Imago Hortorum : the cultural significance of gardens in Roman Italy

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with the cultural significance of gardens in Roman society: how they were used and how they were perceived. It takes as its source of inspiration Pliny the Elder’s statement that the urban poor of Rome saw images of gardens (imago hortorum) from their windows (Pliny, HN 19.59). An imago is not only a visual image, it is an object saturated with cultural content, to be read and interpreted by the viewer on both a societal and individual level. This thesis explores the cultural content of gardens in Roman Italy from the late Republic to the early 3rd century A.D.