page_title: Persian gardens
section_title: Concept and etymology
hierarchical_section_title: Persian gardens / Concept and etymology
caption_attribution_description: English: This is a schematic drawing of a traditional Persian style garden. Note the water structure most notably a pond or a fountain, almost always connected via four perpendicular connections or waterways named in Old Persian "jubs" or basically aqueducts. The structure is almost always pivoted at the long axis of this "cross" or quadripartite format so that the magnificent palace or the dwelling is looking upon the long axis of the waterway and the foundation. The walkways are often incorporated close and parallel to the long arm of the aqueduct, with trees ornating the sides and beautiful herbs, plants or domestic animals filling the inside space. Traditionally, when the property was not an issue to acquire you find these gardens surrounded by the wild space, utilized as a place for the nob and the nobility to hunt wild exotic creatures, if not go out in wild adventures. .
context_page_description: The tradition and style of garden design represented by Persian gardens or Iranian gardens, an example of the paradise garden, has influenced the design of gardens from Andalusia to India and beyond. The gardens of the Alhambra show the influence of Persian garden philosophy and style in a Moorish palace scale, from the era of al-Andalus in Spain. Humayun's Tomb and Taj Mahal have some of the largest Persian gardens in the world, from the era of the Mughal Empire in India.
context_section_description: From the time of the Achaemenid Empire, the idea of an earthly paradise spread through Persian literature and example to other cultures, both the Hellenistic gardens of the Seleucid Empire and the Ptolemies in Alexandria. The Avestan word pairidaēza-, Old Persian *paridaida-, Median *paridaiza- (walled-around, i.e., a walled garden), was borrowed into Akkadian, and then into Greek Ancient Greek: παράδεισος, romanized: parádeisos, then rendered into the Latin paradīsus, and from there entered into European languages, e.g., French paradis, German Paradies, and English paradise.
  As the word expresses, such gardens would have been enclosed. The garden's purpose was, and is, to provide a place for protected relaxation in a variety of manners: spiritual, and leisurely (such as meetings with friends), essentially a paradise on earth. The Common Iranian word for "enclosed space" was *pari-daiza- (Avestan pairi-daēza-), a term that was adopted by Christian mythology to describe the garden of Eden or Paradise on earth.
  The garden's construction may be formal (with an emphasis on structure) or casual (with an emphasis on nature), following several simple design rules. This allows a maximization, in terms of function and emotion, of what may be done in the garden.
caption: A schematic diagram of a Persian garden. Note the quadripartite structure with focal water feature, connecting aqueducts, and surrounding trees, as well as the placement of the palace
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