The cultivation of the olive trees began at the 3rd millennium B.C. in the island of Crete and from there it was spread to the rest of the continental Greece and the Mediterranean countries.
This is proven from wall paintings found in the islands of Santorini and Crete. There were also found vases in Mycenae that depict olive trees while in Sparta two golden cups were found that depict olive orchards.
Also, documents were found written in Linear B, which refer to the buying and selling of olive oil quantities.
From left: Representation of ideograms in Linear B: the olive tree, the olive and the olive oil.
Later, the cultivation of the olive trees was systematized and olive oil was an important source of wealth because of its trading in the areas of the Mediterranean.
In ancient Greece, the olive oil and the olive tree had a prestigious place. In Athens for example, one of the most important legislators, Solon, had forbidden the cutting of the olive trees and the punishment for the violators was death.