The Olive Tree : The Origin Of The Olive Tree

In Olive’s view Verena is a good and decent creature on whom she is able to influence easily especially Verena is still young (eighteen years). This wrong understanding of Verena causes Olive to be “haunted... with the fear that Verena would marry, a fate to which she was altogether unprepared to surrender her” (James, Bostonians 118). But her sister, the widowed Mrs. Luna, is convinced of the fact that marriage is normal and necessary for any woman. She states that:

The ancient Greeks thought the gods affected everything. They believed that Mount Olympus was where the gods lived, earthquakes were a message from the gods, and their first olive tree was a gift from Athena. Mount Olympus was assumed to be home to the gods because the mountain rises 9,570 feet in the air. The entrance to Olympus was a “...great gate of clouds, kept by the Seasons.” (Document 2) Another important geographic feature the Greeks made into a religious belief was the landscape and environment. Greece is “...smack-dab in the middle of a very active volcanic zone,” (Document 3) so the Greeks formed a religion called oracles, and the belief was “Oracles are the gods speaking to people, often in the form of minor earthquakes,” (Document

Early Egyptians also found uses for salt. Egyptians made salt by evaporating the seawater in the Nile Delta. They may have also gotten salt from Mediterranean trade. They often used salt to preserve the body during mummification. Egyptians were also the first civilization to preserve food with salt on a large scale, which included fish and birds. They claim that they were the first people to make the olive edible, however many Mediterranean cultures claim they did the

When people hear the word oil it is commonly interpreted as gas, but the oil that we drill is not what goes into our cars. The oil that is retrieved from the ground is called crude oil, Oil in its raw natural form and when it becomes refined it is used in plastics, rubber, and gasoline. ”Gasoline is a volatile, flammable liquid obtained from the refinement of petroleum, or crude oil. It was originally discarded as a byproduct of kerosene production.” The first oil well was found and harvested in Titusville, Pennsylvania by a man named Edwin L. Drake, in 1859. The well was about 70 feet deep (How gas). It pumped between 20-40 barrels a day

As a resident on Mount Olympus, Athena rightfully represents both intelligence and strategy (Grant, Hazel 83). Symbols that identify with the goddess include the owl for wisdom and the olive

Athena is the Goddess of war and craftsmanship.*footnote*Athena, the Goddess of war, was depicted holding the Goddess of victory, which one could interpret the two Goddesses together as meaning victory in war.*footnote* Also Athena was portrayed in full military attire, which can clearly be seen as another symbol of war. The Goddess Athena was very intelligent and powerful in war, and viewed war as a way to achieve peace, versus just fighting to be violent. *footnote* This very powerful statute was a beacon to greeks, that helped them to achieve victory in war and achieve peace through

Zeus, the god of the sky, ruler of the olympian gods, filler of Gaia’s' prophecy, “supreme deity in Greek religion”, (Cartwright, 2013), was a very mighty god as well as a big lothario. Zeus liked reverence, respect and morality and punished all who were impious and blasphemous, which is strange since he had forty some children or more from many women, which didn’t demonstrate much respect to his wife Hera. Zeus had many symbols such as the thunderbolt, sceptre, eagle, oak tree, and the aegis, all of which have a story behind them. The famous thunderbolt which Zeus is known for, represents ruling over the elements and was a gift given by the cyclops and turned into his major weapon which is retrieved by the eagle (which represented his ruling over the sky). The aegis was “forged by the Cyclopes in Hephaestus’ forge” (Karas, 2017), which is thought to be animal skin and offers protection to a god. The oak tree represents religion which is what Zeus stands for since he was the main god in ancient times. Lastly the sceptre represented Zeus being a ruler of the gods.

When people wonder about Ancient Greece the first thing that comes to their minds is Greek mythology; gods and goddesses that have helped shape many historical events. “In ancient Greece, stories about gods and goddesses and heroes and monsters were an important part of everyday life.” (“Greek Mythology.”) The civilization showed that numerous characters and stories helped shape Greeks. The beliefs the Greeks had with mythologies was they understood the meaning behind all the characters that are known today. However, to the Greeks, they were not just characters, these were their gods and goddesses who gave them meaning and understanding of the world around them. Worshiping the gods and goddesses helped them with their religious rituals and the temperament of the weather. A famous wine-jar that was made during this time period was “Achilles killing the Amazon Queen Penthesilea, 540-530 BCE, black-figured amphora”. (Khan Academy) The civilization that they lived in grew around their worship and achievements.

Zeus, the god of the sky, ruler of the Olympian gods, filler of Gaia’s' prophecy, “supreme deity in Greek religion”, (Cartwright, 2013), was a remarkable god as well as a tremendous lothario. Zeus liked reverence, respect and morality and punished all who were impious and blasphemous, which is peculiar since he had forty some children or more from many women, which didn’t demonstrate much respect to his wife Hera. Zeus had many symbols such as the thunderbolt, sceptre, eagle, oak tree, and the aegis, all of which have a story behind them. The famous thunderbolt which Zeus is known for, represents ruling over the elements and was a gift given by the Cyclops and turned into his major weapon which is retrieved by the eagle (which represented his ruling over the sky). The aegis was “forged by the Cyclopes in Hephaestus’ forge” (Karas, 2017), which is thought to be animal skin and offers protection to a god. The oak tree represents religion which is what Zeus stands for since he was the main god in ancient times. Lastly the sceptre represented Zeus being a ruler of the gods.

First, Greek architecture was mainly created to give respect to Gods and create worship areas for the Gods. Representing and respecting Greek Gods appropriately was considered important to the Greek people during this time. A very early Greek architectural example of showing respect towards the Gods, was when trees were used as the first temples as a place of worship. As expressed by Pliny, “The Trees formed the first temples of the Gods.” (Pliny). Trees held a valuable position to the Greeks because they were classified as sacred and even representational to certain Gods. The Greeks believed that trees had relation to certain Gods. For example, The God Zeus’s sacred tree was the oak tree, while, the olive tree was the Goddess Athena’s sacred tree. The olive tree was the first temple for Athena, which was

The third similarity that Athena and Minerva shares is their symbols. One of the most important symbols is the owl. In both Greek and Roman mythology the owl represents the wisdom and watchfulness that Athena and Minerva represent. Their sacred plant is the olive tree and mulberry tree. Athena and Minerva are both credited with creating the first olive tree for the

The Greeks were a civilization whose lives were controlled by kings and gods. There were many gods that the Greeks believed in, each of them were prayed for many reasons, blessings, goodwill, war, and help. Athena was one of the many gods that the Greeks prayed to, she was feared for the deed she did to a young woman. She turned this women, Medusa, into a Gorgon. The creature that had snakes for hair, and who could turn people into stone when they looked at her. This deed lead to the Greeks trying to please Athena in various ways.

In “Greek Mythology in Popular Culture” wikipedia.org describes the everyday items we use or see on T.V were inspired by Greek mythology. From movies to space technology, these things were named from the Greek myths. Like the T.V show/movie Hercules that was made in 1997 makes it clear that we got the idea off of Greek mythology. And also in marketing. Many corporations have used Greek mythology in their wine logos to represent the god of wine, Dionysus.

referred to this as her sacred bird ( Hamilton 29 ). Athena created the olive tree and

In our lives, we are surrounded by moments of tragedy that drives our will to keep moving forward. Our daily lifestyles are no different from the famous stories that playwrights have written throughout history. Playwrights are masters at combining theatre elements of tragedy, religion, violence, and numerous relative elements that the audience embrace faithfully. Today, Greek and Roman influence is the main topic since they have inspired the famous plays Desire under the Elms and The Glass Menagerie.