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THE GREEK AND ROMAN LEGACY

The concise botanical knowledge and skill of the ancient Egyptians was developed by several outstanding Greek men of learning, many of whom studied at the great library of Alexandria. Herodotus and Democrates, who visited Egypt during the fifth century BC, also transmitted directly what they had learned about perfumery and natural therapeutics from the Egyptian physicians. Hippocrates, who was born in Greece about 460 BC and is universally revered as the ‘Father of Medicine’, prescribed various aromatic remedies; indeed, from Greek medical practice there is derived the term ‘iatralypte’, from the physician who cured exclusively through the use of aromatic preparations. Later, Theophrastus (371–287 BC) described over 550 species of plants and the distinguishing nature of scents in his Enquiry into Plants, written about 340 BC. Many familiar fragrant flowers and herbs are mentioned in this work, such as narcissi and lilies, but it is Dioscorides (40–90 AD) who is better known for his De Materia Medica, which described the medicinal use of over 600 plants.

By the fourth century BC the Greeks were also cultivating flower gardens dedicated to the gods and these in turn influenced gardening in Rome. Both the Greek and Roman visions of the ideal garden were influenced by the classical Persian paradise garden, and were usually laid out to a formal design with fruit-bearing trees, herbs and running water. Many aromatic plants were named after nymphs or lovers in Greek legend, such as Artemis or Narcissus. According to myth, it was Apollo who taught the healer Aesclepius that the fragrant lily-of-the-valley could be used as a tonic for the heart. The favoured flower of the Greeks, however, was the rose – the flower of Aphrodite, the goddess of love.

Sadly, under the Romans the rose later became a flaunted symbol of ostentation. Nero had his banqueting floors strewn with rose petals. Roses were also used in garlands for military heroes and were considered essential to everyday life. They also enjoyed a position of great prominence in the Roman garden, which was otherwise mainly given over to aromatic herbs. In their pursuit of sensuous pleasure, the Romans devoted an entire street in Capua simply to the manufacture of different types of scented substances, especially rosewater.

Lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis), according to myth, given to the healer Aesclepius by Apollo.

Elena Elisseeva

The Roman knowledge of herbs and aromatic plants was derived mainly from the Greeks, in particular from Dioscorides. Their horticultural knowledge also spread throughout the Roman Empire and much of this knowledge was later preserved in the monasteries. With the conquest of Britain, the Romans brought with them a number of flowering fragrant fruit trees, such as the cherry, pear, quince and peach, and introduced many other familiar plants from their colonies along the Mediterranean coast. Amongst these were such well-known ones as chervil, chives, parsley, rue, onion, fennel, rosemary, southernwood, borage, sage and thyme. Such plants adapted well to more temperate climates and formed the basis for the ‘herbaries’ or herb gardens of the great monasteries which sprang up all over Europe in medieval times. This herbal legacy bequeathed by the Romans also proved invaluable for the development of herbal medicine in Britain. The earliest English herbal, written about the time of the Norman conquest and still preserved in the British Museum, owes its origin to a book written by a Roman doctor, Apuleius Platonicus.