Peter Jones

Olive oil was the key to Roman excellence

iStock 
issue 25 May 2024

Owing to a rise in temperature in southern Europe and a reduction in rainfall, the production of olive oil this year may drop by nearly 40 per cent. For the Romans, who ensured that the olive spread all around the Mediterranean, it would have been disastrous.

Olives were a food, and in its liquid form as oil it was used to light lamps, form a base...

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