Mythology
The fig is considered a symbol of productivity in ancient Greek and Egyptian civilizations.
Considering fig leaves as an “honorable gift” in the ancient Greeks, giving fig fruits to the Olympic winners to eat and wearing a crown made of fig leaves, symbolizing fig tree signifying fertility, and the acceptance of the fig culture as a guide to a cleaner morality can be counted as examples of this.
According to Herodotus, dry figs are considered one of the ten basic blessings of life in Lydia. So much so that it was used as a means for the king to give up the war with the Persians by saying that “Persians do not have figs to eat”.
In Greek mythology, it is mentioned that the fig fruit is considered as “the beginning of a more noble and civilized life”. According to the legend, the goddess Demeter gifted Phytalos, who hosted him with hospitality, a fig tree he had created right there, and the traveler Pausanias read the following on the hero’s tombstone: This is where the hero Phytalos once hospitably hosted the great Demeter, and it was here that the Goddess first created the fruit that the Son of Man called the sacred fig. From that day to this day, Phytalos adorns his everlasting honor.
According to another myth in mythology, it is mentioned that the Athenians were proud of this proud of their land, and the King explained that “he has not yet conquered the country where the figs are grown, and he has Attic figs to be included in his meal at every lunch, to remind himself that he still buys the fig from abroad instead of taking it as a tax from the local people.”
Not only Greek mythology but also Roman mythology gives examples about the fig tree. It is said that the legendary founders of Rome, Remus and Romulus, “were suckled by the she-wolf under the fig tree whose fruits hang down to the ground.
Adam comes out of heaven with four objects; one of them is a fig leaf. Adam and Eve, eating the forbidden fruit, cover the parts that should not be seen with fig leaves. God rewards this tree with fruit that can be eaten inside and out because it gave them leaves.
In the Torah, an analogy is drawn between the perfection of humans and the fruit of the fig. The fig, which is the traditional food in the “Passover” celebrations of the Jews, is also mentioned in the Bible as a tree that grows in the gardens of heaven and is defined as the indispensable food of the Christmas celebrations because it is a sacred fruit. In the Qur’an, it was sworn on the fig, which is considered sacred by Muslims and known as the “fruit of heaven”.
