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Room 4 – A journey through the story of olive oil and the olive tree
Like our ancient forbearers, we can also say that the Mediterranean Area starts and finishes with the olive tree. Olive oil has always been one of the most precious products used in commerce in the Mediterranean Area for thousands of years. The producers areas of cultivation exported oil at a high price to those populations unable to produce it. Later these people tried to start cultivation themselves.
The tree and its oil gradually became widely spread westwards throughout the then known world, from the shores of Syria and Palestine to the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean. Along this journey the olive tree saw the birth of some of the most important ancient civilizations.

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Against a background of countries and routes travelled over by navigators and the adventurous ancient Greek population, merchants, Phoenicians, rare and suggestive evidence from ancient relics, containers used in commerce, antique mosaics and paintings illustrating the voyage of a product or tree that has become the symbol of the Mediterranean area.
 

A mosaic depicting a scene of navigation
The mosaic depicts a sailing boat on which there are two female figures. Around the bottom of the mast are four different forms of anphoras, two of which used for containing oil. Olive oil has travelled for thousands of years across the Mediterranean Sea in ceramic containers.

Material:polychrome tesseras
Manufacturing technique: mosaics
Origin: southern Italy
Dated: II-IIIB.C.
Use: pavement