Rosa X Damascena, the Damask Rose, in Circa 3,500 BCE from the River Amu Darya Watershed in Central Asia, the River Oxus Valley of the Classics, to Rome by 300 BCE
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University of Bath PHD ‘The Silk Road Hybrids’ Cultural linkage facilitated the transmigration of the remontant gene in Rosa x damascena, the Damask rose, in circa 3,500 BCE from the river Amu Darya watershed in Central Asia, the river Oxus valley of the Classics, to Rome by 300 BCE. Mattock, Robert Award date: 2017 Awarding institution: University of Bath Link to publication Alternative formats If you require this document in an alternative format, please contact: [email protected] General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 23. Sep. 2021 1 ‘The Silk Road Hybrids’ 'الحرير الهجينة الطريق' Cultural linkage facilitated the transmigration of the remontant gene in Rosa x damascena, the Damask rose, in circa 3,500 BCE from the river Amu Darya watershed in Central Asia, the river Oxus valley of the Classics, to Rome by 300 BCE. Robert E. Mattock MSc.* SAMIS No. 079095127 Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Centre for Advanced Studies in Architecture (CASA) Department of Architecture & Civil Engineering Department of Biology and Biological Sciences University of Bath January 2017 A Silk Road Hybrid Rosa x damascena, the Damask Rose [Fig.1] 2 Abstract The only rose species carrying the remontant gene were thought to be Rosa chinensis and Rosa rugosa whose geographical distributions lie well to the east of, and isolated from, Central Asia; and Rosa fedtschenkoana whose distribution extends only as far East as Uzbekistan. This thesis proposes instead, that commencing in circa 3,500 BCE cultural linkage facilitated the transmigration of the remontant gene in Rosa x damascena, the Damask rose in horticultural nomenclature, from the river Amu Darya watershed in Central Asia, to Rome by 300 BCE. Remontancy in western garden roses was thought to have been introduced into Western Europe in the form of the Damasks by 15th. Century, and more certainly in four Rosa chinensis hybrids, from China into Britain by 1780. This research found evidence in the works of Classical writers, notably Columnella, Dioscorides, Pliny, Theophrastus and Virgil, that the remontant Rosa x damascena was cultivated in Rome by 300 BC. They variously named the repeat flowering rose Rosa x damascena, the Damask, or the ‘rose of Paestum’ as the ‘pestane rose’, or ‘biferique rosaria Paesti’. These writers described the cultivation of the rose from ‘suckers’, a word that this research shows, was misleadingly, mistranslated. This research supports the DNA analysis in 2000 of Iawata et al, which demonstrates that, Rosa gallica, R. moschata and R. fedtschenkoana are the parents of the Damask. Plotting, recently revised, geographical distributions of the Damask’s parents show an overlap. This overlap shows that not only natural hybridisation between the three parents was possible, but significantly the overlap, the point of origin of Rosa x damascena, is located within the river Amu Darya watershed. The Classical writers describe the location, the date, and the process, for the production of rose water from the petals of the Damask. This cultural link between the Damask, and rose water production, evidenced the transmigration of the rose from Central Asia, through Persia, Turkey and the Middle East, and from there to Rome. Locations for rose water manufacture, plotted on a map, correlate with the route of what is now known as, The Silk Road. In support of the practical, horticultural viability of this transmigration, a field survey in 2015 revealed that the methods of transporting plant material, the method of propagation, and the cultivation of the rose in the hot, harsh and arid climate of the Dadès Valley in Morocco today, mirror the methods practiced in similar climatic conditions along the Silk Road in antiquity. Research shows that rose water has been used in religious ceremony for at least 4000 years, throughout Central Asia, Persia, the Middle East and the Mediterranean. Surprisingly, no evidence has been found to show that spread of the Damask correlates with the spread of faiths and beliefs, that is, until the spread of the Moslem faith from 700 CE. Conversely the spread of the use of rose water in medicine, hygiene, sanitation and fragrancing are well documented by the Classic writers. Research into the pharmacology of rose water, and its use in the treatment of a wide range of ailments, shows that in antiquity, the same ailments were successfully treated in Central Asia, as they were in Rome. 3 In conclusion, Rosa x damascena, the Damask rose, together with its remontant characteristic, extended it geographical distribution from Central Asia from 3500BCE, to Rome by 300 CE, incentivised by man's demand for and health, hygiene and fragrance. Despite this cultural linkage, there is a paucity of evidence for the establishment of the Damask spreading further west as a garden plant, until the 18 th . Century. Since then, rose hybridists have used the Damask to breed the remontant, large flowered, fragrant western garden hybrids much loved by gardeners today. Table of research findings *Unpublished, research by Mattock # Sourced from other’s research The rose carrying that carried the remontant gene to Rome by 300 BCE was Rosa x # damascena, the Damask Rose. The geographical distribution of the rose species, Rosa gallica, Rosa moschata * Herrm and Rosa fedtschenkoana, the parents of Rosa x damascena, overlap. The point of origin of Rosa x damascena has been derived from the overlap which * when plotted on a map shows the location to be the river Amu Darya watershed, in Central Asia. Rose water, rosaceum and rose oil is produced from the petals of the Damask. # The connection between the Damask and rose water production in antiquity was * established from reading descriptions of the production in the Classics. Notably, those written by Columnella, Dioscorides, Pliny and Theophrastus and Virgil. The cultivation of the Damask for rose water production is described in detail in * the Classics. However, Latin and Greek translations of the original sources have misleadingly confused the word for ‘sucker’, the term for the material used to propagate the Damask, with the words for saplings, cuttings, reeds, screws and twigs. The latter would have perished in the climate of the Silk Road, and consequently the Damask would not have transmigrated. The use of rose water and the cultivation of the Damask spread in tandem, * because of the demand for the product in health, hygiene, sanitation, medicine, and fragrancing. Rose water production spread west along the routes used by merchants and * religious refugees, namely The Silk Road and the Royal Persian Road. Dates and locations for the transmigration of the Damask, derived from Classical * texts, have been plotted on to a time line and onto a map. The map evidences and illustrates the passage of the Damask from Central Asia to Rome. Cultural linkage enabled the geographic spread of the manufacture of rose water, * and in consequence the transmigration of the remontant gene in the Damask along the Silk Road to Rome. Rose water manufacture virtually ceased circa 350 CE, and recommenced with # Islamic expansionism from circa 800 C. The thesis examines whether beliefs and faith were the driving force behind the * cultural linkage, and concludes that the use of rose water in health, hygiene and medicine transcended religious fervour. Map plotted. The thesis fills a significant gap in the knowledge of how the Damask rose played * such a pivotal role in the history of the rose. Lastly, the thesis proposes a new perception, a new history, of how repeat * flowering, large flowered, strongly fragrant garden roses arrived in the Wes t. 4 Compliance, Copyright & Acknowledgements ©Robert Mattock 2017 Attention is drawn to the fact that that copyright of this thesis rests with the author. A copy of this thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with author, and they must not copy it, or use material from it, except as permitted by law, or with the consent of the author. Restrictions on Use This thesis may be made available for consultation within the University Library and maybe photocopied or lent to other libraries for the purpose of consultation only. Declaration of material from a previously submitted thesis and of work done in conjunction with others. A Case Study in the History and Theory Unit. Submitted by Robert Mattock, Towards the degree of Master of Science in the Conservation of Historic Gardens and Cultural Landscapes. At the University of Bath, Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering. Session 2008 – 09 pp. 16 – 17. Dedication To the late Robert H. Mattock who taught the author how to grow roses and an appreciation of antiquity. Acknowledgements The author gratefully acknowledges the invaluable support of the following: Dr. J. Beeching – supervisor. Dr. M. Forsyth. Robin Lane-Fox Professor M. Harney – supervisor. Lord Heseltine – facilitator. Mrs. C. M. Mattock – support. H. Nicholas – travel & photography. Professor A. Rowsell - mentor. Reverend Richard Smail - Classics Professor Mathew Wills. 5 Contents Section 1. Page Preface 1 Frontispiece.