Flowers in the Poem and Flowers in the Gardens: On Plant Lists in Nicander (frg. 74 Schn.) and Meleager (AP IV, 1)

Abstract

From various Ancient Greek poets we have lists of ornamental plants; longer examples are found in Nicander and Meleager, two poets who belong to roughly the same period. A detailed reading of both will confirm that they are not immediately concerned with real flowers found together in any real location. But the fact that (though their aim is very different) they have much in common, and particularly the numerous plant species they share, hint at a particular flower culture which is likely to have been characteristic of the late Hellenistic period. The gardens it allows us to imagine were artificial, filled with more or less exotic species, but the fashion they enjoyed compels us to consider that they were also real places where high cultural (and literary) life might be enjoyed.