Olive Oil Culture History VII - Ancient Hellenistic and Ionian Civilization I
16-04-2025
11:48
Photo; Statue of Thales, detail from one of six allegorical sculptures by sculptor Louis St. Gaudens that stand on the facade of Union Station in Washington, DC, source .
In human history, it is widely believed that the spiritual effort to acquire knowledge for the sake of knowing, without any other interests, originated in Ionian lands. At that time, the people of the Aegean region on the Anatolian side of Ancient Greece were called Ionians. Thales, whose parents were wealthy Phoenician aristocrats, founded the school of philosophy in Miletus, and his students, in order to understand what was happening around them and natural events, and to find answers to questions asked in the society they lived in, turned to experimental and observational concepts rather than supernatural belief explanations based on myths. In this way, they pioneered philosophers such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle who came after them. Another characteristic of Thales of Miletus, a mathematician, one of the seven wise men and known as the founder of philosophy, beyond his knowledge of astronomy, was his ability to predict in advance the weather conditions that would affect the olive harvest and the crop to be obtained. He predicted the solar eclipse that occurred on May 28, 585, one year in advance. It is known that Thales rented olive groves and presses in Miletus, Chios and the Aegean coast, and traded on a “year of presence/year of absence” basis. He would predict the next olive harvest and make a rental agreement with olive oil businesses for the lowest price before anyone else. When the product was plentiful, he would rent the businesses he had made an agreement with to others for the price he wanted. He was perhaps the first merchant philosopher in history.
Aristotle, in his work Politics, tells the above story to show that philosophers do not seek material gain, but can become rich if they wish.
Although the existence of electricity has been known since ancient times, Thales was the first person to study the phenomenon on a scientific basis. He noticed that by rubbing a rod of amber (Greek: electron) against animal hair, he could attract small objects. This observation is the earliest known observation of static electricity.
There is insufficient archaeological evidence to clarify the olive oil production systems in the Greek peninsula in ancient times. There is almost no evidence of olive oil production in Athens and its surroundings at that time. It is thought that the sections in Homer's Odyssey that mention olive oil and olives were added later. Cultural historian Victor Hehn states that the sections on olive oil may have been added to the books believed to have been written by Homer in later centuries, and that there was no olive oil in mainland Greece at that time. Although there is evidence of olive oil consumption, there is little information about olive oil production and marketing from classical Greek literature. There are probably more than one reason for this fact; the fact that the people of Athens and its surroundings obtained olive oil with primitive tools that left no traces behind, the fact that the olive trees in Athens were fewer in number and more productive compared to Crete, and that they did not use the technological applications that were reached in Crete to separate the oil from olives at that time, or they did not yet know about these applications.
Findings from a merchant ship that sank in Uluburun in 1300 BC showed that the ship was heading west from the Eastern Mediterranean (Levant region) towards the Aegean. Archaeologists believe that the ship was probably carrying cargo from Ugarit to the Mycenaean Palace, and two different types of oil lamps were found archaeologically in the shipwreck, one made in Cyprus and the other made in Syria-Palestine. The olives in the amphorae in the shipwreck were probably luxury goods. In addition to the ready-made products carried on the ship, there were approximately 150 Cypriot containers, oil lamps and jars. In those times, the Phoenicians, who were famous for their ports and colonies and served as a bridge between the Mediterranean civilizations and the Mesopotamian civilizations, were primarily engaged in trade with olive oil.
The origins of the civilization we call "Ancient Greek Civilization" today are the Phoenicians, the people of Egypt, Cyprus, Crete and the Levant Region, and the connection with the people of the Aegean region of Anatolia. This fact has also been shown by archaeological and etymological findings. They inherited a great cultural heritage from their predecessors in geography, the Mycenaean Civilization, and they were very successful in evaluating this heritage.
In human history, it is widely believed that the spiritual effort to acquire knowledge for the sake of knowing, without any other interests, originated in Ionian lands. At that time, the people of the Aegean region on the Anatolian side of Ancient Greece were called Ionians. Thales, whose parents were wealthy Phoenician aristocrats, founded the school of philosophy in Miletus, and his students, in order to understand what was happening around them and natural events, and to find answers to questions asked in the society they lived in, turned to experimental and observational concepts rather than supernatural belief explanations based on myths. In this way, they pioneered philosophers such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle who came after them. Another characteristic of Thales of Miletus, a mathematician, one of the seven wise men and known as the founder of philosophy, beyond his knowledge of astronomy, was his ability to predict in advance the weather conditions that would affect the olive harvest and the crop to be obtained. He predicted the solar eclipse that occurred on May 28, 585, one year in advance. It is known that Thales rented olive groves and presses in Miletus, Chios and the Aegean coast, and traded on a “year of presence/year of absence” basis. He would predict the next olive harvest and make a rental agreement with olive oil businesses for the lowest price before anyone else. When the product was plentiful, he would rent the businesses he had made an agreement with to others for the price he wanted. He was perhaps the first merchant philosopher in history.
Aristotle, in his work Politics, tells the above story to show that philosophers do not seek material gain, but can become rich if they wish.
Although the existence of electricity has been known since ancient times, Thales was the first person to study the phenomenon on a scientific basis. He noticed that by rubbing a rod of amber (Greek: electron) against animal hair, he could attract small objects. This observation is the earliest known observation of static electricity.
There is insufficient archaeological evidence to clarify the olive oil production systems in the Greek peninsula in ancient times. There is almost no evidence of olive oil production in Athens and its surroundings at that time. It is thought that the sections in Homer's Odyssey that mention olive oil and olives were added later. Cultural historian Victor Hehn states that the sections on olive oil may have been added to the books believed to have been written by Homer in later centuries, and that there was no olive oil in mainland Greece at that time. Although there is evidence of olive oil consumption, there is little information about olive oil production and marketing from classical Greek literature. There are probably more than one reason for this fact; the fact that the people of Athens and its surroundings obtained olive oil with primitive tools that left no traces behind, the fact that the olive trees in Athens were fewer in number and more productive compared to Crete, and that they did not use the technological applications that were reached in Crete to separate the oil from olives at that time, or they did not yet know about these applications.
Findings from a merchant ship that sank in Uluburun in 1300 BC showed that the ship was heading west from the Eastern Mediterranean (Levant region) towards the Aegean. Archaeologists believe that the ship was probably carrying cargo from Ugarit to the Mycenaean Palace, and two different types of oil lamps were found archaeologically in the shipwreck, one made in Cyprus and the other made in Syria-Palestine. The olives in the amphorae in the shipwreck were probably luxury goods. In addition to the ready-made products carried on the ship, there were approximately 150 Cypriot containers, oil lamps and jars. In those times, the Phoenicians, who were famous for their ports and colonies and served as a bridge between the Mediterranean civilizations and the Mesopotamian civilizations, were primarily engaged in trade with olive oil.
The origins of the civilization we call "Ancient Greek Civilization" today are the Phoenicians, the people of Egypt, Cyprus, Crete and the Levant Region, and the connection with the people of the Aegean region of Anatolia. This fact has also been shown by archaeological and etymological findings. They inherited a great cultural heritage from their predecessors in geography, the Mycenaean Civilization, and they were very successful in evaluating this heritage.
Because of Homer’s undisputed weight in Western civilization, Classical Greece is consistently placed at the center of olive oil culture, but archaeological evidence does not support this belief. Compared to the civilizations of Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Egypt and the Aegean, the Greeks entered the historical scene at a very late period (1050 BC), however, they inherited and developed the olive cultivation and culture accumulation that had reached their time. It is forgotten that the Greek civilization that rose towards the end of the Antiquity (500 BC) covered not only the opposite shore of the Aegean but also the western Anatolian geography. There is a consensus that olive cultivation and olive oil production became widespread and increased in the Greek peninsula much later than the settlements on the Aegean islands and the Aegean coasts of Anatolia. The peoples of the Greek mainland mixed with the immigrants who came with the Sea Peoples migration in 1050 BC. These immigrants, who settled in the destroyed Mycenaean cities and mingled with the local peoples of the region, carried the culture of the Mycenaean civilization to a further level.
Greek cities expanded their trade and overseas colonization in the 8th century BC, an action that intensified Greek contact with Phoenicians, Assyrians and neo-Hittite culture. The process would have occurred between approximately 720 and 625 BC, a period in which the influence of Near Eastern cultures on Greece is also called "Orientalization".
Olive oil production increased over time and became an important commercial product in the economic life of the Greek Peninsula in that period around 600 BC. In 600 BC, the Athenian statesman Solon banned the export of all agricultural products except olive oil. Athens exported olive oil and received the grain it needed in return. This information is considered an indicator of how important olive trees were in terms of commercial value in Athens.
Compiled by: Uğur Saraçoğlu, Physician, Olive and Olive Oil Producer (ugisaracoglu@yahoo.com.tr)
Source:
1. Olive and Olive Cultivation in Western Anatolia in Ancient Times; Gülhan Mumkaya, Master Thesis, Thesis Advisor: Prof. Dr. Özdemir Koçak, Konya, 2012.
2. The Journey of Olive in the Mediterranean; Conference Proceedings, Dr. Alp Yücel Kaya, Ertekin Akpınar, 2016.
3. World Olive Encyclopedia; International Olive Council; Fausso Luchetti, 1997.
4. Historical Development of Olive Oil Production Techniques and Comparison with Each Other, Taner Gülal, Master's Thesis, Uludağ University, Institute of Science, Department of Food Engineering, 2015.
5. Kara Atena, Martin Bernal, Trans. Özcan Buze, Istanbul: Kaynak Publications, 1998.
6. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/2453887 .
11. The Development of Democracy in Ancient Athens, From the Soloist Passive Revolution to the Tyranny of Peisistratos, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Yetiş, Ankara University, Faculty of Political Sciences, Faculty Member, Ankara University, Journal of Political Sciences, Volume 54, Issue 2, 1999.