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Persian gardens
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Persian gardens
In garden design, Persian garden or Iranian garden (Persian: باغ ایرانی) is a style of "landscape" garden which emerged in the Achaemenid Empire. Nine historical gardens, all of them in Iran, have been inscribed in UNESCO's World Heritage Sites as The Persian Garden since 2011.
From the time of the Achaemenid Empire, the idea of an earthly paradise spread through Persian literature and example to other cultures, both the Hellenistic gardens of the Seleucid Empire and the Ptolemies in Alexandria.
The Avestan word pairidaēza-, Old Persian *paridaida-, or Median *paridaiza- "walled-around", (i.e., a walled garden), were borrowed into Elamite (partetaš) and Akkadian, and later as Ancient Greek: παράδεισος, romanized: parádeisos. It was rendered as Latin paradīsus, and from there entered into European languages, e.g., French paradis, German Paradies, and English paradise. In the Achaemenid Empire, the term is used for functional worksites as well, and it translated as "plantations"; these sites contained not only orchards and tree plantations, but also sometimes bitumen harvesting and mining. The same word was used to describe the Elamite custom of creating a sacred grove or husa surrounding a royal grave that was the site of worship of the deceased king.
As the word expresses, such gardens would have been enclosed. Gardens provided a place for protected relaxation, both spiritual and leisurely, and represented a paradise on earth. The Common Iranian word for "enclosed space" was *pari-daiza- (Avestan pairi-daēza-). This term was adopted to describe the garden of Eden a Paradise on earth.
The garden's construction may be formal (with an emphasis on structure) or casual (with a focus on nature), following several simple design rules. This allows the maximum possible use of the garden in terms of function and emotion.
Persian gardens may originate as early as 4000 BCE, but it is clear that this tradition began with the Achaemenid dynasty around the 6th century BCE.[dubious – discuss][verification needed] Decorated pottery of that time displays the typical cross plan of the Persian garden. The outline of Pasargadae, built around 500 BCE, is still viewable today. Classical Iranians were seen by the Greeks as the 'great gardeners' of antiquity; Cyrus II (known also as Cyrus the Younger) is alleged to have told the Spartan commander Lysander that he gardened daily when not campaigning, and had himself laid out the park at Sardis, which he called his 'paradise' (a Greek corruption of the Old Persian word for garden).
During the suzerainty of the Sasanian Empire, under the influence of Zoroastrianism, water in art grew increasingly important. This trend manifested itself in garden design, with greater emphasis on fountains and ponds in gardens.
During the Umayyad and Abbasid periods, the aesthetic aspect of the garden increased in importance, overtaking utility. During this time, aesthetic rules that govern the garden grew in importance. An example of this is the chahār bāgh (چهارباغ), a form of garden that attempts to emulate the Abrahamic notion of a Garden of Eden, with four rivers and four quadrants that represent the world. The design sometimes extends one axis longer than the cross-axis and may feature water channels that run through each of the four gardens and connect to a central pool.
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Persian gardens
In garden design, Persian garden or Iranian garden (Persian: باغ ایرانی) is a style of "landscape" garden which emerged in the Achaemenid Empire. Nine historical gardens, all of them in Iran, have been inscribed in UNESCO's World Heritage Sites as The Persian Garden since 2011.
From the time of the Achaemenid Empire, the idea of an earthly paradise spread through Persian literature and example to other cultures, both the Hellenistic gardens of the Seleucid Empire and the Ptolemies in Alexandria.
The Avestan word pairidaēza-, Old Persian *paridaida-, or Median *paridaiza- "walled-around", (i.e., a walled garden), were borrowed into Elamite (partetaš) and Akkadian, and later as Ancient Greek: παράδεισος, romanized: parádeisos. It was rendered as Latin paradīsus, and from there entered into European languages, e.g., French paradis, German Paradies, and English paradise. In the Achaemenid Empire, the term is used for functional worksites as well, and it translated as "plantations"; these sites contained not only orchards and tree plantations, but also sometimes bitumen harvesting and mining. The same word was used to describe the Elamite custom of creating a sacred grove or husa surrounding a royal grave that was the site of worship of the deceased king.
As the word expresses, such gardens would have been enclosed. Gardens provided a place for protected relaxation, both spiritual and leisurely, and represented a paradise on earth. The Common Iranian word for "enclosed space" was *pari-daiza- (Avestan pairi-daēza-). This term was adopted to describe the garden of Eden a Paradise on earth.
The garden's construction may be formal (with an emphasis on structure) or casual (with a focus on nature), following several simple design rules. This allows the maximum possible use of the garden in terms of function and emotion.
Persian gardens may originate as early as 4000 BCE, but it is clear that this tradition began with the Achaemenid dynasty around the 6th century BCE.[dubious – discuss][verification needed] Decorated pottery of that time displays the typical cross plan of the Persian garden. The outline of Pasargadae, built around 500 BCE, is still viewable today. Classical Iranians were seen by the Greeks as the 'great gardeners' of antiquity; Cyrus II (known also as Cyrus the Younger) is alleged to have told the Spartan commander Lysander that he gardened daily when not campaigning, and had himself laid out the park at Sardis, which he called his 'paradise' (a Greek corruption of the Old Persian word for garden).
During the suzerainty of the Sasanian Empire, under the influence of Zoroastrianism, water in art grew increasingly important. This trend manifested itself in garden design, with greater emphasis on fountains and ponds in gardens.
During the Umayyad and Abbasid periods, the aesthetic aspect of the garden increased in importance, overtaking utility. During this time, aesthetic rules that govern the garden grew in importance. An example of this is the chahār bāgh (چهارباغ), a form of garden that attempts to emulate the Abrahamic notion of a Garden of Eden, with four rivers and four quadrants that represent the world. The design sometimes extends one axis longer than the cross-axis and may feature water channels that run through each of the four gardens and connect to a central pool.
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