Is olive oliveodyssey
Executive summary
No — the botanical olive (and its symbolic presence in Homer’s Odyssey) is not the same as "Olive Odyssey," which is a modern expedition/book project and popular shorthand for narratives about olive culture; the two share a subject (the olive) but are different entities: one ancient and symbolic, the other contemporary and journalistic [1] [2] [3].
1. What the olive is in Homer’s epic: a living, symbolic touchstone
In Homer’s Odyssey the olive tree functions as a dense symbol — a marker of home, marital fidelity and rootedness — most famously when Odysseus’ bed is built around the trunk of an olive, making the tree itself a literal and figurative bedrock of his marriage to Penelope (translation and commentary in Book 23) [4] [5] [1]. Scholarly and popular guides repeatedly read that image as an emblem of constancy and Ithacan rootedness, and broader studies of the olive in classical literature underline its associations with peace, life and Athena’s patronage [6] [1].
2. What “Olive Odyssey” refers to in modern sources: travel, history and a book project
“Olive Odyssey” in contemporary coverage tends to name a modern expedition and associated book that trace the cultural, culinary and historical importance of the olive and olive oil — a narrative that frames the olive as “liquid gold,” ties it to ancient myths, and explores its role in trade, ritual and daily life across the Mediterranean and beyond (Angus Adventures’ Olive Odyssey and Julie’s Olive Odyssey book excerpt) [2] [3]. That modern project is emphatically journalistic and experiential: it documents tastings, archaeology, and interviews rather than functioning as a primary ancient source [2] [3].
3. Overlap: why confusion is natural but misleading
The overlap between the olive as Homeric symbol and the modern Olive Odyssey project is substantive — both draw on the same cultural archive: Athena’s gift of the olive, the olive branch as peace, and ancient uses of oil for food, ritual and lamps [7] [8]. But conflating them erases a key distinction: Homer’s olive is a mythic and literary signifier embedded in epic narrative and ritual memory, while Olive Odyssey is a modern interpretive and promotional enterprise about the plant’s history and contemporary culture [1] [2]. Sources show the thematic continuity (ancient symbolism informing modern fascination) without implying identity between the texts or projects [6] [3].
4. Alternative readings and implicit agendas in the modern framing
Modern “olive odysseys” often package the olive as romantic, heroic and indispensable — “liquid gold” and a civilizational engine — which tracks with marketing and travel-writing incentives to mythologize foodways [2] [3] [8]. That framing amplifies ancient symbolism for tourism and culinary branding; scholars and educators (as seen in study guides and academic commentaries) sometimes push back by situating Homeric images within broader socio-religious contexts rather than simple nostalgia [1] [4]. Readers should therefore note the implicit agenda of contemporary projects to sell a narrative of continuity and importance that serves cultural and commercial aims [2] [3].
5. Bottom line — concise answer and what sources support
Direct answer: no — the olive (as plant and Homeric symbol) is not “Olive Odyssey”; rather, “Olive Odyssey” is a modern expedition/book and interpretive narrative about olives that deliberately invokes Homeric motifs and other ancient meanings to tell a contemporary story about the fruit and its oil [2] [3] [1]. The ancient olive’s symbolic weight in The Odyssey and broader Greek myth (Athena’s gift, bed-trunk symbolism, peace connotations) is well documented in translations, commentaries and cultural histories cited in the available sources [4] [5] [7] [6].