Olive: Did you mean...?

Olives and olive oil were not only an important component of the ancient Mediterranean diet but also one of the most successful industries in antiquity. Cultivation of the olive spread with Phoenician and Greek colonization from Asia Minor...

The Olive Branch Petition was a letter adopted by the Second Continental Congress on 5 July 1775 and sent to King George III of Great Britain (r. 1760-1820) in a final attempt at reconciliation in the early months of the American Revolutionary...

An olive grove on the Greek island of Corfu.

A stone from an olive press used to collect the oil from the pressed olives and pour it into a waiting receptacle. 6th-2nd century BCE, Saint Blaise, France.

Olive oil amphora from Africa and found at Ostia. 3rd century CE. Museo delle Navi Romane di Fiumicino. (National Maritime Museum, Sydney Australia) This amphora is stamped with its place of manufacture; Sullechtum in the Roman province...

A Roman stone olive press known as a trapetum. From Pompeii. The device consisted of a large stone bowl (mortarium) into which the olives were poured and then crushed under two concave stones (orbes) attached to a central beam (cupa) fixed...

A detail of a fresco from Herculaneum showing a woman wearing a crown of olive leaves. (National Archaeological Museum, Naples)

The signature page of the Olive Branch Petition of 5 July 1775, the last attempt made by the Second Continental Congress to avoid a war with Great Britain. This is a scan of an original photo from the US Library of Congress.

4th century BCE gold Olive wreath from Macedonia, both a religious symbol and indicator of social position and power (Archaeological Museum, Thessaloniki, Greece)

Technology enabled ancient Israel, the Northern Kingdom excluding Judah, to be economically prosperous and establish itself as a major political power as early as the 10th century BCE, steadily growing until its destruction in 720 BCE. Some...