Concept
The paradise garden is a form of garden of Old Iranian origin, specifically Achaemenid which is formal, symmetrical and most often, enclosed. The most traditional form is a rectangular garden split into four quarters with a pond in the center, a four-fold design called chahar bagh (“four gardens”). One of the most important elements of paradise gardens is water, with ponds, canals, rills, and fountains all being common features. Scent is an essential element with fruit-bearing trees and flowers selected for their fragrance. It is also often referred to as an Islamic garden. The form of garden spread throughout Egypt and the Mediterranean during the Muslim Arabic conquests, reaching as far as India and Spain. Originally denominated by a single noun denoting "a walled-in compound or garden", from "pairi" ("around") and "daeza" or "diz" ("wall", "brick", or "shape"), philosopher and historian Xenophon of Athens borrowed the Old Iranian *paridaiza(h), Late Old Iranian *pardēz (Avestan pairidaēza, Old Persian *paridaida, Late Old Persian *pardēd) into Greek as paradeisos. This term is used for the Garden of Eden in Greek translations of the Old Testament. In Persian, the word pardis means both paradise and garden. The idea of the enclosed garden is often referred to as the paradise garden because of additional Indo-European connotations of "paradise". The oldest Persian garden of which there are records belonged to Cyrus the Great, in his capital at Pasargadae in the province of Fars to the north of Shiraz. It is the oldest intact layout that suggests elements of the paradise garden. Likely planted with cypress, pomegranate and cherry, the garden had a geometrical plan and stone watercourses. These watercourses formed the principal axis and secondary axes of the main garden at Pasargadae, prefiguring the four-fold design of the chahar bagh. In the Achaemenid Empire, gardens contained fruit trees and flowers, including the lily and rose. In 330 BC Alexander the Great saw the tomb of Cyrus the Great and recorded that it stood in an irrigated grove of trees.