1/ This particular period is the olive harvest season for almost the whole of Greece (as well as for me). So let's see what information the Linear B' texts provide us about olive cultivation and olive oil production.
2/ The cultivation of the olive was particularly widespread in the Mycenaean Aegean, a fact that is demonstrated through the accounting palatial records with olive oil showing a strong economic, utilitarian and religious character, ➡️
➡️ while it seems that it was, together with essential oils and wine, one of the main export products, receiving the corresponding attention from the palaces.
3/ After all, there seems to have been a relevant knowledge of many centuries with the indigenous presence of the olive already from the Neolithic Period and ➡️
➡️ especially with its significant role in the development of the cultivation of the Mediterranean triad (cereals, vines, olives) already from the Proto-Cycladic Era and in then to Minoan Crete.
4/Archaeological finds have yielded olive pits in vessels;from LM II Zakros, whole olives with their flesh have been recovered; in burials of Messara olive pits have been found as an element of ritual libation,while in other parts of Crete LM II/III olive presses have been found.
5/ In addition, olive trees are depicted in artworks of the time, such as in a fresco of the palace of Knossos from the 16th century BC, which is a wonderful depiction of an olive grove, ➡️
➡️ while olive tree branches in a rocky landscape are very graphically depicted in a fresco from the palace of Pylos. The gold cups from the Mycenaean tomb of Vapheio Laconia are decorated with representations of olive trees.
6/ It is noteworthy that both in Cretan Hieroglyphics and Linear A there are ideograms related to the olive tree, suggesting that its cultivation was of particular importance for the early Cretan communities, as well as for the Minoan palatial elite, long before the Mycenaean.
7/ In its syllabographic rendition and recording, the word for the olive tree appears in the palatial archives of Linear B' as e-ra-wa (= ε-λά-Fa, ελαία), while the word for olive oil as e-ra-wo (= έ-λα-Fov, έλαιον). ➡️
➡️ They were probably borrowed from the proto-Greek word *elaíwā and have remained unchanged to this day.
8/ The Bronze Age finds of olive pits in the Aegean clearly show the existence of two different types, interpreted as the remains of a tame and a wild variety. ➡️
➡️ The domestication of the olive took place through the variety "Thrumbolia of the Aegean" (Θρουμπολιά του Αιγαίου) or "Aged olive tree" (Γεροντολιά) in the Cyclades (Late Neolithic - paleotree of Adisaros Naxos).
9/ Thus, in the Knossos tablets archive, two types of olive are mentioned, which are attributed with the olive ideogram in combination with the abbreviations a and ti. Most probably these two abbreviations render the words wild and tame (τιθασός).
10/ The problem is that the largest quantities registered concern type a olives and we know that wild olives have a low oil content. ➡️
➡️ In fact, in the important agricultural area of Knossos written as da-wo (ΔάFος), large quantities of olives appear to be produced, a total of 9000 liters, of which 7000 liters are type a and only 2000 liters are type ti.
11/ The only logical explanation is that the fat content of wild olive oil is much lower than that of tame olive oil, and its frequent recording may be due to the fact that it was not primarily intended for food, but for craft industry use.
12/ In general, we would say that olives had a nutritional use with their frequent listing in catalogs together with figs and barley. ➡️
➡️ At the same time, similar records together with other food items specify a limited amount of olive oil, which would be sufficient to meet the needs of a month at most.
13/ On the tablet PY UN 138.2 the ideogram OLIV is recorded together with the phrase po-qa, which is transcribed as phorgwa(i) = for consumption, while in various texts from Pylos and Knossos the word ka-po => ka- po [e] => karpoi e[laiwas, attributing the olive fruit.
14/ However, the most important use of olive oil was in manufacturing, where it was used to dye leather and clean clothing, as well as to facilitate the weaving of linen and wool. Perhaps it was even used as a body cleanser as well as for lighting.
15/ The Mycenaeans showed a special interest in olives and wild olives, as can be seen from a series of cares for the trees, for example the annual pruning of which remains have been left in archaeological sites and from the control of their number and production.
16/From the texts it appears that the palace of Knossos controlled 4000 olive trees in farms around it. Olive cultivation was carried out by various cleruchs,identified as either planters (pu-te) or planted cleruchies (e-ke pu-te-ri-ja ko-to-i-na) and were controlled by overseers
17/ The olive trees must have been planted in an arrangement and in grooves (όρχατος, όρχος), bringing to mind the Homeric description of the garden of Laertes: ➡️
➡️ "Old man, no lack of skill hast thou to tend a garden; nay, thy care is good, and there is naught whatsoever, either plant or fig tree, or vine, nay, or olive, or pear, or garden-plot in all the field that lacks care."
18/ The Mycenaeans probably stored olive oil in large pithos, such as those found in the Western Rooms of the palace of Knossos, in the same way they stored essential oils. ➡️
➡️ However, the only attested storage vessel appears to have been the stirrup-jar, which is recorded on tablets as χλαρεύς (Mycenaean false-mouthed amphorae) and had a typical capacity of 13.7 litres.
19/ Through the false-mouthed amphorae, olive oil circulated within the Mycenaean territory, but also abroad, in Cyprus, the eastern Mediterranean and southern Italy. The liquid gold of the Greek land had found its place in the heart of the Greek from a very early age.
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