Most Interesting Olive Facts

Olives are one of the world’s most widely enjoyed foods. Here is a list of some amazing olive facts.

1. The botanical name of the olive is “olea europaea” which means “European olive”.
2. Even though we think that the olive is a vegetable, it is technically classified as a fruit!
3. The olive tree and its fruit give their name to the plant family, which also includes species such as lilacs, jasmine and the true ash tree (Fraxinus).
4. The word derives from the Latin “oliva”, a borrowing from the Greek ἐλαία (elaía) which means olive fruit and olive tree.
5. Fossil evidence indicates the olive tree had its origins 20-40 million years ago in the Oligocene region corresponding to Italy and the eastern Mediterranean Basin.
6. The olive though was first cultivated 7,000 years ago in Mediterranean regions.
7. Fossilized leaves of Olea were found in the volcanic Greek island of Santorini.
8. Research indicates that since 3000 BC, olives were grown commercially in Crete. They may have been one of the sources wealth of the Minoan civilization.
9. The ancient Greeks smeared olive oil on their bodies and hair as a matter of grooming and good health.
10. In ancient Greece, olive oil was used to anoint kings and athletes.
11. It was burnt in the sacred lamps of temples and was the “eternal flame” of the original Olympic games. Victors in these games were crowned with its leaves.
12. This tradition was revived during the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004.
13. In an ancient Athenian myth, the goddess Athena won the patronship of Athens from Poseidon with the gift of the olive.
14. The father of botany, Theophrastus (fourth century BC) mentions that the very olive tree of Athena still grew on the Acropolis. The tree was still to be seen there in the second century AD.
15. An olive tree just outside the city center of Athens, named “Plato’s Olive Tree”, is thought to be a remnant of the grove, where Plato’s Academy was situated, making it an estimated 2,400 years old.