From the first moment it appeared in every civilization, the olive tree was felt as a sacred symbol of peace, fertility, purification, victory; a symbol that is repeated, with significant continuity, in all cultures of the Mediterranean.

In Greek mythology, the olive tree was born as a peace treaty after the dispute between Athena and Poseidon; and it is believed that the plants that today grow on the Acropolis derive precisely from that primitive plant, venerated in the Erechteion.

An olive tree was in Athens inside the temple of Minerva and its fronds represented a coveted prize: Miltiades, the winner of Marathonas, asked for one of those branches as the only reward for the sensational victory.

The olive tree is a plant sacred to fertility. Herodotus reported that when the Gods, to avenge the outrage suffered by Dania and Augeria, reduced the inhabitants of Epidaurus to sterility, these, on the advice of the oracles, had delivered especially from Athens olive tree trunks with which they raised statues to the two virgins; the Athenians allowed the collection of the sacred wood, a source of fertility, on the condition that delegates came every year from Epidaurus to Athens to celebrate sacrifices to Minerva, goddess of the olive tree. And, propitiatory to the marriage, even the bed of Ulysses was made of olive wood.

Symbol of peace, the olive branch encircles with a wreath the head of the peace goddess Irene, who is holding in her hand a twig of the same plant.

Symbol of victory, it awards the winner with a crown of fronds in the Olympic Games, cut by a boy with a golden sickle to preserve its virtues.

Symbol of protection, it defends Hercules descended into the underworld by girdling his head; and it was precisely the sweat of the hero that made the underside of the leaves lighter, while the fumes of Hades darkened the upper side. To symbolize his power, even his club is made of olive wood.

In Islam the olive tree is even the axis of the world and is a symbolic image of the Prophet; the Islamic popular tradition says that on every leaf is written one of the names of God.

For Christians, the legend of the cross has it that on the tomb of Adam an olive tree was born from which, as can be read in the Genesis, the dove that returned to the ark of Noah broke off a twig, which is the symbol of peace between God and his creatures.

And again from the same olive tree was obtained the cross of the Redeemer.