Olive wreath

The olive wreath was the prize for the winner at the ancient Olympic Games. In the ancient Olympic Games, there were no gold, silver, or bronze medals. It was introduced by Heracles as a prize for the running race winner to honour his father Zeus. According to the ancient mythology, Athena and Poseidon vied who should be the tutelary deity of Athens. Poseidon was the god of the sea and had an important role to the already then witted shipping. He was the first to show what he could offer the city. With great force, he hurled his trident into the ground by the current Erechtheum temple on the Acropolis, and the welled a source. Unfortunately, it turned out to be saltwater and therefore undrinkable. Athena on the other hand, let an olive tree sprouting out of the ground, and when the townspeople immediately realized the olive trees future importance, it was Athena, who ran away with the victory. In other parts of Greece, there were sacred olive trees, for example in Olympia, from which you cut olive twigs to victory wreaths at the Olympic Games. It was also the case at the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004, where wreaths were bound by twigs from Greece’s oldest olive tree that stands in Ano Vouves in Crete. Although the analysis shows that the tree is over 2000 years old, wearing it still plenty of olives.