Olive
Olive · The Branch in Noah Dove, the Gift of Athena, the Sign of Peace
The evergreen broadleaf that carried Mediterranean civilization. From Genesis 8:11, where the dove from Noah ark returns with a fresh olive leaf, the olive became the emblem of peace. In Greek myth, Athena won the patronage of Athens by giving the city the olive tree in her contest with Poseidon (Pausanias Description of Greece 1.24.5). And the place where Jesus prayed before his arrest was Gethsemane, in Aramaic gat shemane, the olive press (Matthew 26:36).
