Olive branch: Did you mean...?

Alabaster bas-relief detail showing an Apkallu holding a flowering branch. Neo-Assyrian Period, 865-860 BCE. Detail of Panel at Door C (number 2), Room S, the North-West Palace at Nimrud, modern-day Iraq. (The British Museum, London)

Alabaster bas-relief detail showing an Apkallu holding a flowering branch. Neo-Assyrian Period, 865-860 BCE. Detail of Panel 8, Room Z, the North-West Palace at Nimrud, modern-day Iraq. (The British Museum, London)

A detail of a fresco from Herculaneum showing a woman wearing a crown of olive leaves. Likely 1st century CE. National Archaeological Museum, Naples.

4th century BCE gold Olive wreath from Macedonia, both a religious symbol and indicator of social position and power (Archaeological Museum, Thessaloniki, Greece)

Olive oil amphora from Africa and found at Ostia. 3rd century CE. Museo delle Navi Romane di Fiumicino. (National Maritime Museum, Sydney Australia) This amphora is stamped with its place of manufacture; Sullechtum in the Roman province...

Technology enabled ancient Israel, the Northern Kingdom excluding Judah, to be economically prosperous and establish itself as a major political power as early as the 10th century BCE, steadily growing until its destruction in 720 BCE. Some...

Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people. (Karl Marx, Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right). When it comes to religion, many people...

The ancient Olympic Games were a sporting event held every four years at the sacred site of Olympia, in the western Peloponnese, in honour of Zeus, the supreme god of the Greek religion. The games, held from 776 BCE to 393 CE, involved participants...

Philology is derived from the Greek terms φίλος (love) and λόγος (word, reason) and literally means a love of words. It is the study of language in literary sources and is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics. Philology...

Regional, inter-regional and international trade was a common feature of the Roman world. A mix of state control and a free market approach ensured goods produced in one location could be exported far and wide. Cereals, wine and olive oil...