ABSTRACT

People of classical times were conscious of plants or fruits as important producers of food, oils, fibers, woods, and medicine. The history of pomegranate as a natural medicine and food is shown in the paintings and mosaics of Pompeii, the city destroyed by an eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D. 1 The plants or fruits that appear in the paintings and mosaics of Pompeii are chiefly edible and medicinal. They include lemon, cherry, strawberry, grape, leaves of grape, olive, fig, apple, olive, flowers of corn cockle, and pomegranate. Some of these plants or fruits are mentioned to have diuretic properties in Naturalis Historia of Pliny the Elder. 2