Rosicrucian Beacon Magazine - 2012-09 - AMORC

Inset shows a reconstruction of the palace garden of Cyrus the Great atPasargadae c.550 BCE. The paths are conjectural. Water channels definethe space between two palaces. There are two small pavilions. This is theearliest known remnant of what became the classical Persian garden. It islikely to have been planted with cypress, pomegranate and cherry. [Source:http://www.gardenvisit.com/history_theory/]A schematic diagram of a Persian garden: The style of Persian gardenscan be both formal and informal. The formal gardens are the type found infront of palaces, and are geometric in their layout. Note the quadripartitestructure with focal water feature, connecting aqueducts, and surroundingtrees, as well as the placement of the palace. [Adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_gardens]garden, where the royal family or visitors could sit andenjoy the beauty and fragrant air. Cyrus also had a throneplaced at the midpoint of the southwest portico of hispalace from where he could view and contemplate thegardens and possibly even hold audiences. In additionto the formal gardens, there would also have been asurrounding park-like forest that included animals.According to Hobhouse, Hunningher and Harpurin their book Gardens of Persia (2004), the Chāhār Bāghgardens of Pasargadae could have contained fruit treessuch as pomegranate and cherries, nut bearing trees suchas almond, vines and roses, an under-carpet of cloverinterspersed with spring-flowering bulbs such as iris andtulips, as well as poppies. The surrounding trees such aswhite-stemmed poplars, cypress and plane would haveprovided wind breaks. When all the elements of thepairidaeza gardens are considered together, they forman integrated composition of shade, micro-climate,vegetation, refuge and healing.Description of Achaemenid GardensThe gardens of the Persian Shahs and their satrapsbecame legendary. Greek and Roman authors suchas Quintus Curtius, Xenophon and Plutarch giveconsistent accounts of the satrap’s paradise gardens:Plutarch describes the paradeisos of the Achaemenidsatrap at Sardis as follows:“One of them was the handsomest because its lawnsand refreshing waters, its retreats and its manicuredlawns displayed an unimaginable royal luxury.”Xenophon describes the paradise-gardens atCelaenae, the satrapal capital of Phrygia and Dascylium,the satrap capital of Lydia, both in Western Turkey. InCelaenae, Xenophon and his companions saw:“...a great park filled with wild animals, andwatered by the Meander.”Xenophon notes that in Dascylium:“That is where Pharnabazus maintained hisresidence, with handsome large villages all around,abundantly provided with all the resources, andwith game both in enclosed paradises and in openspaces - magnificent game! Through the wholelength flowed a river stocked with every kind of fish.Wildfowl were there in abundance as well, for thosewho might hunt for birds.”The Medes and Persians developed the garden andgarden designs on lines similar to their empire buildings.They brought with them their love and veneration for trees.In their Zoroastrian religion, the cult of trees played animportant part, and with them, as with the Assyrians, thesymbol of eternal life was a tree with a stream at its roots.Another object of veneration was the sacred miracle tree,The Rosicrucian Beacon -- September 201237