In the 16th century BC, the Phoenicians begin to spread the olive throughout the Greek Islands, and, in the 14th to 12th centuries BC, to the Greek mainland

In the 8th century BC, ELYSSA (QUEEN DIDO), Princess of Tyr, contribute to the olive tree implantation : she fled from her brother Pygmalion (the name of a historical king of Tyre who ruled a century after Hiram).

So, Elyssa begin a long trip around Mediterranean during 7 years, till unisian coasts.

CARTHAGE was founded in 814 B.C. by a Elyssa who gathered up the royal treasury and a group of supporters and traveled to Cyprus, another Phoenician colony. Thereafter she traveled to North Africa where present day country of Tunis is.

The site chosen for Carthage in the centre of the shore of the Gulf of Tunis was ideal ; the city was built on a triangular peninsula covered with low hills and backed by the Lake of Tunis with its safe anchorage and abundant supplies of fish. The site of the city was well protected and easily defensible.

The Romans extended its cultivation throughout their occupied territories on the Mediterranean coast, and by the time they arrived in northern Africa, the Berbers already knew how to graft wild olive trees.

It was introduced in Marseilles around 600 BC and spread from there to the whole of Gaul. The olive tree made its appearance in Sardinia in Roman times, while it is said to have been brought to Corsica by the Genoese long after the fall of the Roman Empire.

Where its cultivation increased and gained great importance. In the 4th century BC, Solon issued decrees regulating the planting of olive trees.

Olive oil has been more than a simply food to the peoples of the Mediterranean : it has been medicinal and magical, source of fascination and wonder, and the fountain of great wealth and power.

The olive tree, symbol of abundance, glory and peace, gave its leafy branches to crown the victorious in friendly games and bloody war, and the oil of its fruit has anointed the noblest of heads throughout history.

Olive crowns and olive branches, emblems of benediction and purification, were ritually offered to powerful figures and Homer called olive oil "liquid gold."

King Solomon and King David placed great importance on the cultivation of olive trees; King David even had guards watching over the olive groves and warehouses, ensuring the safety of the trees and their precious oil.

Olive trees dominated the rocky Greek countryside and became pillars of Hellenic society; they were so sacred that those who cut one down were condemned to death or exile.

In ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, it was infused with flowers and with grasses to produce both medicine and cosmetics.

Temperate climactic conditions, characterized by warm dry summers and rainy winters, favor plentiful harvests; stone, drought, silence, and solitude are the ideal habitat for the majestic olive tree.

Olive trees have a vital force which renders them nearly immortal. Despite harsh winters and burning summers, despite truncations, they continue to grow, bearing fruit that nourishes, heals inspire and amazes.