Frequently Asked Questions
Where did olive oil originate?
Olive cultivation originated in the Mediterranean basin approximately 6,000 years ago, with the earliest evidence from the Levant and eastern Mediterranean regions (modern-day Israel, Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon). For a complete overview, see our Cultural & Historical guide.The olive tree (Olea europaea) was first cultivated for its fruit (for eating) and later for oil extraction, with the transition to oil production occurring gradually as crushing and pressing techniques evolved. From the Levant, olive cultivation spread throughout the Mediterranean via Phoenician trade routes (1200–800 BCE) and Greek colonization (800–500 BCE), reaching Spain, Italy, North Africa, and the western Mediterranean by the time of classical Greece.
The olive tree's extraordinary adaptability — its drought tolerance, its ability to grow on marginal rocky slopes unsuitable for other crops, its resistance to disease, and its extraordinary longevity (some olive trees are 3,000–4,000 years old) — made it the backbone of Mediterranean agriculture in a way no other crop could be. The phrase "liquid gold" in reference to olive oil appears in ancient texts from Homer (800 BCE) through Theophrastus (300 BCE), reflecting the economic, nutritional, and cultural value that olive oil held across the ancient Mediterranean world. The olive tree was not just a crop — it was a foundation of Mediterranean civilization.1
Olive Oil in Ancient Greece and Rome
In ancient Greece, olive oil was so valuable that it was used as currency — Athenian citizens were paid in olive oil for their military service, and the oil exported from Athens was one of the city's primary sources of wealth. The cultivation of olive trees was so closely regulated that a law in ancient Athens prohibited the cutting down of olive trees except to plant new ones, reflecting the tree's sacred and economic status. Olive oil was used not just as food but as the primary fuel for oil lamps (lamps before candles were the universal artificial light source), as a body anointing oil (the Greek word for annointing, "chrei," is related to the word for oil), and as a base for perfumes and medicines. The gymnasium of ancient Greece — the "place for exercising naked" — took its name from the practice of anointing oneself with olive oil before exercise.
In Roman civilization, olive oil became even more centrally important as the empire expanded throughout the Mediterranean — Roman emperors issued edicts to ensure olive oil supply to the capital, and theum Pompeii was dominated by oil lamps, oil presses, and olive oil merchant shops. The Romans developed the first large-scale industrial olive oil production, with enormous pressing facilities (torculum) in North Africa, Spain, and southern France serving as the manufacturing basis for the olive oil trade. Roman soldiers were issued olive oil as part of their rations — it was both a food and a maintenance product, used for skin care, wound treatment, and fuel. The Roman appetite for olive oil was insatiable; the archaeology of Rome's Monte Testaccio is a 140-foot hill formed entirely from broken olive oil amphorae, the refuse of feeding the empire's capital.1
Olive Oil in Religion and Culture
Olive oil's significance in religion predates Christianity and extends through the Abrahamic traditions. In ancient Greece, olive oil was poured on sacred objects and used to annoint kings, priests, and sacred spaces. In Judaism, the menorah in the Temple was fueled by pure olive oil, and the prophetic tradition describes a future messianic age where "your sons shall be planted in the house of the Lord" beside olive trees. In Christianity, the Holy Anointing Oil of Extreme Unction uses olive oil as its sacramental base, and the Eastern Orthodox Church uses olive oil extensively inicons, baptism, and consecration. In Islam, olive oil is mentioned in the Quran as a blessed substance: "Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His Light is a niche in which there is a lamp... oil of olive, neither eastern nor western." This religious significance has contributed to olive oil's cultural status in Mediterranean societies that spans millennia beyond its nutritional value.
The Mediterranean dietary pattern — with olive oil as its foundation — is not just a nutrition prescription but a cultural inheritance. The traditional Mediterranean meals served at religious festivals, family celebrations, and agricultural Harvests all center on olive oil as the defining ingredient, creating associations between olive oil and wellbeing that are woven into Mediterranean cultural identity at a deep level. This cultural embedding is one reason the Mediterranean dietary pattern is so durable — it is maintained not just by nutritional knowledge but by the cultural habits and social rituals that give the eating pattern its emotional and communal significance. The olive tree's symbolic meaning (peace, wisdom, prosperity, purification) carries these associations into the modern world.2
The Modern Revival of Traditional Olive Oil
The 20th century brought dramatic changes to Mediterranean olive oil production — the shift toward intensive, mechanized agriculture reduced both the quality and the cultural significance of olive oil in many producing regions. Traditional olive groves were abandoned as young people migrated from rural areas to cities, and the small-scale traditional producers who had maintained quality over generations found it impossible to compete with large industrial producers on price alone. The result was a quality decline in many commercial olive oils that led to widespread fraud (see olive oil authenticity scandals) and a loss of the distinctive polyphenol-rich flavor of genuine traditional olive oil.
The late 20th and early 21st centuries saw a quality revival driven by a new generation of small Mediterranean producers who returned to traditional methods — hand-harvesting at peak ripeness, cold-pressing within hours of harvest, minimal processing, and careful storage — to produce olive oils that tasted as the ancient texts described. This movement, parallel to the wine Renaissance of the 1970s–1990s, produced a new category of "premium" olive oil that commanded prices that could sustain traditional olive cultivation. The IOC and EU established quality standards (including the extra virgin classification) to distinguish genuine high-quality olive oil from the industrial blends that had dominated the market. For the modern consumer, understanding this history — and seeking out olive oils that reflect traditional quality — is the path to accessing what the ancients called "liquid gold."2
References
- [1] Olive oil anti-inflammatory properties — https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih/6770785/
- [2] Mediterranean diet benefits on health and mental health — https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih/34358723/