Why Olympic Champions Wore Olive Wreaths (And Won 5,600 Litres of Oil)

At the ancient Olympic Games, victory was not marked by gold medals or prize money. It was marked by a crown of olive leaves — and, at least in Athens, by a fortune in olive oil so large it could reshape a man's life. The story of how olive oil became the currency of athletic excellence begins with a single tree. The Sacred Tree at Olympia In the sacred grove at Olympia stood a wild olive tree known as the Elaia Kallistephanos — the "olive of beautiful wreaths." According to legend, Hercules himself had brought the original cutting from the land of the Hyperboreans, a mythical people who lived beyond the north wind, and planted it in the sanctuary of Zeus. This was no ordinary tree. It was tended with reverence, protected by law, and considered the direct link between the gods and the athletes who competed in their honour. Every four years, when the Games approached, the tree's branches would be harvested for the single purpose of crowning champions. The harvesting was a ritual in itself. The Hellanodikai — the official judges of the Games — would cut the branches using a golden sickle, a detail that elevates the act from agriculture to ceremony. These branches were then carried into the Temple of Zeus, where they were woven into wreaths by hand. The wreath, called a kotinos, was the only prize awarded at Olympia. There was no silver for second place, no bronze for third. You either wore the olive crown or you went home with nothing. In a world that measured worth in livestoc...