ABSTRACT

Myths and the History of the Olive Tree e great significance that the olive tree has had for the life and the economy of the ancient world in the eastern Mediterranean area is evident in the appearance of the olive tree in the myths of the people who lived there. In Hebrew mythology a dove brings an olive branch to Noah after the Great Flood, indicating that life has returned to earth. In the Old Testament, oil is often mentioned along with wheat and wine as one of the basic products in the land of Israel (Valavanis, 2004). Moses dreamt of the Promised Land as “the land of olives and olive oil” (2004). e dedication of the altar and various objects required for worship was performed with holy oil “and Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the tabernacle and all that was therein, and sanctified

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them” (Leviticus, 8.10-12). According to Greek tradition, the bringing of the wreath to Olympia from the distant mythical Hyperborean countries was the initiative and deed of the demigod Heracles (Faklaris and Stamatopoulos, 2004). e ancient Egyptians crowned their dead with olive branches. e Phoenicians were possibly the first to produce olive oil. e olive originated in the countries of south Asia and was carried by birds to the Mediterranean via the Middle East. e most ancient oleaster traces in Greece are fossilized leaves found in the caldera on the island of Santorini dating back some 50,000 – 60,000 years (Valavanis, 2004) (Fig. 1.1). ere is no evidence for the use of olive products by the inhabitants of the prehistoric Aegean. Nevertheless, it seems possible that at least since the Neolithic Age, namely since 8,000 B.C., the oleaster fruit would occasionally be collected, along with other wild edible fruit, to supplement the daily diet. Palynology, the relatively new science of the study of pollen, has revealed the presence of oleaster pollen towards the end of the Neolithic Age, about 3,200-3,100 B.C. in Kopais, essaly, and Crete. e principles of cultivation of the olive were apparently discovered and formulated some time later, at some point in the third millennium B.C., at the beginning

Fig. 1.1. Fossilized olive leaves recovered from the Caldera walls of Santorini, 6000 years old. From the book “Ode to the olive tree”, Hellenic Folklore Research Center of the Academy of Athens, General Secretariat for Olympic Games, Athens 2004.