Ever since Antiquity, the Olive tree that the Goddess Athena brought out of the earth, is the symbol of the Greek town to which she gave her name and represents force and victory, wisdom and fidelity, immortality and hope, riches and abundance.
According to the legend of Cecrops, Athena and Poseidon argued over the possession of Attica. Zeus (the God of the Greek Gods) suggested that they each make a donation to humanity. They chose Cecrops, the first king of the territory to be their arbitrator. Poseidon struck the Acropolis with his trident and made a source of salted water spurt forth and offered a magnificent horse that could carry horsemen and arms, pull chariots, and win battles to Cecrops.
Athena scratched her lance and the immortal tree was born from the soil that was burnt by the sun which would nourish and heal mankind: The Olive tree. Cecrops judged the gift offered by the Goddess to be more useful for his people and it is she who became the protector of Athens. According to Varron, Cecrops asked the inhabitants of Athens to choose their protector. The men chose Poseidon while the women chose Athena, and, more numerous by one vote, tipped the balance in her favour.
Another legend attributes the art of cultivating the Olive tree to Hercules who it is said filled his chariot with young shoots of Olive trees after having completed his ‘famous’ tasks and planted them in the gardens of Olympus.
The Olive tree is also one of the most mentioned trees in the Bible, where the dove released by Noah after the flood returns with an olive branch in its beak, after having found dry land. Or when Jacob anoints the stone of Beth-El with olive oil after his vision of the celestial ladder. Olive oil is used for sacred unction’s in Judaism and Christianity.
Furthermore, on the night preceding his arrest, Jesus chose to meditate and pray on the Mount of Olives. Sacrifice is therefore a symbolic notion of the Olive tree. It was an Olive tree, a Cyprus tree and a Cedar tree that emerged from Adam’s ashes. The Olive tree symbolises peace, reconciliation, blessings and sacrifice and the oil used during these rituals must obligatorily have been pressed by hand.
In the Koran, the Olive tree is a blessed tree, the symbol of universal mankind; and olive oil the source of divine light to guide men to reason through the purity of its oil. According to some, Mohammed said: “Consume the oil (Olive oil) and rub your face with it for it comes from a sacred tree.”
On the United Nations flag, the crown of olive branches circling the globe symbolises universal peace. The green robes of the immortal members of the French Academy owe their name to the green embroidery that decorated these robes which represented the motif of the olive branch. This motive also formally decorated the French franc.
In Japan, it is the tree of amiability and of moral victory, as well as of professional success. Whereas in China it plays the role of protection against poison.
SYMBOL OF LONG LIFE AND HOPE:
The Olive tree is renowned as being eternal. As Herodotus described it; “The Olive tree was burned during the fire in the Athenian temple by the barbarians; but the next day after the fire, when the Athenians, ordered by the king to make a sacrifice, climbed up to the sanctuary, the saw a shoot the height of a cubit sprout from the trunk.”
SYMBOL OF PEACE AND OF RECONCILIATION:
Noah’s Ark: After the flood, the earth was no doubt just an ocean of liquid mud. Sent off to reconnoitre in search of ground on which to rest, the dove returned at the end of the day to Noah’s Ark carrying a fresh branch of an Olive tree in its beak. Noah then knew that the water had receded on the surface of the earth. In this way, the Olive tree was the first tree to grow again after the flood. (Jacques Lacarrière, 1992) – The Symbol of Forgiveness.
SYMBOL OF VICTOIRY:
The Olive tree is a gift full of gratifying signification during the Olympic Games in Athens. A crown made from the Olive tree and jars of olive oil are offered to the winners. The crown of Olive tree branches has become the symbol of the Olympic Games in Athens. No less than five thousand, five hundred and thirteen crowns will be made during these games by volunteers. The branches come from Crete and offered by a sponsor. The crown is a reminder of the ancient tradition of Olympus 2,500 years ago. Created with the branches of the Olive tree that grew near the temple of Zeus, it was the sole reward given to the winners.
SYMBOL OF STRENGTH :
The Olive tree is renowned for its very compact, very heavy, and very resistant wood. It was in Olive wood that the hammers of Hercules were made and with a stake of Olive wood that Ulysses killed the Cyclops in the Odyssey.
SYMBOL OF LOYALTY :
It was also in Olive wood that the bed of Ulysses and Penelope was made, the bed which never received any of the many suitors to the kingdom of Ithaca, during the twenty years absence of this Greek hero.