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The Conversation
The Conversation
Tamara Lewit, Honorary Fellow, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne

Healing, purification and holiness: how ancient Greeks, Romans and early Christians used olive oil

Oil Christianity
DEA PICTURE LIBRARY / Contributor/Getty

Today, olive oil is often hailed as helping to protect against disease, but beliefs in its medicinal or even sacred properties date back millennia.

Olive oil was used for healing and purification and associated with important rituals from at least the second millennium BCE, in ways which still influence practices today.

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