Days after video footage surfaced showing groups of migrant men ignoring social distancing measures and ridiculing the police officers trying to enforce them, illegal migrants from the Moria camp on the Greek island have struck again, chopping down 5,000 olive trees.
The destruction of these olive trees, which can take 65 to 80 years to reach stable yields, is being viewed as an assault on Greek history, culture, and identity, as well as an attack against the island’s local economy, the Greek City Times reports.
The olive tree is one of the most ubiquitous symbols in Greece and classical Western civilization. Among other things, to the ancient Greeks, the olive branch served as a symbol of Olympic ideals. It’s for this reason that medalists of the Olympic Games were given “kotinos” – wreaths made of olive branches.
For the ancient Greeks, the olive tree was also viewed as a symbol of peace, wisdom, fertility, and victory, and was believed to have been a gift from Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom.
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