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History

It is not known exactly when the wild olive became a domesticated crop. A leaf from an olive tree is mentioned in chapter 8 of Genesis when Noah finds one in the dove's beak. In the Homeric world, as depicted in the Iliad, olive oil is known only as a luxury of the wealthy--an exotic product, prized chiefly for its value in grooming; warriors would anoint themselves after bathing, and the body of Patroclus is described as being oiled in this way. But no mention of the cultivation of the plant is made, whereas a vineyard is mentioned in the description of Achilles' shield. But, although no reference to the cultivation of the olive occurs in the Iliad, the presence of the tree in the garden of Alcinous and other allusions show it to have been known when the Odyssey was written. All tradition points to the limestone hills of Attica as the seat of its first cultivation on the Hellenic peninsula. The tree features in the myths of the founding of Athens: an olive is said to have sprung from the barren rock at the bidding of Athena, the city state's patron, when she fought with Poseidon. This suggests some relation to the first planting of the olive in Greece. There is also the remarkable story told by Herodotus of the Epidaurians, who, when their crops failed, were told by the Delphic oracle to erect statues to Damia and Auxesia (symbols of fertility) carved from the wood of the true garden olive, then possessed only by the Athenians. They did so when granted their request for a tree by the Athenians (on the condition of making an annual sacrifice to Athena) and their lands became fertile again. The sacred tree of the goddess long stood on the Acropolis, and, though destroyed in the Persian invasion, sprouted again from the root. Some suckers of the original tree were said to have produced the later revered olive trees of the Academy.

By the time of Solon the olive had spread so much that he found it necessary to enact laws to regulate the cultivation of the tree in Attica. From here it gradually spread to all the Athenian allies and tributary states. Phoenician vessels may have taken olive cuttings to the Ionian coast, where it abounded in the time of Thales; the olives of the Sporades, Rhodes and Crete perhaps had a similar origin. Samos, if we may judge from the epithet of Aeschylus, must have had the plant long before the Persian Wars.

Cultivation

Cultivation of the olive was (and remains) a key characteristic of Mediterranean mixed farming, and played a large part in the economic development of ancient Greece because of the suitability of olive oil as an export crop. For instance Attica, the region of Athens, was a grain importer and olive oil exporter from early historic times. The Athenian pottery industry was stimulated largely by the demand for containers in which to export olive oil.Fact: date=September 2008