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Olive oil history
Besides food, olive oil has been used for religious rituals, medicines, as a fuel in oil lamps, soap-making, and skin care application. The importance and antiquity of olive oil can be seen in the fact that the English word oil derives from c. 1175, olive oil, from Anglo-Fr. and O.N.Fr. olie, from O.Fr. oile (12c., Mod.Fr. huile), from L. oleum "oil, olive oil" (cf. It. olio), from Gk. elaion "olive tree",[13] which may have been borrowed through trade networks from the Semitic Phoenician use of el'yon meaning "superior", probably in recognized comparison to other vegetable or animal fats available at the time.
The olive tree is native to the Mediterranean basin; wild olives were collected by Neolithic peoples as early as the 8th millennium BC[14]. A widespread view exists that the first cultivation of the olive tree took place on the island of Crete. The earliest surviving olive oil amphorae date to 3500 BC (Early Minoan times), though the production of olive is assumed to have started before 4000 BC[15]. An alternative view retains that olives were turned into oil by 4500 BC by canaanites in present-day Israel.
It is not clear when and where the olive tree was first domesticated: in Asia Minor in the 6th millennium[17]; along the Levantine coast stretching from the Sinai Peninsula to modern Turkey in the 4th millennium [18]; or somewhere in the Mesopotamian Fertile Crescent in the 3rd millennium .[19] Recent genetic studies suggest that species used by modern cultivators descend from multiple wild populations, but a detailed history of domestication is not yet understood.
Many ancient presses still exist in the Eastern Mediterranean region, and some dating to the Roman period are still in use today.
Eastern Mediterranean
There is evidence of oil pressing having taken place from 6000 BC in Central Anatolia.
Over 5,000 years ago oil was being extracted from olives in the Eastern Mediterranean. In the centuries that followed, olive presses became a common sight from the Atlantic shore of North Africa to Persia and from the Po Valley to the settlements along the Nile.
Olive trees and oil production in the Eastern Mediterranean can be traced to archives of the ancient city-state Ebla(2600-2240 BC), which were located on the outskirts of the Syrian city Aleppo., where some dozen documents, dated 2400 BC, describe lands in the property of the king and the queen. These belonged to a library of clay tablets perfectly preserved by having been baked in the fire that destroyed the palace. A later source is the frequent mentions of oil in Tanakh.
Sinuhe, the Egyptian exile who lived in northern Canaan about 1960 BC, wrote of abundant olive trees. Actual remains of olive oil have been found in jugs over 4,000 years old in a tomb on the island of Naxos in the Aegean Sea. Before 2000 BC the Dynastic Egyptians imported olive oil from Crete, Syria and Canaan and was one of the important items of commerce and wealth.
Until 1500 BC, the eastern coastal areas of the Mediterranean were most heavily cultivated. Olive tree growing reached Iberia and Etruscan cities well before the 8th century BC through Phoenician and Carthage trade, and then spread into Southern Gaul by the Celtic tribes during the 7th century BC. Olive trees were certainly cultivated by the Late Minoan period (1500 BC) in Crete, and perhaps as early as the Early Minoan period. The cultivation of the olive tree in Crete became particularly intense in the post-palatial period and played an important role in the island's economy. The Minoans used olive oil in religious ceremonies. The oil became a principal product of the Minoan civilization, where it is thought to have represented wealth. The Minoans put the pulp into settling tanks and, when the oil had risen to the top, drained the water from the bottom.
The first recorded oil extraction is known from the Hebrew Bible and took place during the Exodus from Egypt. During this time, the oil was derived through hand-squeezing the berries and stored in special containers under guard of the priests. A commercial mill for non-sacramental use of oil was in use in the tribal Confederation and later the Kingdom of Israel c. 1000 BC. Over 100 olive presses have been found in Tel Mique Akron, where the Biblical Philistines also produced oil. These presses are estimated to have had output of between 1,000 and 3,000 tons of olive oil per season.
Olive trees were planted in the entire Mediterranean basin during evolution of the Roman state and empire. According to the historian Pliny, Italy had "excellent olive oil at reasonable prices" by the first century AD, "the best in the Mediterranean," he maintained, a claim probably disputed by many ancient olive growers. Olive oil was thus very common in Hellene and Latin cuisine. According to legend, the city of Athens obtained its name because Athenians considered olive oil essential, preferring the offering of the goddess Athena (an olive tree) over the offering of Poseidon (a spring of salt water gushing out of a cliff).
The Spartans were the Hellenes who used oil to rub themselves while exercising in the gymnasia. The practice served to eroticise and highlight the beauty of the male body. From its beginnings early in the seventh century BC, the decorative use of olive oil quickly spread to all of Hellenic city states, together with naked appearance of athletes, and lasted close to a thousand years despite its great expense.
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