As well as stability, stability, unpretentiousness and wisdom. For it survives and continues to grow in the worst conditions - from drought to frost.
An olive tree can grow in soil that is poor in minerals, where other fruit-bearing plants would be “skipped”. The ancient Greeks, for example, considered the olive tree immortal, reborn - even if the trunk froze, new shoots appeared in the place of the dead. Virgil mentions an olive "blue with frost". And Sophocles rewards this tree with such epithets as "eternally reborn", "ageless plant".
In times of calamity, the steadfastness of the olive has inspired people. In the 5th century BC, the Persians captured the city of Athens and burned it down. Residents fled, many died. The next day, according to the testimony of Herodotus, the burnt trees sprouted almost an elbow-long sprouts. This became a symbol of the ongoing struggle, and the military campaign of the Persians really ended with their complete defeat at the Battle of Salamis.
The olive tree has proven its amazing vitality in our time: in 1956 in Provence, the February cold killed thousands of trees. Almost all of the expected harvest has been lost. In the summer, the French government allocated funds to cut down trees to plant new ones. Up to 95% of all trees (in some regions) were cut down to stumps; however, the next year, in March, all the stumps had new shoots. The trees, which the axes did not reach, also came to life and after the allotted time gave an excellent harvest.
And here is material from the book “Wonderful Olive. A Brief Culturological Research”: there is an olive tree in West Crete that is 3000 years old. It is the oldest tree in Europe. It caught the very first Olympic Games in history. In addition, eight olive trees grow in Jerusalem, which caught Jesus Christ.
By this property, the olive tree is a little reminiscent of another fruit-bearing tree, which not only gave life, but from which life begins every morning for most of the inhabitants of the planet - this is the coffee tree. The coffee caniphora subspecies also survives any bad weather, preserving the trunk, and leaves, and fruits, from the seeds of which the actual coffee is prepared.
The Swiss poet Ralph Dutley quotes this saying: "Whoever eats olives every day will be the same age as the beams of the most durable house." Indeed, the olive is also a symbol of longevity and, fortunately, an active life, including in the matter of family fidelity. Odysseus, even before leaving Ithaca for a long time, built his strong house just around the olive tree, and his wife waited for her husband's return, despite the abundance of suitors. According to Homer, the marriage bond of Odysseus and Penelope "escaped drowning", in part - thanks to the miraculous power of the olive tree.
