To enter the ancient Roman Garden and experience its plantings is to immerse oneself in the world of myth and the divine, as all plants, both wild and cultivated, were believed to have an intimate connection to the realm of gods and heroes. In this Tower Hill Botanic Garden hour with Annette Giesecke on Wednesday, October 21 at 7 pm, we will visit a selection of ancient Roman gardens, reconstruct their plantings, and learn the tales of lust, blood, and vengeance behind common garden plants such as narcissus and hyacinth, pomegranate and apple, which still grace our orchards and landscapes, and exotica such as frankincense and myrrh.
Dr. Annette Giesecke is Professor of ancient Greek and Roman Studies at the University of Delaware, and holds her degrees from Harvard (Ph.D.) and UCLA. Her research interests include gardens in the Classical World, Greek and Roman art and architecture, and urbanism and ethics of land use in classical antiquity. For her extensive research on the ‘meaning’ of gardens, Giesecke was the Archaeological Institute of America Jashemski Lecturer for 2013-2014. Her publications include: The Epic City: Urbanism, Utopia, and the Garden in Ancient Greece and Rome and Earth Perfect: Nature, Utopia, and the Garden. Two books recently published include The Mythology of Plants: Botanical Lore from Ancient Greece and Rome and The Good Gardener: Nature, Humanity and the Garden. Free with admission to garden. For more information visit www.towerhillbg.org.
