the tree of the Holy Scriptures, mentioned in both the Old and the New Testament, and also in the Koran. This sacred tree is the symbol of rebirth, immortality, affluence and plenty, tranquillity and abundance, peace and civilisation.*

ORIGIN OF THE MIRACLE
In Urla near Izmir I listened to a story where these words were mentioned. It was told by Prof. Dr. Güven Bakır, who together with his team has been excavating the antique city of Clazomenae for 25 years for Ege University’s Department of Archaeology. Although we were not in the shade of the delicately fluttering silvery leaves of century old olive trees, we were just as appropriately in the city of Clazomenae, the city where everything revolves around olives and the miracle first took place. Our story goes back to the 12th or 11th century BC, when people migrating from Greece sought a new home in Western Anatolia. There they generally settled on the peninsulas, establishing their Ionian civilisation. When they first arrive the newcomers become farmers who rarely leave their own environs.