Olive Oil Culture History I - From Prehistoric Times to the Roman Empire
22-06-2023
11:49
Aryballos; pottery perfume/ointment oil vase, there are 18 warrior figures hunting hares and horse racing on it, the upper part is shaped like a lion's head,
B.C. 640, Corinth. kaynak
Analyzes of ceramics unearthed during salvage excavations before a highway construction at the Ein Zippori archaeological site of Isaril between 2011 and 2013 revealed that olive oil was used in Israel in the early Chalcolithic Age (Copper Stone Age, 5000-3000 BC). took it out. Organic remains in ceramic pots made of clay date back to BC. It was found to date from the year 5800. It is not known how people in the region obtained the oil at that time, or for what purpose they used it, and from what kind of olives—wild or domesticated.
Archaeological finds, mortars carved into the rocks, and collection pools tell us that the primitive olive oil processing sites date back to the BC. It shows that it goes as far as 3500. B.C. It has been revealed that olive oil was produced by crushing and squeezing olive grains in rock cavities or stone mortars in Crete in 3000 BC. Perhaps, in the Middle East geography, where the olive tree was first domesticated and cultivated, primitive olive pressing techniques based on arm and foot power were used from olives collected from wild olive trees since the Polished Stone and Bronze Ages (9000 BC and later). We don't have archaeological evidence going that far back, which may be because the techniques used at that time disappeared without a trace. Peoples who started to settle down in those times were probably able to produce enough oil for their own needs at home. It is thought that simple oil workshops were established in every house and that production could be made by every family, and archaeological remains such as stone tools or earthen pots from Bronze Age (3300 BC and later) Crete are shown as evidence. After this process, which can be called primitive olive oil production, the process of separating oil from olive paste through a designed mechanism began in the BC. There are archaeological findings that it took place around 2500 BC. Especially BC. With the use of stone cylinders in 1700, olive oil production begins to increase.
When it comes to the Iron Age (1000 BC), the use of leveraged printing with wooden poles allows more oil to be separated from olives. There is evidence that this practice was used from the Late Bronze Age, especially in the Iron Age, in the Levant (modern-day Palestine) and Cyprus. The most important development in olive oil production technology was the discovery of a round crushing vessel with a rotating stone on it. The round crushing vats called "mortarium", which are used to break olives to form olive paste, are considered an important development stage in production technology. In the past, animal power was used, then water and wind, and today machine power is used.
The first scented ointments were made in the Neolithic Age, BC. It is claimed that it was obtained by mixing olive and sesame oil with fragrant herbs between 7000-4000 BC. Although this claim has not been proven, it suggests that the first use of olive oil obtained from unripe olives may be the production of perfumes to smell good. There are many archaeological findings and mythological stories from ancient times that scents were presented as a gift to the gods and burial rites, as well as giving a pleasant smell to the body and hair in daily use. Olive oil, which was used as an object of consecration in death rites in ancient times, probably first became the cosmetic object of urban noble women with the increase in its production throughout history. It is also supported by archaeological findings that this change caused a great increase in the production of ointment and scented oil containers.
The use of olive oil for cosmetic purposes by women is thought to be common among all the ancient Anatolian civilizations. B.C. Gilgamesh, the common epic hero of the peoples of the Fertile Crescent, Mesopotamia (the Sumerians, then the Assyrians and Babylonians and the Akkadians) and the Anatolian side (Hurrians and Hittites) in the 3000s, says that women apply fragrant oils during his journey. Spreading olive oil was common among the nobility in Anatolia before Ancient Greece. B.C. It is understood from the inscriptions of clay tablets that Assyrian merchants ordered olive oil for spreading during the 1950-1750 period.
It was understood from the linear B inscriptions found in the Crete excavations that olive oil was used in the production of cosmetics, perfumes and therapeutic ointments. Located in the ancient palace of Pylos, the coastal city of the Mycenaean period, BC. In an inscription dated to 1100 B.C., the materials used in the production of the perfume produced in the city were understood, but the recipe could not be found. Olive oil is thought to be used to fix the scent and make it easy to apply. The specialty of the containers in which Mycenaean perfumes are placed is that they have "stirrup handles". At the end of the Mycenaean period, BC. The use of fragrant oil continued in the Ancient Greek Civilization, which began to rise in the Greek Peninsula in 1000 BC. The oiling of women, which is frequently mentioned in Homer's Iliad, also appears in his work called Odyssey. It is thought that the oils used in both epics may be olive oil. In ancient Greek myths, the chief Goddess Hera rubs her body with olive oil to seduce the God Zeus. It is known that among the wealthy nobles of those times, both men and women used olive oil after the bath to keep their bodies soft. One of the scents preferred by the ancient Egyptian society, Greek and Roman societies is the 'Mendesian and Metopian Perfume'. It is obtained from the fragrance called "metopion" in Egypt. However, in this perfume; There are bitter almonds, oil of very unripe olives, cardamom, thistle, honey, wine, myrrh, the fruit of Mecca balm, the resin of wild pine and the resin of pine.
In ancient Egyptian civilization, the body of the corpse was rubbed with olive oil in funeral ceremonies and wreaths made of olive branches were placed around its neck. XX. The mummies of the dynasty (1200 to 1090 years ago) were decorated with braided olive branches and crowns. According to anthropologists, choosing to bury the body of a deceased community member rather than leaving it intact is a prehistoric act, the oldest act that distinguishes us from other close hominid ancestors. Tutankhamen, the famous pharaoh of ancient Egypt, who died as a child, is depicted with a crown made of olive branches. It is also known that the Egyptians used olive oil for cosmetic purposes other than embalming the dead. B.C. Figures showing the process of pressing olives have been found on the walls of Saqqara, the oldest pharaonic pyramid built around 2500 BC. However, the issue of how widespread olive cultivation was in the ancient Egyptian civilization is controversial, and sufficient archaeological findings have not been reached regarding the methods of obtaining olive oil in the region. B.C. Olive is not mentioned much in ancient Egyptian texts after 2000. There is evidence on the archaeological tablets that olive oil was imported from Palestine and Syria. In ancient Egyptian written sources, especially II. It is stated that during the Ramses Period (1191-1178 BC), the oil used in the illumination of the holy palace was produced in olive groves around urban settlements.
It is known that it has served as lamp oil for the purpose of lighting throughout the ages, since it was thought that the smell it gave off when burned in ancient times was not bad. It has been documented that the best quality olive oil was used for lighting purposes in temples built for the sun god Ra in ancient Egypt. The first use of oil for cooking is in BC. It is thought to have become widespread after 500 years. It is thought that the use of olive oil for lighting is second in time and third as a nutrient.
Archaeological data suggest that the peoples in the inner parts of Anatolia met their olive oil needs from the Fertile Crescent regions. Tablets found in the ruins of Kaniş in the Kayseri region contain evidence of a first-class olive oil order placed by a local merchant to the capital of the Assyrian State, the largest and most powerful state rising in the southeastern extension of the Fertile Crescent. The Assyrian Dynasty of those times had become stronger with the commercial ventures directed to Anatolia. In the period when these tablets, which are thought to belong to 2000 BC, were written, cities under the rule of local rulers began to rise instead of small village communities in Anatolia, these settlements became important markets with their developing division of labor and increasing population. Historians called this period, which lasted about 200 years, the "Age of Assyrian Trade Colonies". At that time, when money was not yet invented, olive oil obtained from olives, which could not be produced everywhere, is thought to have a money-like function as an object of exchange. Among the goods exported from the Fertile Crescent are tin, textiles, ornaments and some fragrances thought to contain olive oil.
B.C. By 1400, tablets unearthed in the Mediterranean coastal ancient port city of Ugarit, on the northwest side of the Fertile Crescent - near Latakia in present-day Syria - indicate that olive cultivation, albeit second to winemaking, was of importance. There are documents showing that olive oil was used in the taxes paid to the palace and that the palace even paid for certain services as olive oil. In addition, there are documents showing the olive oil trade between Ugarit, Cyprus and Egypt.
Thanks to the olive tree that reached the islands from its homeland, Southern Anatolia, Cretans and Palestinians lived in BC. Between 1000-1500, they created their economic wealth with the export of olive oil. B.C. By the year 1000, the Phoenicians, who were defined as "the people of the land of the color purple", had reached the peak of organized overseas transportation activities in the Mediterranean, especially in the trade of olive oil and wine. The Phoenicians were peoples who preferred the role of an intermediary between the local societies in the geography they reached and the East instead of an expansionist colonization. These actions were effective in the formation of the mixed structure of Eastern and Western Mediterranean cultures. They were an enterprising merchant and seafaring people who, through their colonies that spread beyond the Strait of Gibraltar, established settlements within their reach. They first brought olive oil and then the olive tree to the Aegean Islands and the Greek peninsula. Olive oil was among the goods transported by Phoenician sailors. At that time, olive oil was an export item for the Syrian and Palestinian markets, and an import item for Egypt and Greece. This organization, which has a history that goes back to 1600 BC, on the one hand introduced olive agriculture to the island peoples, on the other hand, it met the olive oil needs of the growing Aegean coastal city-states.
B.C. In the archaeological excavations carried out in a village that existed in the 9th century under the name of Kla in Israel, bowls carved from the rocks for olive oil production and oil storage cisterns were unearthed. On a mountain slope in the town of Ekron in Palestine, nearly 100 imprints with poles dating from the Iron Age (1100 BC and later) were found. The traders in the Palestine region were engaged in olive oil trade. They maintained their leading positions until the 800s.
The root of the word "Messiah/Saviour", used by the peoples of Jewish faith who lived in the Levan region at that time, comes from "ointment" (oil to be applied to the body, rubbing the body with oil). Saul, the first king of the Israelites, BC. When he ascended the throne in 1035, he was blessed with olive oil on his forehead. Since time immemorial, the peoples of the Mediterranean have used olive oil as a light source to illuminate their living spaces, primarily their temples. Saul's son/son-in-law David, who likened himself to an olive tree in the psalm section of the Torah, set up olive groves to produce olive oil, which served as fuel in the six-armed candelabras used to illuminate temples, and appointed guards for the olive warehouses. David, who was the head of state and a competent administrator, centralized the power by making Jerusalem the capital city and developed his military organization. David's son and BC. The doors of the famous temple built by Solomon, who was king between 970 and 930, in Jerusalem, and the statuettes on it were carved from olive wood.
The best example of large-scale industrial production of olive oil is the historical city of Ekron. Located in the Levant Region, a settlement on the Mediterranean coast, on the south-west side of the Fertile Crescent, this city was founded in the Assyrians in BC. It was founded in the 700s. Only 4% of the ancient city, which is thought to be spread over an area of 300,000 m2, has been excavated and 115 olive oil assemblies have been unearthed. It is estimated that the production is 500 tons per day.
Evidence to clarify the olive oil production systems in the Greek peninsula in ancient times is insufficient. At that time, there is almost no evidence of olive oil production in and around Athens as archaeological finds. It is thought that the sections in which olive oil and olives are mentioned were added later in Homer's Odyssey. Cultural historian Victor Hehn states that sections on olive oil may have been added to Homer's books in later centuries, and that there was no olive oil in mainland Greece at that time. In classical Greek literature, although there is evidence of olive oil consumption, little information can be obtained about its production and marketing. There must be more than one reason for this fact; The fact that the peoples of Athens and its surroundings obtained olive oil with primitive means that did not leave any traces, the olive trees in Athens were less productive compared to Crete, they did not use the technological applications reached in Crete to separate the oil from the olives, or they did not know nu practices.
While evidence of olive oil consumption can be found in classical Greek literature, little is known about its production and marketing. Due to Homer's undisputed weight in Western civilization, Classical Greece is consistently placed at the center of olive oil culture, though archaeological evidence does not support this belief. Anatolia, on the other hand, has always existed in olive oil culture as a geography. It is forgotten that the Greek civilization that rose towards the end of the First Age (500 BC) covered not only the opposite coast of the Aegean, but also the Anatolian geography. Compared to the civilizations that rose in Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Aegean Sea islands, in fact, the Classical Greek civilization on the peninsula appeared on the stage of history at a very late period. There is a consensus that olive cultivation and olive oil production in the Greek peninsula spread and multiplied much later than the Aegean islands and the settlements on the Aegean Sea coasts of Anatolia. The peoples of the Greek mainland, BC. In 1050, it mixed with the immigrants who came with the immigration of the Sea Peoples. These peoples, who settled in the destroyed Mycenaean cities and mixed with the local peoples of that time, took the culture of the Mycenaean civilization and carried this culture to a further level. The fact that olive oil production increased over time and started to be an important commercial product in the economic life of the Greek Peninsula at that time, BC. Found the 600's. B.C. According to the laws of Solon, the Athenian statesman around 600 BC, olive oil was the only food product that could be imported in Athens. This shows how important olive trees were in Athens at that time, not only in terms of settlement and employment, but also in terms of commercial value. By exporting olive oil, Athens was getting the grain it needed in return.
Olive oil was a part of death rites in Ancient Greek civilization as it was in Ancient Egyptian civilization, it was buried with the deceased in precious vessels, if you were noble, olive wreaths made of gold were used. This culture was also transferred to the peoples of the Roman Civilization that would rise afterwards.
During the three millennia BC, the Cretans and Phoenician brave merchant sailors played an important role in spreading the olive culture to other tribes in the Mediterranean. The olive tree was depicted on the 3500-year-old wall paintings from the palaces of the Cretan kingdoms, and it was understood from the wall paintings that expensive oils were used as perfumes and ointments in decorated bottles. Workshop ruins dated to the Minoan/Cretan Civilization Period (2700-1050 BC) revealed that press-arm presses were produced in Crete during the Bronze Age. Unlike the use of cosmetics, the information on the tablets of the Mycenaean civilization, the successor of the Minoan civilization, showed that olive oil was used in textile production and tanning. Archaeological data indicate that olive oil dates back to BC. He also found that it began to be used for cooking purposes around 1000 BC; however, this use, which is associated with the spread of olive agriculture, became widespread only 500 years later.
The two-meter olive oil cubes found among the ruins of the palaces of Knossos and Faistos are the archaeological evidence of the olive oil trade of the Cretans, who built warehouses where tons of olive oil could be stored and had powerful trade fleets. It has been calculated that 23 tons of olive oil can be stored in the palace cellars. On the tablets found in the same place with the giant jars named “Pithoi”, which were made of wood or usually terracotta at that time, in which olive oil, wine, olives and grain were placed, there is information about where the olive oil trade was made at that time and where olive oil was produced. The oil produced was exported by sea in amphorae, which is a kind of ancient jug, which is smaller than the pithoi, easy to transport, and on which there may be depictions. They were sending olive saplings to Africa and Greece. It is believed that the trade routes of Crete, which had commercial relations with the Aegean islands (Cyclades islands) as well as Egypt, Syria and the Greek mainland, may have extended to the west as far as Italy and Sicily. The amphorae, which proved that the Cretans were an important consumer and seller, were decorated with olive branches and star-shaped flower images, and in some, olive trees were symbolized with hieroglyphic writing due to the close trade with Ancient Egypt. The Minoan Civilization, the first civilization to rise on the island of Crete, is considered the first example in history of the practice of "palace economy", which is defined by historians as "the flow of a large part of the economic values created in the society as an economic regulation system under the control of the central authority". At the Akrotiri archaeological site on the neighboring island of Santorini, in the north of Crete, artistically rich wall figures were found in structures covered with 60 meters of ash after a volcanic eruption. One of the findings; The mural of gray langur monkeys found in the Indus Valley of India is interpreted by archaeologists as evidence of extensive, geographically-encompassing relations and trade at that time. These findings are considered evidence of an advanced and rich civilization. B.C. It is thought that this big explosion, which took place in 1650, destroyed all life on the island and almost wiped this city-state, which was shown as a part of the Minoan civilization, from the face of the earth. From those times when the Minoan peoples living in the Aegean islands formed a shining civilization in the Mediterranean, to these days, Crete is still uncompromising in olive and olive oil quality and ranks first in the world market. In addition, just as olive oil came to the Ottoman palace from Crete, those who came from Crete after the Exchange played an important role in Turkey's olive cultivation. Cretans have a well-deserved reputation for olive, olive oil and olive oil food culture for 5 thousand years.
For the first time BC. At the festivals held in the name of God Zeus in 776, in the Olympia region of that time, an olive wreath was put on the heads of the winners, and the wreaths were kept ready on an ivory and gold table in the Zeus temple. Athletes used to apply olive oil to their skin to protect them from the sun's rays or to stretch their muscles during the competition, and after the competition, the sweat, oil and soil accumulated on them were cleaned by scraping with strigilis (a kind of L-shaped ancient bath spoon made of bronze). This tradition is also explained by the statue named “Apoxyomenos” made of bronze by the sculptor of Alexander the Great, the metal smelter Lysippus (400 BC). It is understood that the strigilis we see on the vase paintings dated to the second half of the 6th century BC at the earliest were used not only by the athletes but also by the soldiers, physicians, pharmacists, women and children of those times.
Perhaps the source of the importance given to the olive tree and olive oil in the early days of classical Greek culture was the fact that olive was a rare and difficult tree to grow in the Greek peninsula in those centuries, and the need for olive oil was met from outside. This idea is also supported by archaeological findings. B.C. Findings from a merchant ship thought to have sunk in Uluburun 1300 years ago 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 from an archaeological point of view, two different types of oil lamps were found, one from Cyprus and the other from Syria-Palestine. The 2500 olives in the amphorae in the shipwreck were probably classified as luxury goods. In addition to the ready-made products he was carrying on board, there were approximately 150 Cyprus vessels, oil lamps and jars. In those times, the Phoenicians, who served as a bridge between Mediterranean civilizations and Mesopotamian civilizations and were famous for their ports and colonies, traded with olive oil. Olive oil was an export for Syria and Palestine (the Levant region), and an import for the markets of Egypt, Greece and later Rome.
Olive oil, which was used for body care and perfume production, was one of the most exported goods in classical Greek Athens, where sports events were held, in the large buildings called "gymnasium" with sitting areas, terraces and baths, and courtyards with porches around it. It seems that for centuries the export trade of this quality oil was in the hands of the winners of the Pan-Athens (Panathinakos, all for Athens) games held every four years in honor of the goddess Athena on her birthday. These games, which are held every four years, were held between 25-29 August every third year after the Olympics. In the Pan-Athens games, the winners of various athletic competitions were given special shaped and ornamented “Pan-Athens amphoras”, each with a capacity of approximately forty liters, on one side of which the sport in which Athena competed and on the other side the sport in which Athena competed, the ancient olive oil inside was given. are jugs. In the competitions held on the birthday of Athena, virgins wearing olive wreaths would march.
Pan-Athens amphorae found in archaeological excavations in different areas of the Mediterranean world, from Cyrene in Africa to Marseille in the West, indicate that large quantities of olive oil were exported. According to different estimates of archaeologists based on scientific evidence, the total amount of olive oil awarded to the victors would have amounted to forty-two to seventy-two tons.
B.C. By the 6th century, olive oil production was in the Mediterranean basin; It begins to spread in Tripoli, Tunisia and Sicily, and from there to the north of Italy.
Shown as one of the greatest sculptors of that time, Phidias (490-428 BC), on Mount Olympus, the highest mountain of the Greek peninsula, is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, thirteen meters high, made of gold and ivory, with olive wreaths on its head. makes a statue of Zeus. This statue, made of ivory, was constantly rubbed with olive oil so that it would not deteriorate in the humid air of Olympos. Another sculptor, Callimachus, who lived in the same era, made a gold lamp to illuminate the statue of Athena in the temple of Athena in Athens, the lamp was filled with olive oil once a year.
B.C. Another archaeological Ancient olive oil workshop dating back to the 600s was built and operated by the Ionian peoples living in the western Anatolian coastal city of Klazomenai at that time. Ionians are the peoples who fled in front of the immigrant Dors, who raided Greece in 1200 BC, migrated to Western Anatolia over the islands and established city-states. The finds related to the ancient city of Klazomenai were unearthed in and around the Iskele neighborhood of the Urla district of modern-day Izmir (Smyrna in ancient times), which also includes the Karantina Island, on the western coast of Turkey. Olive oil was produced with a very advanced technology that was not applied in any workshop at that time. The Clazomenians were the first to use stone cylinders that rotate around the same shaft to break the harvested olives, they were the first to use a large press and windlass to increase the capacity in olive oil production, that is, the tool for lifting this press. For the first time, they realized uninterrupted production by developing a three-compartment mechanism that works on the basis of combined containers in the olive oil separation process. The discovery of a large number of amphorae specially produced by the Klazomenai to be used in the shipment of olive oil in archaeological studies carried out in overseas countries is considered as proof that Klazomenai was one of the important olive oil centers of the Mediterranean at that time. These findings show that Ionia (the name given to the coasts of today's İzmir and Aydın provinces in Anatolia) made significant contributions, at least in terms of technology, in obtaining oil from olives in the course of history.
B.C. The amount of olive oil consumed in the food, body care and lighting of the homes of wealthy citizens in the rising cities of the Hellenistic period, where Greek influence reached its peak in the 300s, reached approximately the amount needed by a wealthy Athenian family - about two hundred kilograms per year. Athenians used 25-30 liters of cooking oil per person per year. Among the recipes given by gastronome Athenaios, the Greek author of the book Deipnosophistai (200 BC), which consists of conversations that lasted for days between two people at a feast table, which is considered among the first cookbooks in history, there is also olive oil wrap. It is thought that women apply 1.5 liters of olive oil per year to their bodies and faces by dripping them from rare ethera (perfume bottles). The annual consumption of men is estimated to be over 5 liters for sports, massage and skin health. Passengers going on long journeys used to apply olive oil so that their feet would not be injured. In parallel with the increase in the population over time, the demand for olive oil begins to increase. It is estimated that in Athens at that time, approximately 90-110 liters of olive oil were used annually in every house as fuel for oil lamps or to be used in religious rites. B.C. Around 400 B.C., the productivity of olive oil processing plants in Northern Greece began to increase with the use of a rotating roller crusher. The emergence of large estates belonging to the upper classes of Macedonia, the existence of settlements such as Alexandria and Antakya, which stood out with the increase in population at that time, increased the need for olive oil, and in parallel, methods that increased productivity began to become widespread in order to meet the demand. There are few olive oil businesses that still use some of these methods today.
Mathematician, one of the seven sages, Thales of Miletus (624 - 546 BC), known as the founder of philosophy; A feature beyond the knowledge of astronomy is the calculation of weather conditions affecting the crop to be obtained by the olive harvest. He foretold the solar eclipse that took place on May 28, 585, one year in advance. At that time, the peoples of the Aegean region on the Anatolian side of Ancient Greece were also called Ionian. In the history of humanity; It is widely believed that the spiritual effort that wants to acquire knowledge without any other interest, just to know, originates from the Ionian lands. Thales and his students, who founded the philosophy school in Miletus; They turn to experimental and observational concepts, not to supernatural belief explanations based on myths, in order to comprehend what is going on around them and natural events, and to find answers to the questions asked in the society they live in. Thus, they pioneered philosophers such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle who came after them. It is also known that Thales traded on the basis of "years of availability/years of absence" by renting olive groves and pressing plants in Miletus, the island of Chios and the Aegean coast. By predicting the amount of the next olive harvest, before anyone else, it makes a rental agreement with olive oil businesses for the lowest price. When the produce is plentiful, this time he rents out the businesses with which he has made a deal to others at the price he wants. He is perhaps the first merchant philosopher in history.
At that time, olive oil was first used by Hippocrates of Kos (460 - 377 BC) and then by Galen from Pergamon (129 - 216 BC) to treat diseases, especially wounds and burns. Another area of use related to medicine is massage.
We can say that olive oil became a much more important product for the Mediterranean peoples at that time than it is today. The object of consecration in religious rites was the most important source used in daily life for the manufacture of perfumes, soaps and lighting. It was also used for cooking purposes in kitchens.
B.C. The scientist Archimedes, who was born in Siracusa, a colonial state in Sicily in the 200s, describes the worm screw, this screw, also known as Archimedean screw / auger, with this invention that provides power control in presses, olive oil production begins to increase rapidly. Even today, the same method is still used, albeit less and less.
Compiled by: Uğur Saraçoğlu (ugisaracoglu@yahoo.com)
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