So revered was the olive tree in Classical Greece, that Solon, one of the city’s wise men and lawmaker, enacted the first legislation to protect it. Anyone caught cutting or uprooting an olive tree was liable to death. While all olive trees were considered sacred, some were considered more so. These were called Moria. They were protected by short fences and harming them in any way was considered a capital offense. To this day, the Greek word for punishment, timoria, comes from the name of these religiously significant trees.

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