Olives

[Lepidina]

Do we know what types of olives the Romans mainly ate? Are they still available today? Little black olives? Big green olives? Little green olives? A variety of olives?

Just curious.

[hoplite14gr]

The only variety of olive tree and olives that probably date from the Bronze Age is the "OREINI" - mountainous olive tree.
Still cultivated arround Amfissa in Greece and the type of olives are know as "ELIES AMFISSES".
Hope ti helps, kind regards

[Maiorianus]

From what we know, the Romans ate olives not so different from the ones we have today. Columella (De Re Rustica, book 12) clearly mentions "olives", "white olives" (they should be light green, actually) and "black olives". Plinius the Elder (Historia Naturalis, Book 15, Chapter 3) mentions 15 kinds of edible olives, including one quality (the Picenae), which refers to an olive-growing region in Italy still renowned today for its large, green olives. You may also wish to note that olive trees have very long lives and there are still some around the Mediterranean going back all the way to Roman times (or at least, to the Late Empire) and their olives belong to qualities known today as well. So, I think there is little risk of going wrong! If you need more detailed information (including some recipes), you may check Columella and Plinius the Elder . Online, I could only find Columella in Latin www.thelatinlibrary.com/columella.html, as the English translation at Lacus Curtius only covers books 1 to 4, but Plinius is available in English Plinius, Historia Naturalis, 15.3. Hope this helps