Handmade 100% olive oil solid soap

Greek myth tells that the first olive tree was “created” by Athena on the Acropolis of Athens, in answer to a challenge from Poseidon. From then on the tree became a symbol of prosperity and peace for whoever grew it; for this reason anyone who dared to cut down or uproot one was punished with lifelong exile. Legend has it that the first olive tree planted in Sicily was the work of Aristaeus, son of Apollo, during one of his many stays on the island; he is also credited with inventing the olive millstone and the lever press.

Leaving myth aside, the olive seems to have reached Sicily in the 8th century BC, when the Phoenicians founded the trading ports (emporia) of Motya, Solunto and Zyz (Palermo). In the 4th century BC the wealthy Siculo-Greek city of Morgantina, today in the Enna territory of Aidone, not only made great profits from its oil but built oil presses in private homes and worshipped an oil deity alongside the goddess Athena: a large oil jar kept in the Archaeological Museum of Aidone bears the inscription IEROS (sacred) EILALINOY (to the God of Oil).