General Olive Oil Information

The Olive Oil SourceThe most complete reference for Olive Oil in the United States. Excellently maintained by Lisa Dean, of Greenbrae, California.

Ancient History

The Perseus Project—An Online Encyclopedia of History and Antiquities. "Perseus is an evolving digital library, engineering interactions through time, space, and language. Our primary goal is to bring a wide range of source materials to as large an audience as possible. We anticipate that greater accessibility to the sources for the study of the humanities will strengthen the quality of questions, lead to new avenues of research, and connect more people through the connection of ideas."

Into the Roman World—Lacus Curtius This site is an excellent resource on the Roman World as well as the ancient world and the not-so-ancient world. There is a wealth of valuable information here including A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities by William Smith, D.C.L., LL.D.

The Ancient Roman Agronomist, or agricultural researcher, Cato the Censor wrote his treatise De Agricultura in the late 200s BCE (Before Common Era). De Agricultura is the oldest surviving work of Latin literature, however it still contains advice that is relevant to modern agriculturists.The following passage explains when to harvest olives for olive oil and provides the reader with some management advice.

When the olives are ripe they should be gathered as early as possible, and stand as little as possible on the ground or in the bin. The longer they stand on the ground or in the bin the more they will deteriorate. The gatherers want there to be as many windfalls as possible, so that they gather more. The press workers want the olives to stay in the bin as long as possible , to soften, which makes their work easier. Do not accept that oil yield increases with storage. The more quickly you make it, the better the work will go, and the higher will be both the quantity and quality of the oil from the same amount harvested. Olives that stay on the ground or in the bin will make less and poorer oil. De Agricultura, XLIII 64