OLIVE & OLIVE OIL: MYTHS & HISTORY
The most familiar myth related to olive culture is the one that considers the tree as a gift from goddess Athena. Others say that she had planted the first tree in Crete and then in Athens and others that the first olive tree to be planted by the goddess of wisdom was the one that sprouted between Athena and Poseidon for their ruling over Attica.
It was decided that each of them should offer a valuable present. The winner would be the one whose present would be more precious. The other gods were the judges to this competition. Poseidon, the god - ruler of the seas, appeared at the competition with his shining trident, which provoked a terrible sea storm on seas and oceans, each time it was wagged by the god.
The god of the seas lifted the trident and fixed it on the holy rock of the Acropolis. Salty water started spurting and flowing at the root of the rock. Some said that Poseidon had opened a well with his trident on the rock of the Acropolis and that this well was full of sea water. Athena did not need to make any significant movement.
She just leant and planted an olive oil at that same place. Within little time, it had sprouted and its silver-green leaves had impressed all those who watched this miracle happen.
That was it. Such a tree did not exist until then in the world. The people could not taste cooked food; neither could they enjoy a lighted night, since no adequate combustible existed for lamps, the most developed means at that time.
The gods judged that Athena’s’ present was priceless.
The allusions to the sanctity of the olive tree and the olive oil in the Ancient Testament are often impressive. In the Genesis, for example, the olive tree is characterized as a symbol of power, placidity, peace, “divine oil”, spirituality.
As a whole the olive plant is mentioned in the Bible more than 170 times.
When Xerxes arrived in Greece, in 480 before J.C., he was informed by Arcadian fugitives that the Greeks celebrated the 75th Olympic Games. Then, as Herodotus describes, a General asked him what the winners’ prize is. The answer was: “an olive wreath”. This answer made Mardonius exclaim: “what people did we come to fight against, these people only fight for glory!”
Indeed, the only prize for Olympic Games winners was an olive wreath made of “kotinos”,  which is a branch from a wild olive tree.
Finally, olive oil plays a major part in no less than three important celebrations of the orthodox religious life: Baptism, Extreme Function and the Holy oil Friday.
Greece takes up the fourth position in the production of edible olive and third position in the production of olive oil.
In our country, a country that lives harmoniously with the olive oil since at least 5,000 years, 350,000 families, half of which in the Peloponnese and Crete, live from the cultivation of the olive oil.
Every single citizen of this country annually consumes 2 kg of olive oil. The culture of the olive covers an extent of 6 billion square meters, which represent 17% of cultivated land and employs 450,000 families.
Finally, it is estimated that 2,800 oil presses operate today, 220 olive oil standardization companies, 26 fining companies and about 50 factories which process olive residues.
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