Olives and the Hittites: Agriculture, Economy, Ritual & Legacy in Bronze-Age Anatolia

Introduction

The olive tree and its derivative products — olives, olive oil, and associated by-products — hold a central place in the agrarian, economic and cultural life of the Mediterranean and Near East. Among ancient Anatolian societies, the Hittites stand out as one empire whose texts, archaeology and laws give us direct evidence of how this tree was woven into everyday life, economy and religious ritual. This article examines the Hittites’ engagement with the olive: from its cultivation and agricultural role, to its economic importance and ritual significance. It explores how olive and olive oil functioned within Hittite society, how the Hittites helped shape the olive’s cultural legacy, and why this matters for modern understanding of olive-culture in Anatolia.

عاصمة الزيتون في اليونان: رحلة في قلب تراث الزيتون

ماهي عاصمة الزيتون للبرتغال؟

ماهي عاصمة الزيتون الفرنسية؟

1. Who Were the Hittites? A Brief Overview

Before delving into olive-cultivation, it is helpful to summarise the civilisation in question.

The Hittites were an ancient Indo-European-speaking people who emerged in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) in the early second millennium BCE, establishing a state whose capital was at Hattusa (near modern Boğazköy). (Encyclopedia Britannica)

By around the 14th to 13th centuries BCE the Hittite Empire had become a major power in Anatolia and northern Syria, interacting with neighbouring states such as Egypt, Assyria and the Levant. (Encyclopedia Britannica)

Much of what we know comes from clay tablets (cuneiform) found at Hattusa and other sites, which record their laws, economy, administrative, religious and agricultural matters. (Encyclopedia Britannica)

The Hittite economy was fundamentally agrarian: the majority of people were farmers or herders, the land was central to the state’s functioning, and agriculture-based surpluses fuelled trade, tribute and state power. (Fiveable)

In short, the Hittites were deeply embedded in the agrarian landscapes of Anatolia — making them an ideal case-study for the role of a major fruit tree such as the olive.

2. The Olive Tree in Anatolia and the Hittite World

2.1 Olive (Botany & Geography)

The olive tree (genus Olea, species Olea europaea for the Mediterranean olive) has a long natural and cultivated history in the Mediterranean basin and adjoining regions. The wild olive (oleaster) grows naturally along the coastal and lower elevation zones of the Mediterranean, including parts of southern Anatolia. Archaeobotanical and textual evidence indicate that olives and olive oil were present in Anatolia during the Bronze Age, and that they entered Hittite contexts. (OAPEN Library)

Because olives thrive in Mediterranean climates — mild wet winters, hot dry summers, relatively low rainfall — their distribution in the Hittite realm is likely concentrated in the southern and western “Mediterranean fringe” of Anatolia rather than the high plateau (which was dominated by cereal cultivation). For example, the Cilicia region has been pointed out for having wild olive stands (“delice”) in later times. (jotags.net)

2.2 Olive in Hittite Texts and Archaeobotany

Several academic studies focus on how the Hittites refer to olive trees. In a 2021 paper titled Olive Tree in Anatolia of the Hittite Period, Şükrü Ünar and Aslı Ünar point out that the Hittite tablets refer to the olive or olive tree as GIŠ SERDU or GIŠ ZERTU(M). The paper argues that the olive tree was among the important fruit trees planted and cultivated in Hittite Anatolia, especially in the Mediterranean-Aegean and Marmara zones. (DergiPark)

Another review of archaeobotanical data (Riehl 2010, referenced in a broader edited volume) notes that while textual evidence from Hittite Anatolia refers to olive cultivation and oil usage, the physical remains (olive pits, pollen) are comparatively scarce in inland Anatolia. This suggests that olives may have been grown in limited zones and/or that much of the olive economy was reliant on trade in oil rather than mass on-site cultivation. (OAPEN Library)

These dual strands — textual references and archaeobotanical caution — highlight that while the olive was present in the Hittite world, its status appears to have been distinct from the major cereal crops.

2.3 Geographic Distribution in Hittite Anatolia

The Hittite heartland was the central Anatolian plateau, which is better suited to cereals (wheat, barley) and pastoralism. Olive cultivation is more likely in the lowland coastal zones, the Aegean-Mediterranean littoral, and possibly the lower elevation river valleys. The 2021 study argues that the olive tree’s “distribution area” in Hittite Anatolia included today’s Mediterranean, Aegean and Marmara regions. (DergiPark)

For instance, the Cilician region (in southern Anatolia) is cited as an area where wild olive forests (“delice”) persist to later times. (jotags.net)

Thus, while the plateau core may have focused on cereals, grapes and animal husbandry, the fringes of the Hittite realm leveraged the olive tree’s special ecology and economic potential.

3. Agricultural Role of Olive in Hittite Economy

3.1 The Hittite Agrarian Economy

Agriculture was the foundation of Hittite society. The “Hittite economy” section of several overviews emphasises that the state extracted tribute, managed land (often regarded as owned by the gods but administered by the king), and relied on agricultural production and trade. (Wikipedia)

According to one review of the economy and trade networks, the foundation of the Hittite economy was agriculture, craft industries and tribute systems, and among the crops cultivated were wheat, barley and olives. (My Blog)

In the more popular summary “Daily Life in the Hittite Empire”, olives are specifically mentioned alongside wheat, barley and grapes as staple crops. (The Archaeologist)

3.2 Olive (Fruit and Oil) – Uses and Significance

Olive cultivation offered multiple advantages:

Fruits for direct consumption (olive processing)
Oil for cooking, food preparation, lighting and possibly trade
Symbolic and ritual usage (discussed below)
In Hittite texts, olive oil occurs in food contexts: for example, oil was used in breads, pastries, stew sauces, and even as topping for roasted mutton. (Africa Me)
Moreover, olive oil appears in sacrificial and ritual contexts, indicating its cultural value beyond simple foodstuff. (jotags.net)

3.3 Legal Protection & Fruit Tree Cultivation

An interesting dimension is legal regulation of fruit trees in the Hittite law corpus. A paper on the subject notes that the Hittite laws (many preserved on tablets) include provisions protecting vineyards and fruit-trees. One article states that the “economic structure of the Hittites … was formed by vineyard and garden agriculture, the importance given to fruit trees was high and laws were created … to prevent crimes related to fruit-growing and viticulture”.

While the mention is general to “fruit trees”, the inclusion of olives (as a fruit tree) is argued by the authors of the 2021 olive study. It shows that the olive was embedded enough in Hittite agrarian consciousness to merit legal protection and societal regulation.

3.4 Trade, Surplus and Export

Although the Hittite plateau was less suited to large‐scale olive cultivation than the coastal zones, the evidence suggests that olives and olive oil contributed to trade. The archaeobotanical review remarks that Hittite texts show that olive oil was exported (for example to Egypt c.12th century BCE) and used for illumination and cosmetics. (OAPEN Library)

In the blog “Hittite Economy and Trade Goods”, the olive is listed among agricultural products that facilitated trade in the Hittite economy. (The Insurance Universe)

Thus, olives acted as both local subsistence crop and as trade/commodity good.

3.5 Comparative Significance: Olives vs Cereals

By comparison, cereals (wheat, barley) were the staple crops driving food security and agrarian surplus. The Hittite text overviews note that cereals were the backbone of the economy. (Fiveable)

Olives, while important, appear to have been secondary to cereals in terms of land area and mass production — but their higher value (oil, trade) means their economic significance may have been disproportionately large relative to planted area.

In plain terms: cereals fed the many; olives fed and connected the many to trade, ritual, luxury and external relations.

4. Ritual, Cultural and Symbolic Roles of the Olive Among the Hittites

4.1 The Olive Tree in Ritual Texts

The olive tree was not merely a crop for the Hittites: it had ritual and symbolic associations. A 2019 research article on “The Using of Trees in Hittite Religious Rituals” reports that trees such as cedar, tamarisk, olive, laurel, date palm and boxwood were used in Hittite ritual contexts: offerings, sacred trees, votive objects, purification. (DergiPark)

The olive is listed among these: the paper describes that olive tree (“GIŠ ZERTU(M)”) was used in rituals, for example as part of sacred groves or as offering material.

Another study emphasises that before edible use, the olive had roles in worship, cleansing, beauty, and health. For example: “the use of olive oil in edible form; the use of olive in religious ceremonies, worshipping, submission, beatification, cleansing, beauty, health and olive’s being given as award in competitions and sometimes as symbol of welfare”. (jotags.net)

4.2 Olive Oil in Hittite Religious Cuisine and Offerings

From the “Hittite Life, Food, Oil, Water and Pottery” summary, olive oil is referenced as being used in cultic offerings: in a prayer of Muwatalli II the officiant breaks three loaves, dips them in honey and “í.DôG.GA” (which is translated as “fine/good oil”) and presents them to deities. Olive oil and honey are poured on top of roasted mutton as a kind of sauce. (Africa Me)

This shows olive oil was sacred and quotidian at once — part of food culture, but also part of the sacred table.

4.3 Symbolism and Status

Because olive oil is a refined product (requiring processing, pressing, storage) its presence in ritual indicates status: the wealthy, the ruling class, and temples likely had greater access to olive oil than subsistence farmers.

In the Mediterranean world more broadly, the olive has often symbolised peace, prosperity, longevity and contest-victory. While direct parallels in Hittite iconography are less well documented, the fact that the olive tree appears in legal protection, ritual usage and trade suggests it carried symbolic weight: welfare, prosperity and connection to the divine. The mention of olive being “given as award in competitions” (in later Anatolian tradition) suggests the lineage of symbolic meaning may already have roots in Bronze-Age usage. (jotags.net)

4.4 Spatial and Cultic Situatedness

In many ancient societies, trees (including olives) near temples, sacred groves or water courses had special status. The paper on tree-use in Hittite ritual argues that certain trees were used as offerings, as boundary markers, as items placed in temples. Olive’s inclusion among the ritual trees suggests that the Hittites may have cultivated and maintained olive trees not just in fields but in sacred or semi-sacred zones. (DergiPark)

Thus, the olive bridged the domains of the field, the household, the temple and the symbolic.

5. Production, Processing and Technology

5.1 Cultivation & Harvesting

Although direct planting manuals from Hittite texts are scarce, from archaeological and textual sources we can infer aspects of cultivation. The 2021 study observes that olive tree planting in Anatolia dates back some 4,000 years (i.e., ca. 2000 BCE) and that the Hittite texts mention the olive tree among planted fruit trees. (DergiPark)

Harvesting of olives typically required manual picking or beating of branches, followed by cleaning, crushing, pressing (often with stone or wooden presses) and oil separation. While no Hittite technical manual is preserved for olive oil production, the presence of oil in food and ritual contexts implies processing infrastructure existed.

5.2 Oil Pressing, Storage and Use

Olive oil prepared for food and lighting might have been stored in ceramic jars, amphorae or other vessels. The presence of oil in Hittite food recipes (bread, pastries, stew) indicates that oil had sufficient quality and supply to be used not just sparingly, but for flavouring, topping and decoration. (Africa Me)

Oil was also used for lighting (as noted in the archaeobotanical review: exported to Egypt for illumination). (OAPEN Library)

Processing and storage technologies likely included: large stone or wooden presses, settling vessels, storage jars, clay amphorae, perhaps filtration via mats or sacks. While the specifics in Hittite Anatolia are not fully documented, these practices are consistent with Mediterranean Bronze-Age olive oil technology.

5.3 Regional Variations & Wild vs Cultivated Trees

The archaeobotanical review suggests that inland Anatolia may have had fewer planted olive groves and more reliance on wild olive stands or imported olive oil. The relatively low number of olive pits in inland sites suggests that large-scale cultivation was concentrated in favourable zones (coastal, lowland). (OAPEN Library)

Therefore, Hittite olive production likely had regional variation:

Coastal/lowland zones: planted groves, active cultivation, local oil production
Inland plateau: fewer planted trees, perhaps wild olive gathering or import of oil/trade-goods

6. Economic and Trade Aspects

6.1 Olive as Commodity and Trade Good

Olive oil, due to its high value‐to‐weight ratio and multiple uses (food, ritual, lighting, cosmetics) was well suited to trade. The export of Hittite olive oil (or at least its mention) to Egypt in the 12th century BCE is evidence of its significance. (OAPEN Library)

In trade-goods summaries of Hittite economy, the olive is listed alongside grapes as part of the agricultural export base. (The Insurance Universe)

Given the Hittites’ networks of trade and diplomacy (including with Egypt, the Levant, and possibly the Aegean), olives and olive oil likely formed part of the agricultural exports (or tribute) that connected Anatolia to the broader ancient Near East economy.

6.2 Tribute, State Control and Distribution

In many ancient states, the monopoly or taxation of key agricultural products formed part of state revenue. The Hittites extracted tribute and controlled land, including divine and royal estates. While specific invoice tablets for olive oil are rarer than cereals, it is plausible that oil from olive groves under palace or temple control formed part of the state economy.

Legal texts protecting fruit trees indicate that the cultivation of trees (including olives) was under the purview of law, thereby implying state interest and oversight.

Distribution of olive oil within the kingdom may have been via palace, temple, specialized craftsmen or trade in amphorae. Furthermore, the multiple uses of oil (food, lighting, ritual) meant that its circulation within society was multifaceted: private households, aristocratic consumption, temple offerings, export.

6.3 Value and Land Use Implications

Olive groves, once established, provide a long-term crop yield with relatively low water input (especially compared to cereals). In the Mediterranean zones of the Hittite realm, olives provided economic diversification from cereals and animal husbandry. Their value in trade and ritual gave them a strategic economic role.

Because olives require investment (grove planting, pressing infrastructure, storage), they likely were associated with wealthier landowners, temple estates or palace lands — as opposed to subsistence small‐holders whose main crop remained cereals.

In short: olives offered a higher-value crop that could anchor regional economies, contribute to long-term land use and feed into trade networks.

7. Social and Cultural Implications

7.1 Household and Diet

Olive oil appears in Hittite food culture. As mentioned earlier, one summary describes how olive oil and honey were poured atop roasted mutton in a “kind of sauce”. (Africa Me)

Another study of Hittite diet lists olives among fruits consumed and olive oil among the oils used for cooking: “Fruits consumed … olive … and oils … olive oil …”

Thus, the olive tree and its product formed part of daily life: not just as commodity, but as food, oil and flavour. Although cereals and legumes dominated the diet, olives and oil provided variety, flavour and nutrition.

Given the anti-oxidant and lipid nature of olive oil, the nutritional role may have been appreciated (though not in modern biochemical terms). The presence of olive oil in elite or ritual dishes suggests that it also indicated status.

7.2 Elite, Temple and Palace Use

Given its multiple roles (culinary, lighting, ritual), olive oil likely featured in elite tables: palaces, temples and official banquets. Its occurrence in cultic offerings suggests that the palace and temple economies were significant actors in olive production and distribution.

Also, olive groves may have been part of temple lands or palace estates, making the olive tree both an economic and a symbolic asset of power. The legal protection of fruit trees may implicitly refer to olive groves belonging to elite or sacred estates.

7.3 Ritual, Symbol and Landscape

As noted earlier, the olive tree functioned in the sacred landscape of the Hittites: sacred trees, ritual offerings, boundary markers, and possibly in symbolic representations of fertility, prosperity and divine favour.

The inclusion of olive among the ritual trees in Hittite religious texts (alongside cedar, date palm, laurel) shows that the Hittites associated certain trees with sacred function. (DergiPark)

Olive groves near temples or sanctuaries may have been consciously planted and maintained as part of the sacred landscape. The tree thus bound together agriculture, economy and religion.

7.4 Environmental and Land-Use Legacy

Since olives thrive in Mediterranean climate zones and can tolerate dryer summers and poorer soils better than some other crops, they represent a sustainable long-term land use. In the Hittite period, this may have contributed to the resilience of certain zones (coastal, lowland) even when the plateau agriculture faced stress (drought, climate fluctuation).

There is evidence that drought and environmental stress contributed to Hittite decline; in such contexts, diversified agriculture (including olive groves) may have been a stabilising factor. While this is speculative, the choice of olive reflects adaptation to the Mediterranean fringe ecology.

In later centuries, olive groves in Anatolia continued to be an important part of the agricultural landscape — suggesting that Hittite-era use helped plant the long-term olive culture of Anatolia.

8. Decline, Legacy and Transition

8.1 End of the Hittite Empire

By around c. 1190–1180 BCE the Hittite Empire collapsed in the context of the Late Bronze Age upheavals (sea-peoples, internal stress, climate). (Encyclopedia Britannica)

With the collapse of the central empire, many of the Hittite-dominated territories transitioned into smaller “Neo-Hittite” states and continued to maintain aspects of Hittite culture. The agrarian infrastructures (including olive cultivation in favourable zones) would have partly persisted.

From an olive-economy viewpoint, the continuity of olive groves, pressing installations, trade networks and ritual usage likely fed into the later Iron Age and Hellenistic olive culture of Anatolia.

8.2 The Olive in Post-Hittite Anatolia

While direct continuity of Hittite olive tax/estate systems is difficult to trace, the ecological and cultural presence of the olive tree endured in Anatolia. The Mediterranean fringe including Cilicia, the southern coasts, the Aegean region continued to develop olive agriculture in the first millennium BCE and beyond. The botanical and textual evidence from the Hittite era provides an important link in that chain of continuity: it shows that olive cultivation was present already at the end of the Bronze Age and integrated into polity, economy and ritual.

Thus, the Hittite period forms a key pre-classical chapter in the long history of olives in Anatolia.

8.3 Implications for Modern Olive Culture

For modern olive scholarship and horticulture in Turkey and Anatolia, the Hittite evidence is significant because it pushes back the date of systematic olive use and cultural importance in Anatolia to the second millennium BCE. The 2021 study emphasises this by stating that the olive/tree was one of the important fruit trees planted in Hittite Anatolia. (DergiPark)

Understanding the Hittite period helps modern historians, archaeobotanists and agronomists trace the trajectory of olive cultivation: from wild stands, to cultivated groves, to state and temple economies, to trade goods, to ritual objects, to the modern olive-culture of the Mediterranean.

For olive-growers, historians and cultural heritage professionals alike, the Hittite olive story enriches our understanding of how long the olive has been embedded in Anatolian landscapes, culture and economy.

9. Summary of Key Points

The Hittites were an agrarian empire in Anatolia (second millennium BCE) with strong agriculture, trade and ritual systems.
Olives (tree) and olive oil appear in Hittite texts and archaeobotanical studies, especially in Mediterranean fringe zones of Anatolia.
The olive played roles in cultivation, food, oil production, trade, ritual and legal regulation within Hittite society.
While cereals dominated land use, the olive offered high value, trade potential and cultural significance, acting as both commodity and symbol.
Olive groves may have been regionally concentrated (coastal/lowland) but connected to the Hittite state economy via elite estates, temple lands and trade.
Ritual usage shows the olive tree was embedded in the Hittite sacred landscape and not just utilitarian.
Although the Hittite Empire collapsed, the olive cultivation practices and cultural value persisted, feeding into later Anatolian olive culture.
For modern scholarship and olive cultivation heritage, the Hittite period offers a deep time-perspective on olive agriculture in Anatolia.

10. Future Research and Open Questions

While the textual evidence is substantial, several open questions remain:

How extensive were planted olive groves in the Hittite heartland (versus wild olive gathering)?
What pressing/processing technologies did the Hittites use specifically for olive oil?
How did olive oil taxation, storage and distribution operate in the palace-temple economy?
What was the exact volume of olive oil trade or export from the Hittite realm (quantitative data)?
How did climatic or environmental stress (drought, land-use change) affect olive cultivation in Hittite Anatolia?
Can further archaeobotanical investigation (pollen cores, olive pits) better map the distribution and scale of olive cultivation in the Hittite era?
Addressing these questions will deepen our understanding of how the Hittite olive economy functioned and how olive culture evolved in Anatolia.

Conclusion

The olive tree in the Hittite world emerges as a rich subject: one that connects agriculture, economy, ritual, landscape, trade and legacy. While often overshadowed by the cereal lands of the Anatolian plateau, the olive carved out its own niche — thriving in the Mediterranean fringes, bridging elite and common, mundane and sacred. The Hittite period shows that olive cultivation and oil use were already significant by the second millennium BCE in Anatolia, contributing to food culture, ritual practice and trade networks. For those interested in the deep history of olive culture, the Hittites provide a fascinating case of how a tree can shape a society, its economy and its spiritual world.

Keywords:

Hittites, olive tree, olive oil, Anatolia, Bronze Age agriculture, Hittite economy, Hittite ritual, fruit trees Hittites, Hittite agriculture, Hittite olive cultivation, olive trade ancient Anatolia