Egyptian Gardens

According to Christopher Thacker in The History of Gardens, the oldest pictures we have of gardens are from gardens in acient Egypt. Two interesting depictions include The Garden of Nebamun on his tomb near Luxor, Egypt from around 1500 B.C.; and Sennefer’s Garden (or Garden of the High Official of Amenhotep) from a fresco on the West Wall of “The Tomb of Vines,” also near Luxor from around 1400 B.C.

In these representations, gardens are no longer natural places, but have design. The gardens are utilitarian, growing food and crops, but they are also places of beauty. Home and garden are now integrated into a unified design, with a collection of buildings and planted areas. The landscape may be aligned on an axis according to the path of the sun, and trees and plants are planted in rows. The garden may be walled, similar to the pleasure gardens that are created later in garden history.

The garden depicted in the Tomb of Nebamun shows a rectangular pond used for fish and waterfowl, and also planted with lotus flowers. Surrounding the pond are many trees, including date palms and fruit trees. The original paintings were cut from tomb walls and later sold to the British Museum.

Nebamun’s Garden: This file is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

The Garden of the High Official of Amenhotep is an elaborate garden showing several ponds, vines, buildings, and many trees, hedges and flowering plants. The layout is very orderly. It is thought to be an idyllic representation of paradise and the afterlife. Gardens are frequently a symbol for paradise.



Sennefer's Garden: This image was painted from
the tomb by Rosselini in the 19th century. The original
tomb is being restored.