A gift of goddess Athena to the citizens of Athens, the olive tree continues to be a cornerstone of Greek culture. In addition to being a critical foodstuff since the 5th millennium BC, olives and olive oil were used for a wide variety of purposes in antiquity, including as a cleansing agent, perfumed oil, a source of light and heat, and as a prize for the victors of the Panathenaic Games. Their harvest in the fall and early winter was a major event in ancient Greece and remains so to this day.
Our design is based on an Athenian black-figure vase dated 530-510 BC that depicts this important agricultural task. It features two bearded figures, one on each side of an olive tree. Each one beats the branches with a long stick to remove the olives. In the tree, a youth with a short stick performs the same activity, while one on the ground collects the olives in a basket. Today, the same exact harvesting technique can be witnessed every fall in the endless olive groves of the Greek landscape.
• 100% combed and ring-spun cotton (Heather colors contain polyester) • Fabric weight: 4.2 oz/yd² (142 g/m²) • Pre-shrunk fabric • Side-seamed construction • Shoulder-to-shoulder taping • Blank product sourced from Guatemala, Nicaragua, Mexico, Honduras, or the US
