Regarding the sacred groves of olive and other trees in Greece, mentioned below,
when I
was in Athens in 1998, my host John wanted to show me around. I suggested that
we go
to see what is known as "Plato's Olive Tree", the oldest tree in Greece, one
which was there
in Plato's time and even before. It was considered to be a "sacred tree" in
Greek culture.

John never had seen it either and quickly agreed. He asked around for
information,
discovering that the tree was located in a botanical garden next to a museum of
history.
This place turned out to be situated on a main avenue into the center of the
city and was
very easy to find. We parked on a side-street and walked around to the entrance,
which
was a gated driveway through a tall stucco boundary wall around the museum
complex.

The place was practically deserted. Two gate-guards came out to meet us, and
John
explained why we had come. One of the guards took us down a path in the adjacent
botanical garden and pointed to a small building of some kind in the center. He
said that
Plato's tree was inside that building because it had died a few years ago, and
they didn't
want to make a big deal about it, so they built that little "house" around it to
hide it.

Needless to say, John was more shocked than I was to hear this. I immediately
took a
couple of photographs. Then we walked over to this building and looked in
through an
open "window" with bars on it. Sure enough, there was a dead olive tree inside.
I took a
flash picture through the window.

The escort guard saw me and said something loudly to John, who turned to me and
related, "He said it is forbidden to take any pictures of it." But I already had
my pictures. I
played the stupid tourist, smiled and nodded agreeably at the guard. Then we
left.

John said that he had never heard anyone mention that Plato's Tree had died,
that there
had been absolutely no news about it. That night at dinner we asked his family
about it.
None of them, from four generations of Athenians around their large dining
table, had
heard anything about this death of this famous tree.

Then John's father stated solemnly, "They say that when Plato's Olive Tree is
dead, it will
signal the end of the world."

23 January 2001