The olive tree, a mythical tree and symbol of immortality, blends in with the history, tradition and culture of the Mediterranean peoples.
Its origin, in its primitive form, dates back to the Tertiary Era - before the birth of man - and is located, according to various authors, in Asia Minor, perhaps in Syria or Palestine, a region where traces of olive oil production facilities and fragments of vases dating back to the early Bronze Age have been discovered. The fact is that fossilized olive leaves dating back to the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods have been found all over the Mediterranean.
It is now thought that the species to which the olive tree belongs, Olea europaea, has a hybrid origin, i.e. it is the result of the crossing of several species. Its progenitors include the Olea africana, which originated in Arabia and Egypt, the Olea ferruginea, from Asia, and the Olea laperrini, abundant in southern Morocco and the Macaronesian Islands.
Around 3000 BC, the olive tree was already cultivated throughout the “Fertile Crescent”. The dispersal of this crop throughout Mediterranean Europe was due to the Greeks.
The Greeks and Romans, who were great enthusiasts and producers of olive oil, were equally prodigal in finding applications for it and, not content with the many uses they gave it in the kitchen, they also used olive oil as a medicine, an ointment or balm, perfume, fuel for lighting, a lubricant for implements and a waterproofing agent for fabrics.
Later, olive cultivation spread throughout the Mediterranean basin and, with the maritime expeditions of the Portuguese and Spanish, the olive tree eventually sailed to the Americas. It then spread all over the world, wherever climatic conditions were favorable.
The olive tree has always been associated with religious practices, myths and traditions, artistic and cultural manifestations, medicinal and gastronomic uses. In ancient Greece, when women wanted to get pregnant, they would spend long periods in the shade of olive trees. Royal sceptres were made from the wood of olive trees and monarchs, priests and athletes were anointed with olive oil. The leaves were used to make garlands and wreaths for the victors.
The olive tree was considered a symbol of wisdom, peace, abundance and glory.
Six thousand years ago, the Egyptians credited Isis, wife of Osiris, the supreme god of their mythology, with teaching them how to cultivate the olive tree. In the Greek legend, Pallas Athene, Goddess of peace and wisdom, daughter of Zeus, was the mother of the tree under which Remus and Romulus, descendants of the Gods and founders of Rome, were born, since she caused the olive tree to sprout from a single blow and, in her great kindness, taught it how to grow and use it.
In turn, Minerva offered the Romans this divine gift, also an asylum of divinity.
Homer, Squirrel, Sophocles, Virgil, Ovid and Pliny sang of the olive tree:
“And with an olive branch man is completely purified.”
Virgílio, Eneida
“A glorious tree flourishes in our Doric land: our sweet, silvery nursemaid, the olive tree. Born alone and immortal, without fear of enemies, its eternal strength defies rogues young and old, for Zeus and Athena protect it with sleepless eyes.”
Sófocles, Édipo
Almost all religions speak of the olive tree, a tree from distant civilizations, which has a place in the oldest texts:

- In "Genesis" Noah's dove carries an olive branch in its beak to show him that the world is reviving.
- In "Exodus", Yahweh prescribes to Moses the "Holy Anointing" in which olive oil is mixed with rare perfumes.
- In the garden of Gethsemane there are still eight large olive trees that saw Christ pray, weep and die.
- The Koran also sings of the tree that grows on Mount Sinai and refers to the oil that is extracted from it to be transformed into the light of a lamp “like a shining star”.
It has always been the heritage of Mediterranean countries, but nowadays it is widespread everywhere, from Argentina, Australia, Chile, the United States of America, to Japan, Mexico, China and the Republic of South Africa, among others.
Olive oil has always been present in the nooks and crannies of Portuguese daily life: in the poor man's lamp and the rich man's candelabra, on the peasant's frugal table and in the solemn temples of old cults.
Mythical, biblical, Romanesque and historical, “olive oil always comes out on top”. It has faced the new truth of selective markets and is no longer simply olive oil, but the cradle of an origin and the identity of a brand.
In Portugal, the culture of the olive tree can be traced back to the earliest times. According to the chronicles, the Visigoths must have inherited it from the Romans, who may have found it on the Iberian Peninsula. In turn, the Arabs maintained the culture and made it thrive, and the word olive oil comes from the Arabic word az-zait, which means “olive juice”.
In fact, the first signs of the importance of olive cultivation in Portugal appear in the provinces where the Christian reconquest took place later. Thus, the first charters referring to olive production concern the Portuguese provinces of Extremadura and Alentejo.
Until the end of the 12th century, there is no mention of olive cultivation or the economic interest of olive production in Portugal. However, in the 13th century, olive oil already occupied an important place in our foreign trade, a position it would later maintain, and it can be said that this fat was a very abundant product in the Middle Ages.
Later, it was the religious orders who, with their role in revitalizing agriculture, paid special attention to the manufacture of olive oil. The “sacred oil” was to play a fundamental role in the economy of the Convent of Santa Cruz de Coimbra, the Monastery of Alcobaça, the Order of the Freires de Cristo, the Order of the Temple and the Order of the Knights of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Resistant to drought and easily adapted to stony terrain, the olive tree has become a constant presence in Portuguese agriculture.