Olive Oil

• Olive Oil is a liquid produced by crushing whole olives from the olive tree.
• It has been used since antiquity for lighting, cooking and anointing in religious ceremonies.

The Ancient World

• Production in the Classical Antiquity started when wild olive trees were domesticated in Greece, Crete and Asia Minor. Olive trees were then grown all around the Mediterranean Sea coasts.
• The first olive oil Amphorae date back to 3,500 BCE in the early Minoan Civilisation.
• During the Roman Period. Olive Oil was produced on the large estates known as Latifundia which were located around the Mediterranean coasts.

Uses for Olive Oil

• Lighting: Fuel in Roman Oil Lamps.
• Cooking: As Oil in cooking.
• Cleaning: As a cleaning agent by covering athletes and gladiators in olive oil then scraping it off.
• Consecration: For the consecration of Kings in the Kingdom of Israel.
• Anointing: Religious use in Christianity, where it was used for the ordination of bishops and priests, and for ceremonies involving anointing.

Amphora

• Olive Oil was transported in an Amphora, the container of the Ancient World, and shipped around the Mediterranean Sea.