The Book of Symbol 11...

Olive Tree

Able to root, grow, bear fruit and sustain itself in the dry, rocky soil of the Mediterranean landscape to which it is native, the olive tree evokes the resilience, regeneration and fertility that establish, and succeed, whole civilizations. Van Gogh's painting expresses the spirit of the olive tree, the gnarled trunks that exist for centuries, even a thousand years or more, and their branches that over time are buffered and twisted by the wind until they resemble waves on hillsides above bustling societies and ancient ruins. 

Olive trees perpetually renew themselves from their roots (Psilakis, 209). They resurrect after fire by sprouting new shoots and are able to grow back even if their tops and trunks decay. Cultivated olive strains cannot grow by themselves from seed by must be grafted onto wild olive trees. Saint Paul employed the image in reverse as a metaphor, reminding the Gentile Christians that they were shoots of the wild olive tree, which, contrary to nature, had been grafted on the cultivated olive tree of Jewish Christian believers, whose roots and branches were Israel (Romans 11:13-24). The olive was the Tree of Life for the ancient peoples of Greece and Rome, the Biblical Hebrews and the Muslims. Its fruit, processed with lye or salt, its rich, delectable oil and its wood provided food, light, medicine, fuel and building materials. Evergreen olive branches, their shapely leaves green on one side and silvery gray on the other so that they shimmered in the sun, crowned brides, war heroes and athletic victors who embodied the immortals. Olive oil anointed kings, holy objects for ritual and sacred spaces, and lighted the lamps of home and temple for centuries. Those who approached the Asclepian sanctuary of healing at Epidaurus came "crowned with the wreath of the pure olive," signifying transcendence of destructive forces and rebirth. Before going to Crete to slay the Minotaur, the legendary Theseus dedicated to Apollo an offering with branches form the holy olive tree on the Acropolis (Psilakis, 164ff). Olive garlands and branches were common in the worship of the god Zeus and at the Panathenaea, the games honoring Zeus' daughter Athena, warrior-goddess of the city-state. 

Gnarled, swirling, silvery, Van Gogh's olive trees

seemingly draw together earth and sky in timeless

witness to successions of human endeavor. Landscape

with Olive Trees, oil on canvas, 1889, France.

So essential to the religious, practical and economic life of Greece was the olive that in the sixth century B.C.E., the ruler Solon introduced strict laws for its protection (ibid.)/. Mythically, however, it was Athena who face the olive as a gift to the Greeks, who were cultivating it in Crete as long as 3500 B.C.E. or earlier (Enc.Brit. 8:917). Athena and Poseidon, the divine lord of the seas, held a contest to determine  who would rule Attica. Poseidon struck the rock of the Acropolis with his trident, causing a saltwater spring to burst forth. Athena planted an olive tree beside the rock and her gift was deemed of the greater value; she won Attica and Athens was named in her honor.

Athena's militant aspect primarily served the defense of Athens and its perpetuation as the thriving center of Greek culture. The olive tree's association with life made it the emblem not only of Athena but also of the Roman goddess Pax, or Peace. Messengers seeking truce or asylum would carry an olive branch wrapped in wool (Biedermann, 245). In the biblical story of Genesis, it was an olive branch that the dove brought back to Noah, signifying the recession of the floodwaters and the restoration of harmony between human and divine. That is the olive- symbol of the quintessence that survives the dissolution of the old forms and renews itself from the roots up. 

Biedermann, Hans. Dictionary of Symbolism.

NY, 1994.

Psilakis, Nikos. The Olive Wreath: The Wreaths 

of the Olympic Winners, Symbolic and Moral Background.

 Heraklion [Crete], 2003.

~Bella