DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16632#0107
Ancient Greece
79
From this type of romance, which for centuries to come was to reach deep down into
the Byzantine Middle Ages, there is nothing to be gained in the way of garden tradition.
We learn nothing new, only that the Byzantine gardens developed in the same direction
as the Hellenistic. And in particular features we may trace the recurring strong influence
on Byzantium of the East, and particularly of Persia and Mesopotamia. In all the earlier
accounts we notice simplicity and moderation, something of the imperishable Greek
feeling for the golden mean, ^Sev ayav, appearing in climes far distant. But after that
the love for the glories of Asia presses to the front ever more insistently, to find its satis-
faction in the multiplication of ideas, the glittering pomp of costly possessions and the
creation of elaborate masterpieces.
i—G
79
From this type of romance, which for centuries to come was to reach deep down into
the Byzantine Middle Ages, there is nothing to be gained in the way of garden tradition.
We learn nothing new, only that the Byzantine gardens developed in the same direction
as the Hellenistic. And in particular features we may trace the recurring strong influence
on Byzantium of the East, and particularly of Persia and Mesopotamia. In all the earlier
accounts we notice simplicity and moderation, something of the imperishable Greek
feeling for the golden mean, ^Sev ayav, appearing in climes far distant. But after that
the love for the glories of Asia presses to the front ever more insistently, to find its satis-
faction in the multiplication of ideas, the glittering pomp of costly possessions and the
creation of elaborate masterpieces.
i—G