Trees in Ancient Rome
Growing an Empire in the Late Republic and Early Principate

By (author) Dr Andrew Fox

ISBN13: 9781350237841

Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Format: Paperback / softback

Published: 20/02/2025

Availability: POD

Description
Focusing on the transitional period of the late Republic to the early Principate, Trees in Ancient Rome offers a sustained examination of the deployment of trees in the ancient city, exploring not only the practicalities of their cultivation, but also their symbolic value. The Ruminal fig tree sheltered the she-wolf as she nursed Romulus and Remus and year’s later Rome was founded between two groves. As the city grew, neighbourhoods bore the names of groves and hills were known by the trees which grew atop them. From the 1st century BCE, triumphs included trees among their spoils and Rome’s green cityscape grew, as did the challenges of finding room for trees within the congested city. This volume begins with an examination of the role of trees as repositories of human memory, lasting for several generations. It goes on to untangle the import of trees, and their role in the triumphal procession, before closing with a discussion of how trees could be grown in Rome’s urban spaces. Drawing on a combination of literary, visual and archaeological sources, it reveals the rich variety of trees in evidence, and explores how they impacted, and were used to impact, life in the ancient city.
1. Trees in Urban Spaces: An Introduction 2. Memory and Trees 3. Bringing Trees to Rome 4. Trees in the Triumph 5. Keeping Trees in the City 6. A New Leaf Appendix Notes Bibliography Index
  • Landscape archaeology
  • Environmental archaeology
  • Ancient history: to c 500 CE
  • Tertiary Education (US: College)
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List Price: £28.99