Greece is full of olive groves. The Olive Tree, "the tree that feeds the children" according to Sophocles, is the protagonist of the Greek nature and history as olive oil is the protagonist of the Greek diet.
The indigenous olive tree (wild olive tree) first appeared in the eastern Mediterranean but it was in Greece that it was first cultivated. Since then, the presence of the olive tree in the Greek region has been uninterrupted and closely connected with the traditions and the culture of the Greek people.
According to mythology, Elais, daughter of Anias and Dorippi, was the protector of olive oil. Her sisters were Oino, protector of vineyard, and Spermo, protector of wheat. Oil, wine and wheat were the three valuable products of the Greek soil.
Olive oil, as it is testified by the fossilized olive trees which are 50,000-60,000 thousand years old and were found in the volcanic rocks of Santorini, has always been a distinctive element of the country. Its systematic cultivation started in the pre-historic times - the Stone and Bronze Age. .
Olive oil production held a prominent position in the Minoan and Mycenaean society and economy as it shown by excavations and findings (earthenware jars, recordings on tablets, remains of oil mills). During the Minoan Period, olives were treated and oil was produced which in turn was stored in earthenware jars and amphorae. Quite often it was exported to the Aegean islands and mainland Greece. Apart from the financial gains, though, the olive tree was worshipped as sacred and its oil, besides being offered to the Gods and the dead, was also used in the production of perfumes, medicine and in daily life as a basic product in diet, lighting and heating.
The olive tree played an important role in the life in Athens as well. According to tradition, in the famous fight between Poseidon and Pallada Athena over the name of the city, Athena won offering the city an olive tree, symbol of peace, progress and power. The city expressed its gratitude by giving the name of the Goddess to the city. Indicative of the importance given to the olive tree by Athens is the fact that the Athenians represented Athena having an olive wreath on her helmet and an amphora with oil or a branch of olive tree. The sculpture of Zeus, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, in Olympia made of gold and ivory by Pheidias had also a wreath of olive branches.
The sacred olive tree of Athens, the first olive tree given to the Greeks by the goddess Athena, grew in the Acropolis and in the area of the Academy there were the 12 sacred olive trees, 'moriai', and the sacred olive grove from which the olive oil given as a prize to the winners of Panathenea was taken. In 480 BC, when the Persians occupied Athens, they burnt down the sacred tree and this was considered by the Athenians a bad sign. But the next day, sorrow was replaced by joy seeing that the burnt trunk had already budded.
Olive oil had a direct connection with sports activities. The athletes of ancient games had the habit of smearing their bodies with oil before exercising in the gymnasiums in order to maintain the elasticity of their muscles. The prize for the winners of the Olympic Games was a wreath of wild olive, 'kotinos'. Olive oil had also many different therapeutic uses according to the Hippocratic code of medicine which mentions approximately 60 therapeutic uses of the olive tree for treating diseases and ailments. Olive oil was also used as a sacred symbol for religious purposes in different ceremonies. Ancient Greeks used olive oil to make libations on the altars, to smear tombstones and sacred stones.
The Christians continued the ancient custom of using oil in the burial ceremony. Olive oil has put its seal on the Greek traditions with which it is irrevocably connected. Being the sacred symbol of the cycle of life, it is used in every important moment and ceremony - birth, christening, marriage and death. For the Orthodox Christians, oil, as well as wheat and wine, has the significance of a religious good as it is connected with the mysteries of Confirmation and Holy Unction. The faithful consider the oil sanctified by the church to be a talisman and a source of help in every difficult moment. According to another tradition, "ladadelfia" (oil-siblings), people having received the oil of christening from the same godfather or godmother, are not allowed to get married to each other.
Art has been influenced as well by the strong presence of the olive tree in the Greek region. The traditional picture of villagers praying for a good harvest and gathering in the olive groves to pick the olives has been the topic of many literature works, paintings and folklore objects.
The olive tree - a sacred tree, valuable and beloved- has put its mark on the Greek civilization.
Data About the Olive Tree and Greece
- Many people claim that the oldest olive tree, 5,000 years old, is in Pano Vouves, in Kolymvari, Chania. The average life expectancy of an olive tree is 300-600 years.
- The cultivation and exploitation technique today is not very different from the one used in ancient times.
- The Mediterranean area produces 99% of the world olive oil production.
- Greece, despite the fact that it is a small country in magnitude, stands in the 3rd position in the world in the olive oil production, after Spain and Italy.
- There are today approximately 120,000,000 olive trees in Greece (the population of the country is approximately 10,000,000) covering an area of approximately 6 million stremmata (1 stremma=1000 m2 / about Ό of an acre). Approximately 450,000 Greek families are involved in the cultivation of the olive tree and the processing of its fruit all over the country.
- The prefectures of Heraklion and Messinia are in the first position in the production of olive oil in Greece.
- Greece is the biggest exporter of Extra Pure Olive Oil considered the best quality of olive oil.
- The Greeks are today the first consumes of olive oil compared to any other people and the per capita consumption is approximately 16 kilos annually. In Crete, consumption comes up to 30 kilos per year per person. Scientific research has proven that the Cretan diet is the healthiest in the world.
- Biological cultivation of the olive tree in Greece started approximately 10 years ago in Mani and it is estimated that today it uses 15,000 stremmata while it is expected to exceed 35,000 stremmata in the next years.
Olive Museums
- Olive and Greek Olive Oil Museum in Sparta, Laconia (Peloponnese). It was founded by the Cultural Technological Institute of The Greek Bank of Industrial Development. It was the result of the research of 35 scientists. The aim of the museum is the promotion of the olive culture and providing information about its cultivation in the area of the Peloponnese as well as all over Greece and the wider Mediterranean area. The technology of extracting oil from the ancient times up to the 20th century AD, and more specifically from the 4th century BC up to 1950, will be presented. The museum is housed in a building of the old power company of Sparta; an old industrial complex built around 1928.
- Olive Museum, Kapsaliana Arkadi, Crete. The museum is housed in a recently restored settlement of Kapsaliana where the oil mill of the Arkadi Monastery was.
- Cyclades Olive Museum, Andros island. Well preserved old oil mill in Andros which was restored and transformed into a museum ready to provide visitors regardless of age the opportunity to come close to this valuable product as well as get to know the old and traditional techniques of its production. http://www.musioelias.gr/
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