The Illyrians took over the culture of growing olives and their provinces of Histria and Liburnia became famous for their olive oil of specific taste and scent. Ancient authors appreciated Liburnian oil for its exceptional quality.
Olive oil was used for various purposes: for cooking, lighting, coating the body of an athlete, treatments, massages, and beauty purposes. The olive also had symbolic value as it was a gift from the goddess Athena; therefore it represented wisdom and the holy peace. A wreath of olive twigs at the competitions symbolised strength and victory.
Olives were indispensable at Greek dining tables. They were served wizened, with a stalk of wild fennel or as a spread (previously pitted and milled). Hippocrates attested to their nutritive value and claimed that a man can survive on eating eight olives a day.
Adrijano Nikolić author: Apoxyomenos Gastronomic Story, Lidija Kosmos, BA History and Sociology
