1. The ancient and medieval garden

‘The ancient and medieval garden’ considers the earliest documented gardens from around the world. It begins with the gardens of the Near East and eastern Mediterranean, such as the gardens of the Assyrian kings, Sennacherib and Ashurbanipal, at Nineveh; the villa gardens of Greece and Rome; the ancient gardens of South Asia, including Sigiriya, a Buddhist site in central Sri Lanka; medieval European gardens; the gardens of the Byzantium Empire, which provided the link between the Roman garden and the Islamic garden; and the Mayan, Aztec, and Inca gardens of Central and South America. It explains how gardens and their plants were early players in the process of globalization.