Abstract

The gardens of the Renaissance are well known for being populated by the gods and settings of Classical mythology — an iconographic tradition that originated in the cult sanctuaries of Ancient Greece and transplanted to Hellenistic and Roman gardens; a tradition of place-making that I term Classical topomythopoiesis. But, what happened in-between? Gardens from the Middle Ages are not often associated with the pagan myths, but rather with Christian symbolism. This article provides a survey of the survival of Medieval Classical topomythopoiesis. It discusses various ways in which Christians received the gods, and how the language of mythology continued to shape the beholder’s share in viewing landscapes. It traces the origins of the garden of love to show how it opened the gate for the gods of love to become baptised within later Medieval garden culture. The article then provides a novel reading of the Narcissus-fountain episode in the Roman de la Rose as a hypothetical exemplar of how the myths in gardens were evoked through a process of interpretation that echoes Medieval biblical exegesis. The article concludes by arguing that Boccaccio’s liberation of the mythical garden as an imagined, sensual setting signals a shift towards a Neoplatonic approach to topomythopoiesis.

摘要

文艺复兴时期的花园因居住着古典神话中的诸神和场景而闻名——这是一种起源于古希腊崇拜圣地并移植到希腊化和罗马花园的图像传统；我称之为古典拓扑神话的场所营造传统。但是，这中间发生了什么？中世纪的花园通常不与异教神话联系在一起，而是与基督教的象征意义联系在一起。本文对中世纪古典拓扑神话的生存进行了调查。它讨论了基督徒接受神的各种方式，以及神话语言如何继续塑造观者在观看风景时的份额。它追溯了爱情花园的起源，展示了它如何为爱神在后来的中世纪花园文化中接受洗礼打开了大门。然后，本文对《水仙喷泉》一集进行了小说解读。罗曼·德拉·罗斯（Roman de la Rose）是花园神话如何通过与中世纪圣经注释相呼应的解释过程被唤起的假设范例。文章最后认为，薄伽丘将神话花园解放为一种想象的、感性的环境，标志着向新柏拉图式的拓扑神话方法的转变。