Ancient Greece - Mythology
The olive and the olive oil in Ancient Greece.
An examination of archeological finds regarding the use and significance of the olive in the age of antiquity confirms that this was one of the most useful and beloved trees of the Greeks, due to its sacred importance, its economic significance and the multiple usefulness of its products in everyday life and in religious life.
It used to be mistakenly claimed that its cultivation was transferred to Greece from Palestine. Newer evidence derived from the analysis of pollen, testify its presence on Greek ground from the Neolithic age. Its systematic cultivation was also confirmed during the Mycenaean period in different parts of Greece. Linear B tablets from the archives of the palaces of Knossos, Pylos and Mycenae also testify to the economic significance it had during the 14th and 13th century B.C. Olive kernels were found in Knossos and Acharnae inside vases, while whole olives with their flesh were found at Zakros which date back to 1450 B.C. Olive kernels were also found in tombs at Messara, while olive presses were discovered in other parts of Crete that date back to the post-Mycenaean II and III periods (1450-1200 B.C.) Olives are depicted on works of arts of that period. A mural in the palace of Knossos of the 16th century B.C. depicts a wonderful presentation of an olive grove, while the gold cups from the Mycenaean tomb of Vafio of Lakonia (16th century B.C.) are decorated with a depiction of olive trees.
References in Mythology
According to mythology, the olive was brought to the Greeks by Athena who taught them how to cultivate it. The well-known dispute between Athena and Poseidon over the name of the city of Athens is a characteristic example. There was a sacred olive tree at the Acropolis, the first olive tree that the goddess had given to the Greeks, and 12 sacred olive trees at the Academia, the moriae, and the sacred olive grove from where the olive oil was given as a trophy to the champions of the Panathenaic Games. An indication of the significance that the olive had for Athens was that the Athenians depicted Athena on their coins with an olive wreath on her helmet, holding an amphora with olive oil or an olive tree branch.
Another tradition mentions that Heracles (whose club was made of wild olive wood) brought an olive shoot from the country of the Hyperborean (legendary people who the Greeks believed lived beyond the North or, according to another interpretation, in the sky) and planted it at Olympia. Olympic champions were crowned with a branch of this wild olive tree. The gold and ivory statue of Zeus at Olympia was also decorated with olive branches, a work of Phidias and one of the seven wonders of the world of antiquity.
Olive oil as a cause for war
Olive oil was the most significant factor of Ancient Greek economy. The Spartans had destroyed the olive groves of Attica during their invasion in the Peloponnesian War, but the Athenians with Pericles had cut down the olive trees in the valleys of Cynouria and Argolis. Ancient sources mention many similar cases, in which the military enemy would destroy olive trees, thus striking the economy of a place for many years until the olive grove could grow back again. Sometimes a large production output of olive oil was not a blessing for the area. In the case of Thyreatis, the wealth in olive oil of the valley appears to have been one of the reasons behind the conflicts between Sparta and Argos which lasted for nine centuries.
The excess olive oil produced was stored in large clay jars or distributed through land and sea trade networks, with the Black Sea market as its main destination. Skins loaded on mounts were used to transport it over land, while the olive oil was stored in narrow-bottomed amphorae to transport it over sea. The light-colored olive oil of the island of Samos and Thurium in Magna Graecia was famous. During bad years, however, the regions that produced olive oil not only did not have excess in olive oil to trade, but there was such a shortage that they believed they were lucky to find any olive oil in the market at all to cover their needs. During an election that took place in the 2nd century B.C., the Athenians honored the olive oil trader who had stopped at Piraeus, because he had agreed to sell them a load of 56,000 liters of olive oil which was initially intended for the Bosporus.
Nutrition and Health
Olive oil has always been the basic ingredient of the diet of Greeks since ancient times. There were three qualities of olive oil. The most excellent quality was called “omphacium” (raw pressed) and it was extracted from unripe olives, without scalding. Then followed the olive oil for meals, which was of good quality. The lowest quality of olive oil was called “chydaeon” as it was from over-ripe or damaged olives.
Apart from basic food, olive oil was necessary fuel for lighting, since oil lamps were used. This use has survived to this day with vigil candles.
The use of olive oil for bodily hygiene was also popular. Anointing the body with oil protected it from the sun and the cold. The body and hair was anointed with scented oil after bathing, and it was the basic ingredient of many perfumes. The production of perfumed oil in Greece is testified to by the Linear B tablets of Pylos from the Mycenaean age. In addition, in his notes “On Scents” Theophrastus, as well as Dioskourides saved information on the ingredients and the recipes which produced perfumed oil.
Healing properties
Olive oil was also used in the age of antiquity for its healing properties. The Hippocratic Code mentions over 60 of its medicinal uses. It was suitable for the treatment of skin diseases, as a healing and antiseptic treatment for wounds, burns and gynecological illnesses. It was likely used as means of contraception. It was also used as an emetic, and to treat ear problems. When ingested, it was thought to be useful in treatment of cardiac diseases. Apart from olive oil, the leaves and the flowers of olive were also used for their therapeutic attributes, and were used to prepare herbal infusions used as a eye drops, as a treatment for the inflammation of the gums and to treat stomach ulcers.
The oil was also used also as lubricant, e.g. in metallic mechanisms or wooden parts. An ointment with olive oil as its base was used to preserve ivory, leather and metal. The preservation of the gold and ivory statue of Zeus in Olympia, according to information of sources, was done with olive oil.
Olive varieties
The uses of oil for religious purposes were varied. The oil was used to make offerings at the altars; it was spread on tomb pillars or on holy stones. The ancient use of the olive oil and of wine at the burial ritual was preserved in the early Christian religion.
Edible olives constituted a basic element of the diet, mainly of those who ate away from home, who worked in the fields, were travelling or on military campaigns. The olives are suitable for such use, since they can be easily carried, they do not spoil and they have great nutritious value. Olive kernels have been found in various excavations as part of food residues. Ancient writers had preserved information on the large variety of edible olives. “Thlastae: olives were probably the black wrinkled olives, which are reported to be digestive. "Kolymbades” were the olives in brine. Their consumption was widespread. The “almades" were of a similar variety to the previous ones. They could be “kolymbades” during their first stage of treatment with salt. "Goggylae" were the round olives, probably the ones we call giant olives today. “Drypetis” were over-ripe wrinkled olives, which were eaten without treatment. “Melaenae" is reported by Athenaeus as being difficult to digest. “Pityridae” were small olives; they had the color of bran and were collected before they ripened. “Stemphylides” were black olives from which "stemphylon” was made, a paste of crushed olives from which, together with herbs, oil and vinegar, “epityron” was made, which was probably served with cheese.
The treatment of some types of olives which were edible did not differ from their treatment today. After the bitterness was removed with water and salt, they were left for a few hours in vinegar and then they would be stored in oil. On the other hand, for other types of olives, ingredients that are unusual by our current standards were used. That is, after the bitterness was removed, it is said that they were placed in vinegar, boiled wine and honey, and different herbs were added, such as fennel, cumin, rue, mint and coriander.
The wood and the branches
Apart from the oil and the olives, the wood from the olive tree was used as fuel, for wooden supports and joints in architectural structures, as central pinning for construction of pillars (empolia), to make handles for agricultural and other tools, but also to make idols of gods and other wooden statues.
Olive leaves and branches have been used as mattresses. In four tombs in Feron towards the end of the 5th century B.C., in which many organic objects had been preserved, the dead were placed on a thick layer of olive branches. This probably also was practiced in other burial sites, in which the organic material was not preserved. In the Syracuse, in cases when banishment was voted for, the name of the person to be banished was written in ink on olive leaves(petalism). In certain cases of ostracism, votes were also placed in the Parliament of Athens with the use of olive leaves (ekfylloforia).
It is consequently very clear that the olive - for its oil, the edible olives, the wood and even its leaves - had sovereign presence in the private and public life of Greeks. But the Greek countryside, where the olive trees prevailed, constituted the marvelous setting for their lives, and undeniably affected the modest and harmonious aesthetics they developed.
The season of year when the fruit is harvested, is when the population of the Greek countryside works hardest in the olive groves, as their ancestors have from ancient times up to the present day, warming up the cold days with their voices, the sounds of their rods and saws and the endless music of the precious fruit falling on the cloths below.
Source: http://users.otenet.gr/~apelon4/olive.htm