Statue of Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella - Cadiz - Andalusia

Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella, called Columela, was a Spanish agronomic writer of ancient Rome.

Columela's work is considered to be the most comprehensive and best-documented repertoire of Roman agriculture.

He later moved to the Italian peninsula, where he devoted himself to agriculture, encouraged by the family role model of his uncle Marco Columela. From his written work we have De re rustica (Field Work), written about AD 42, and De arboribus (Book of Trees). The first of these works consisted of twelve books.

It was all field work in the broadest sense of the word : from farming, raising livestock and beekeeping , to caring for the animals , to preparing various products and preserves.

In De arboribus he deals with shrubs like vines and trees like olive trees or fruit trees and even flowers like the pansy or the rose .

Willem Vandenameele