Alexandria on Gardens of the Roman Empire

Garden at Kanopos

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Dates

22 BCE

Excavation Dates

unexcavated

Garden Description

This garden was in wetlands (tenagos) by the Strip (tainias, a ridge) (cf. Fraser 1972: II, 253-54 n. 96). Size lost. Leased in 22 BCE for one year, rent part in cash and part in produce. Crops mentioned in the preserved text are: garden lettuce (θρίδακας κηπουριακὰς); wild lettuce; fresh grapes; gourds; plantains; beetroot; leeks (headed and sweet); a member of the cabbage family (probably cauliflower); and land snails.

Bibliography

BGU.4.1118 (with corr. in BL 1.97). (papyri.info)

Keywords

vegetable gardens (AAT:300008142)

Places

Canopus (Pleiades:727097)
Canopus (deserted settlement) (TGN:1099727)

Three tomb gardens at Kanopos

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Dates

5 BCE

Excavation Dates

unexcavated

Garden Description

These were “in the so-called Palm Grove.” Size not given. Leased in 5 BCE for five years. Walled with a peribolos. Rent part in cash and part in produce. Crops mentioned in preserved text are: asparagus; fresh grapes; mixed plantains; beetroot; leeks (headed and sweet); members of the cabbage family (probably including cauliflower); figs; round gourds; great jujubes; palm-leaf dusters; mistletoe; kitchen vegetables; and land snails.

Bibliography

BGU.4.1120 (papyri.info)

Keywords

Places

Canopus (Pleiades:727097)
Canopus (deserted settlement) (TGN:1099727)

Tomb garden probably in Ibrahimiya

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Dates

first century CE

Excavation Dates

unexcavated

Garden Description

Ibrahimiya was an eastern suburban necropolis of Alexandria. Size not given. Constructed in the first century CE by Pomponia Mousa for her son, husband, freedmen and freedwomen; object of litigation before the Idios Logos ca. 90 CE. No information given about what was planted in it; a καρπιστής mentioned is probably owner of rights to harvest the produce.

Bibliography

Fraser, P. M. and B. Nicholas (1958). The Funerary Garden of Mousa, Journal of Roman Studies 48: 117-29. (worldcat)
J. and L. Robert, Revue des Études Grecques 72 (1959) 272-73. (Persée)
Supplementum Epigrapicum Graecum, 18.646. (SEG)

Keywords

inscriptions (AAT:300028702)
tombs (AAT:300005926)

Vineyards, rose, and bean gardens at Kanopos

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Dates

5 BCE

Excavation Dates

unexcavated

Garden Description

These vineyards (ἄμπελοι) with a rose garden (ῥοδεών) and fava bean gardens (κυαμῶνες) were in in wetlands on the Strip (cf. Garden at Kanopos). Size: 4.5 ar. (1.24 ha.) in two parcels, of which lessors own two-thirds share. Leased in 5 BCE for 5 years.