The "Olive Branch"

[dave_c]

Why is this considered a peace offering?

[Octavius]

A symbol of peace, an offering of good will, as in yhey feuded for years, but finally they came over bearing an olive branch. This term is alluded to in the Bible (Genesis 8:11), where the dove comes to Noah after the flood with an olive leaf in its mouth. [c. 1600]

[jno]

yes Octavius, I think that's the origin of the phrase, isn't it? I suppose the idea is that, having committed mass genocide by wiping out virtually the entire human race, a merciful and loving God decided to offer peace to the handful of survivors.

[Octavius]

If that's what you believe jno

[Quizmonster]

From Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable...

"An olive-branch was anciently a symbol of peace. The vanquished who sued for peace carried olive-branches in their hands. And an olive-twig in the hands of a king (on medals), as in the case of Numa, indicated a reign of peace."

(Numa Pompilius was the second king of Rome and not a kind of dance or anything to do with underwater activities, if you're tempted to do a Google search!)

The Bible ark story certainly involved an olive branch but seems to have less to do with the idea of peace than the idea that dry land - and hence trees - still existed. In addition, the Bible held little sway in ancient Rome where an olive branch certainly was a peace symbol.

[Octavius]

I didn't say the bible invented it!

Egyption hieroglyphs depict the ancient army carrying an olive branch, always in their left hands (presumably as a sign of peace, closer to the heart etc...)

[Quizmonster]

And I didn't say that you had, O! I was simply pointing out for Dave's benefit - as you are now further doing yourself - that the peace-symbolism of the olive-branch is far more widely spread than just the Bible.
Your reference to Genesis 8/11 reads, in the King James' Version: "And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive-leaf pluckt off. So Noah knew the waters were abated from off the earth." It has nothing to do with peace, but only with knowing the flood had subsided, as I indicated earlier.

Of course, the knowledge that ancient Egyptians and ancient Romans as well as ancient Hebrews saw the olive-branch as a peace symbol does not really help any of us to grasp why. Why not the date, fig or whatever other Mediterranean/Middle Eastern plant's leaf/branch might occur to us?
I can't help thinking of the Native Americans and their "pipe of peace". Why not a "deer-stew of peace" or a "hooch-goblet of peace"?
The real point here is that none of us has truly answered the question...in my case at least because I don't know. Nor, I suspect - given that it stretches so far into the past - does anyone else.

[jno]

no, I was the one who wondered if the Bible invented it; I now suspect not, thanks QM.

[Quizmonster]

As the subject had begun to fascinate me, Jno, I decided to have a look at a Bible concordance. The word 'olive' appears 34 times, with 'leaf' listed once - re dove/ark - and 'branch(es)' listed three times. In not even one of the total is there a suggestion that the plant is a symbol of peace! Certainly, it is clearly associated with abundance, beauty, fertility, goodness and pureness, but never peace.
I presume, therefore, that the notion must have been handed down via Jewish oral tradition alone. Either that or we've been barking up the wrong (olive!) tree as regards the Hebrew/olive/peace connection for a long time! Cheers

[jno]

As I understand it, olive trees take yonks to grow. This means that in a roundabout way they represent peace, because you'd only plant them in times of peace, when you imagined they'd still be there undisturbed for decades; and you'd plant them for your chilren rather than yourself. Maybe this has something to do with the mythic overtones?