The Olive Trees of Gethsemane
At the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem lies the most famous garden in the Western world — and it is, fittingly, an olive grove whose very name means ‘oil press’.
Gethsemane comes from the Aramaic gat shemanim — literally ‘oil press’. The garden sat among working olive groves on the Mount of Olives, a hillside named, of course, for the trees that covered it. This was farmland and a place of pressing, not just a scenic setting: the olive was woven into the landscape and the language of the place. To stand in Gethsemane is to stand where oil was made.
A name made of olives
The whole scene is olive country in name and in fact. The Mount of Olives is exactly what it says; Gethsemane, at its foot, means ‘oil press’; and an oil press is precisely what would have stood in a grove of this size, to turn each autumn’s fruit into oil. The garden of the Gospels was not a decorative park but a working piece of agricultural land, the kind of place where families pressed their olives and stored the oil that lit their lamps and dressed their food. The sacred story is set, quite deliberately, in a place of ordinary, essential labour.
Trees that may be very old
Ancient, gnarled olive trees still grow in the garden today, and their age has been studied seriously. A 2012 investigation led by Italy’s National Research Council carbon-dated the older wood of three of the trees to roughly AD 1092, 1166 and 1198 — making the visible trunks around nine hundred years old. The root systems, which can far outlive a trunk, may go back further still, and DNA analysis found all the tested trees share a single genotype, suggesting they are clones grown from one parent, perhaps resprouted from far older roots. Whatever the exact age, they are living embodiments of the olive’s near-immortality.
What the science actually claims
Here is where honesty matters against the pious legend. The 2012 dating does not prove these trees stood in the first century, and reputable science does not claim it does; the carbon dates point to the twelfth century for the wood tested. But the finding is arguably more interesting than the legend. Because olives resprout from their base and the roots can outlast the trunk many times over, a nine-hundred-year-old trunk may sit on a root system far older — and the shared genotype hints these are all offshoots of one original tree. The grove need not be two thousand years old to be a genuine, unbroken living link to the deep past.
| Name meaning | Gethsemane = gat shemanim, Aramaic ‘oil press’ |
|---|---|
| Location | Foot of the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem |
| What it was | Working olive grove and pressing place |
| 2012 study | Led by Italy’s National Research Council |
| Carbon dates | Older wood ~AD 1092, 1166, 1198 (~900-year trunks) |
| Genetics | One shared genotype — likely clones of one parent |
A timeline of the Gethsemane olives
| When | What we can say |
|---|---|
| Gospel era | A working olive grove and press east of Jerusalem |
| Through antiquity | The Mount of Olives remains olive-growing country |
| ~AD 1092–1198 | The wood of three surviving trunks dates to this span |
| Over centuries | Trees resprout from bases; roots outlive trunks |
| 2012 | Carbon dating and DNA analysis published |
| Today | Eight old trees, one genotype — a living link, age uncertain |
How to read the ancient trees
- The name itself, ‘oil press‘, tells you this was working olive country, not a park.
- The dated trunks are about 900 years old, not two thousand — the science is honest.
- Olives resprout from the base, so the roots may be far older than the trunk.
- One shared genotype suggests the trees are clones of a single parent.
The olive trees of Gethsemane: common questions
What does ‘Gethsemane’ mean?
It comes from the Aramaic gat shemanim, literally ‘oil press’ — the garden sat among working olive groves.
How old are the trees really?
Carbon dating in 2012 put the older wood of three trees at roughly AD 1092–1198, so the trunks are about nine hundred years old.
Are they from the time of the Gospels?
The dated wood is medieval, not first-century. Honest science does not claim otherwise — though the roots may be older than the trunks.
Why might the trees be older than they date?
Olives resprout from the base and their roots can outlive a trunk many times over, so a young trunk can sit on much older roots.
Are the Gethsemane trees related?
Yes — DNA analysis found the tested trees share one genotype, suggesting they are clones grown from a single parent tree.
The pious line is that these are the very trees of the Gospels; the honest science says the wood dates to around the twelfth century. But the truth is better than the legend. Olives resprout from the base, and their roots can outlast the trunk many times over — so a nine-hundred-year-old trunk may stand on far older roots, and the shared genotype says all the trees are clones of one original. The grove need not be two thousand years old to be a real, unbroken living thread to the deep past. That, to me, beats the myth.
Drawn from the 2012 Italian National Research Council study dating the Gethsemane olives and the meaning of the place-name.