeological sites has provided some information on crops and trees. Plant remains in tombs have also given direct evidence of what trees, flowers, and fruits the ancient Egyptians enjoyed and hoped to have with them in the afterlife.