Note 103: — XXVI.—DOMESTIC AND PET ANIMALS; FLOWERS. (Wall-Cases 57-58.)

Flowers.—In Cases 57-58 will be seen a set of funeral wreaths (No. 666; cf. p. 226), found at Hawara, in Egypt. Among the flowers which can be identified in those wreaths are the rose, narcissus, sweet marjoram, and immortelle. We know, from an epigram of Martial,103 that Egypt cultivated roses with such success that she exported them from Alexandria to Rome during the winter, though at the time when the poet wrote (latter part of first century A.D.), Italy was, according to him, in a position to export roses to Egypt. In their gardens the Romans devoted most of their attention to their trees, which they cut into fantastic shapes by the agency of the landscape gardener (topiarius). The species of flowers known to them were decidedly limited in number, but we find gardens of singular beauty depicted on their wall-paintings, notably on one found at Prima Porta near Rome.104