What the Roman Emperor Tiberius Grew in his Greenhouse

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What the Roman Emperor Tiberius Grew in his
Greenhouse
Jules Janick Purdue University West Lafayette
Indiana 47907-2010, USA
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Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus 42 BCE to 37
CE reign from 14 to 37 CE
Villa Jovis
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Roman Emperor at Jesus Crucifixion

• New Testament references
• In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius
  Caesar. Pontius Pilate being governor of Judeae
  Luke 31.
• Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are
  Caesars and unto God the things that are Gods.
  Matthew 2217.

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Two 1st century Roman works mention Tiberius,
protogreenhouse, and cucurbits

• Luciuis Junius Mereratus ColumellaDe Re Rustica
  (On Agriculture)
• Gaius Plinius Secundus (Pliny the Elder) Historia
  Naturalis (Natural History)

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• Columella
• Anyone who wishes to have the fruits of cucumis
  ripe earlier than usual should, when midwinter is
  past, produced well-manured soil enclosed in
  baskets and give it a moderate amount of water
  then, when the seeds have come up, he should
  place the baskets in the open air on warm and
  sunny days near a building, so that they may be
  protected from any blasts of wind but if it be
  cold and stormy, he should bring them back under
  cover and continue to do so until the spring
  equinox is over. He should then sink the whole
  baskets into the ground. He will thus have early
  fruits. Is also possible, if it be worth the
  trouble, for wheels to be put under larger
  vessels, so that they may be brought out and
  taken indoors again with less labour. In any
  case the vessels ought to be covered with
  specularibus so that even in cold weather, when
  the days are clear, they be safely be brought out
  into the sun. By this method Tiberius Caesar was
  supplied with cucumis during almost the whole
  year. (11, 3, 5253)

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Pliny

• Cucumis was a delicacy for which the emperor
  Tiberius had a remarkable partiality in fact
  there was never a day on which he was not
  supplied with it, as his kitchen gardeners had
  cucumis beds mounted on wheels which they moved
  out into the sun and then on wintry days withdrew
  under the cover of frames glazed with transparent
  stone (mica). (19, 23, 64)

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• What is cucumis referred to by both Columella and
  Pliny?
• Cucumis generally translated as cucumberGerard
  1597Ash 1941 (Columella translator)Jones 1951
  (Pliny translator)Whitaker and Davis
  1962Kirkbride 1993Robinson and Decker Walters
  1997Jeffrey 2001

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• Pliny refers to cucumis and cucurbita as
• Cartilagenous (pliable) fruits
• Normally prostrate on the ground but could also
  climb
• Cucumis composed of cartilage (pliable skin) and
  flesh
• Cucurbita composed of cartilage and rind which
  becomes woody when ripened

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Cucumis describes various types of melon
(Citrullus, Cucumis, Ecballium) Columella Twisted
Bluish with swollen womb, hairy Snake like Foul
juice Whitish, turns yellow when ripe
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Chate melon Carosello Barese (top) and Bet
Alfa-type cucumber Shimshon (bottom)
Chate melon (Vesling 1640)
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Cucumber Shimshon (left) and snake melon
Striped Snake (right)
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Pliny Vary when grown in different regions Grow
into any shaper forced to take Blossoms covered
with white down Round (quince-like) forms in
Campania, fruit separates from stalk when ripe,
aromatic Very large ones in Moesia called pepones
(watermelon Citrullus) Wild cucumis is a source
of elaterium (squirting cucumber Ecballium
elaterium) Wild cucumis called colocynthi
(Colocynth Citrullis colocynthis)
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Cucurbita describes bottle gourd
(Lagenaria) Columella Swelling Sometimes hang
from arbors Sometimes snake-like If you want
long ones, select seed from the neck If you want
globular ones, choose seed from midbelly Use for
vessels, water pails, wine flask, or floats for
teaching boys to swim Pliny Long ones used for
culinary purposes Seeds nearest the neck produce
long gourds
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• An accurate understanding of the history and
  development of food plants requires critical
  evaluation and comparison of widely
  interdisciplinary evidence from horticulture
  botany, archaeology, history, and philology
  (Dalby 2003)
• Plant iconography has played the most important
  role in the accurate identification of cucurbit
  taxa in the Renaissance (Eisendrath 1961)
  especially with regard to the American genus
  Cucurbita (Paris 2001).
• Although, detailed depictions and accurate
  descriptions of cucurbits are much scarcer in
  medieval times and antiquity they are scattered
  but they exist.

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Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus)
Egyptian Old Kingdom (31002100 BCE)
Villa Farnesina (15151518)
Korea (15041551)
Caravaggio 1603
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Roman Watermelon
Carthage 4th century
Greece 45th century
Greece 6th century
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Melon (Cucumis melo) from Egypt
Egyptian Old Kingdom (15501300 BCE)
Egyptian Old Kingdom (15501300 BCE)
Egyptian Old Kingdom (15501300 BCE)
Egyptian New Kingdom (15171192 BCE)
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Melons from Roman Empire 2nd6th century
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Tunisia 2nd century
Thessaloniki 3nd century
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Egyptian Old Kingdom (15501300 BCE)
Pierce vires
Mérida, Spain approx. 4th century
Shimauri stripe
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Cucumis melo Flexuosus
Lebanon 6th century
Tunisia 3rd century
Tunisia 3rd century
Green snake
Stripe snake
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Roman Melons
Rome 4th century
Tunisia 4th century
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Bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria)
Bottle gourd Pompeii cupping vessel 1st
century Cucurbitula Latin Sikya Greek
Tunisia 2nd century
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Jonah and the gourd
Tunisia 3rd4th century
Turkey 270280
Aquileia, Italy 4th century
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Villa Farnesina 15151518Lagenaria siceraria
var. longissima
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Lagenaria siceraria var. a fiasco
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Bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria)Greece 1677
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Sicily
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Colocynth (Citrullus colocynthis)
Dioscorides, De Materia MedicaAniciae Julianae
Codex, ca. 512
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Squirting cucumber (Ecballium elaterium)
Temple of Karnak 1450 BCE
Juliana Anicia Codex 512
Israel 2007
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Cucumber (Cucumis sativus) 1335
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Lochis Madonna, 1480, Carlo Crivelli
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Villa Farnesina 15151518Cucumis sativus
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CucumberPisa Cathedral 1601
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Still Life with Vegetables and Fruits,
16021603Juan Sanchez Cotan
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Conclusions

• The cucumis beloved by Tiberius appears to be
  Cucumis melo Flexuosus Group and not cucumber
  based on
• Descriptions of cucumis in Columella and Pliny
  excludes cucumber (snake-like, hairy).
• The tubercules common on the fruit which would
  have been noticed are not mentioned.
• Absence of any cucumber images in antiquity.
• First images of cucumber are found in 1335
  suggesting cucumber arriving late in Europe
  probably with mogul invasions of the west
  beginning with Genghis Khan.
• Subsequent images of cucumber in the West are
  very similar indicating the introduction of one
  specific type.
• The mistranslation of cucumis for cucumber is
  probably due to the similarity of its name with
  cucumis and cucurbita.