**2. A short history**

To understand when the olive tree became essential for the peoples of the Mediterranean, it is necessary to take a journey into the past, going back thousands of years, trying to understand the origins of this special plant. It is believed that the first cultivation of olive trees, as we know them today, began about six to seven thousand years ago in the regions of the Middle East, in an area corresponding to ancient Persia and Mesopotamia. Here, the wild olive tree was domesticated and the oil was produced for the first time. From the Bronze Age, this precious substance spread like wildfire, thanks to merchants, moving between Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Greece, and Italy, and over time it acquired a growing socio-economic value. Terral et al. [2] analyzed the genetic differences between wild and cultivated olive trees, to trace the

origin of the modern European olive tree, the European Olea [3]. According to the scholar, the birth of the modern olive tree is more complex than one might think, deriving as it does from the crossing of 11 different varieties. One thing is certain, however, the olive tree has been part of the Mediterranean flora since time immemorial, fossil pollen of the genus Olea has in fact been found in several Mediterranean countries, such as Macedonia and Greece, while fossilized leaves dating back to about 37 thousand years ago have been found on the Greek island of Santorini (**Figure 1**) [4].

In 2500 BC within the Babylonian code of Hammurabi, the production and trade of olive oil were regulated, while around 1300 BC olive branches embellished the tombs of the pharaohs.

Thanks to the Greeks, the olive tree spread around the Mediterranean. It was considered very important in Greek culture and is mentioned in Greek mythology, "Poseidon, god of the sea, and Athena, daughter of Zeus, goddess of wisdom", competed to win possession of protection over Athens [5]. Poseidon hit the rock with his trident (on which the Acropolis would later rise) and from this, he made a source of seawater come out and a horse faster than the wind. Athena planted the first olive tree, a tree that, for millennia, with its fruits would give a wonderful juice that men could use for the preparation of food, for the care of the body, for the healing of wounds and diseases, and as a source of light for homes (**Figure 2**).

Thucydides (fifth century BC) wrote that "The peoples of the Mediterranean began to emerge from barbarism when they learned to cultivate olive trees and vines."

After the Greeks who favored the spread of the olive tree in the Mediterranean, the Romans took on the task of bringing the cultivation of this plant to greater development. The olive tree was planted everywhere in the empire, so much so that the Roman Empire imposed the payment of taxes in the form of olive oil. Also thanks to them the production process improved, there was a distinction made between different types of oil connected to the moment of pressing, (5 species of oil were identified). Even in Roman mythology, oil had a certain importance in fact it was Hercules who introduced the olive tree from North Africa and then the goddess Minerva would have taught men the art of cultivation and extraction of oil. As usual, with the fall of the Roman Empire, olive cultivation also experienced a period of decline,

The olive tree played an important role in various fields, including in sport— Greek athletes anointed themselves with olive oil before fighting and the winners of the Olympics were crowned with sacred olive branches and rewarded with

**Figure 1.** *Olive Grove in Santorini.*

**Figure 2.** *Poseidon and Athena.*

**Figure 3.** *Symbolic wreath of olive branches.*

richly decorated oil ampoules. Both the Greeks and the Romans used olive oil in the preparation of numerous recipes; moreover, it was widely used for therapeutic, medicinal, balsamic, and detergent purposes or as a fuel for votive lamps (**Figure 3**).

With the advent of the dominion of Rome, the olive tree had one of its greatest moments of glory and extended its range to reach areas in which until that moment, also due to the unfavorable climate, its cultivation had been marginal or nonexistent. The context in which the Berber populations of northern Africa learned the art of grafting olive trees is not known, but we know from Latin sources that they already practiced it when the Romans conquered their lands.

Finally, in the New World, olive trees were introduced soon after their discovery at the end of the fifteenth century. The first olive trees arrived in the Antilles from the port of Seville after the discovery of the New World and since 1560 olive groves have been observed in Mexico and later also in Peru, California, Chile and Argentina [6].
