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In the shadow of Mount Vesuvius lies a most interesting domestic garden. This botanical oasis\, which contains so me well-preserved garden murals\, forms the focal point of the ancient Pom peiian house known today as the House of Venus in the Shell. The house&rsq uo\;s garden\, situated to be visible from every room around it\, has been laid out symmetrically in two myrtle-lined beds of roses and topiary divi ded by a path.
\nAs one approaches the path\, a vivid mural painted on the wall at the garden&rsquo\;s end comes into view: the goddess Venus reclining in an oversized conch shell that floats on a blue-green sea. Acc ompanying her are winged Cupids\, one riding a dolphin through the waves. To either side of the seascape densely planted gardens populated by a vari ety of birds have been painted. Recognizable among the plantings are shrub s of oleander and myrtle in flower\, rose bushes laden with red blooms\, d iminutive pines\, a clump of southernwood\, as well as fruit-bearing straw berry trees and cherry plums. Both painted gardens\, one containing a bubb ling fountain and the other a statue of Mars\, are decoratively framed by a garland of ivy with a theater mask signaling Bacchus&rsquo\; presence.\n
These various gods and mythological personalities\, such as Venus\, Mars\, Bacchus\, the strongman Hercules\, the self-absorbed Narcissus\, a nd the star-crossed lovers Pyramus and Thisbe\, had strong ties with natur e and plant life\, and their presence enhanced the religious or paradisiac al quality of the garden. What&rsquo\;s more\, even if god and mythologica l characters were not represented in garden art\, so many garden plants ha d ties to the world of myth that the Roman garden was always filled with a n otherworldly aura.
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