Olive Trees
Pottery: Black-Figured Amphora, 520 BC/ 6th Century BC
Attributed to: The Antimenes Painter
Painted and Incised Ceramic
Made in Attica, Greece
Permanent Collection British Museum, London, UK
Attributed to: The Antimenes Painter
Painted and Incised Ceramic
Made in Attica, Greece
Permanent Collection British Museum, London, UK
This ceramic black-figured amphora shows a scene of olive-gathering by four people, a naked youth who is seated in the tree to shake down olives with sticks, two bearded figures beating the trees with sticks, and another naked youth who collects the fallen olives and puts them in a basket. This depiction of the olive harvest on an amphora is in the British Museum in London.
The olive was first domesticated in the Eastern Mediterranean between 8,000 and 6,000 years ago. Olives were probably first cultivated from wild olive trees at the frontier between Turkey and Syria. The olive was native to Asia Minor and spread from Iran, Syria, and Palestine to the rest of the Mediterranean basin; later spreading to north Africa, most of Europe, the Americans, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
It is among the oldest known cultivated trees in the world - being grown before the written language was even invented! Olives had been found in Egyptian tombs dating back to 2,000 years BC. The olive culture was spread to the early Greeks then to the Romans. In the Bronze Age (3150 to 1200 BC), olives can be traced to Mediterranean Islands based from written tablets, olive pits, and wood fragments found in ancient tombs.
In mythology, Zeus promised to give the land of Attica to the god or goddess who made the most useful invention of the land. Athena's gift of the olive, useful for light, heat, food, medicine and perfume. The olive was picked as a more peaceful invention decided by Zeus. Athena planted the original olive tree on a rocky hill known today as the Acropolis. The olive tree that grows there today is said to have come from the roots of the original tree. From biblical times, the olive tree has served as a symbol of sacredness, peace and unity.
During this time amphora were used to hold liquids, oils, and water. This amphora most likely held olive oil. Which could have been used to cook or even used as a body oil.