Oikoi Basileioi (oIkoi (SatjiXeioi, royal houses), a term applied in the early Church to the houses allot- ted to the bishops and clergy for their residences, cor- responding, therefore, in a large measure to our pa?-- sonage (q. v.). The oIkoi ftaaiXiioi were always adja- cent to the church.
Oil, liquid fat, but chiefly vegetable, was far more extensively used among the ancient Hebrews for a va- riety of purposes than in Occidental and Northern cli- mates. In the following account we follow largely the art. in Smith's Diet, of the Bible. See Buttek ; Fat : Grease.
1. Name. — The following are the words so rendered in the A. V. :
• 1. Usuall}' 'yyO, she'men, prop, pressed juice (Sept. tXaiov; Viflg. oleuni), from "i"?'— , " to become fat" (Gesen. Thes. p. 1437) ; sometimes joined with T'^t (tXaiov ii, iXaiijJV, oleum de olicetis), distinguishing olive -juice from oil produced from other sources. Also sometimes in A. V. "ointment" (Celsius, IJierob. ii, 279).
2. Yitshdr, '^!^^^ (Trior/jc, iXaiov, oleum), from ^HU, "to shine" (Gesenius, p. 1152), clear olive-oil (Numb, xviii, 12 ; Deut, vii, 13 ; xi, 14 ; xii, 17 ; xiv, 23 ; xviii, 4; xxviii, 51; 2 Kings xviii, 32; 2 Chron. xxxi, 5; xxxii, 28; Neh. v, 11; x, 37, 39; xiii, 5, 12; Jer. xxxi, 12; Hos. ii, 8, 22; Joel i, 10; ii, 19, 24; Hag. i, 11; Zech. iv, 14).
3. Chald. H'^p, meshach' {tXaiov, oleum'}, an unguent (only in Ezra vi, 9; vii, 22).
II. Mamfacture. — Of the different substances, animal and vegetable, which were known to the ancients as yielding oil, the olive-berry is the one of which most frequent mention is made in the Scriptures. The nu- merous olive-plantations in Palestine made olive-oil one of the chief and one of the most lucrative products of the country : it supplied an article of extensive and profitable traffic with the Tyrians (Ezek. xxvii, 17 ; comp. 1 Kings v, 11); and presents of the finer sorts of olive-oil were deemed suitable for kings. There is, in fact, no other kind of oil distinctly mentioned in Script- ure; and the best, middling, and inferior oils appear to have been merely different qualities of olive-oil. It is well known that both the quality and the value of olive-oil differ according to the time of gathering the fruit, and the amount of pressure used in the course of preparation. These processes, which do not essentially differ from the modern, are described minutely by the Roman writers on agriculture, and with their descrip- tions the few notices occurring both in Scripture and the Rabbinical writings which throw light on the ancient Oriental method nearly correspond. Of these descrip- tions the following may be taken as an abstract: The best oil is made from fruit gathered about November r.r December, when it has begun to change color, but be- fore it has become black. The berry in the more ad- vanced state yields more oil, but of inferior quality. Oil was also made from unripe fruit by a special proc- ess as early as September or October, while the harder sorts of fruit were sometimes delayed till February or March (\lrg. Georrj. ii, 519; Palladius, R. R. xii, 4; Columella, R. R. xi"i, 47, 50; Cato, R. R. p. f>5; Pliny, A'. //. XV, 1-8 ; Varro, R. R, i, 55 ; Ilor. 2 Sat, ii, 46). See Oi.ive.
Of the substances which yield oil, besides the olive- tree, myrrh is the only one specially mentioned in Scripture. Oil of myrrh is the juice which exudes from the tree Balsamodcndron iMyrrha, but olive-oil
OIL
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OIL
was an ingredient in many compounds which passed under the general name of oil (Esth. ii, 1'2; comp. Cel- sius, u. s. iii, 10, 18, 19 ; Pliny, xii, 26 ; xiii, 1,2; xv, 7 ; Wilkinson, Anc. Eg. ii, 23; Balfour, Plants of Bible, p. 52). See JIykuh.
1. Harvesting the Oil-crop. — Great care is necessary in gathering the olive not to injure either the fruit it- self or the boughs of the tree, and with this view it was either gathered by hand or shaken off carefuUj' with a light reed or stick. The "houghing" of Deut. xxiv, 20 ("1X3) probably corresponds to the "shaking" (^ipU) of Isa. xvii, (5 ; xxiv, 13, i. e. a subsequent beating for the use of the poor (see Mishna, Shvhiith, iv, 2 ; Peah, vii, 2 : viii, 3). After gathering and careful cleansing, the fruit was either carried at once to the press, which is recommended as the best course, or, if necessary, laid on tables with hollow trays made slopuig, so as to „illow the first juice (ainurca) to flow into other recepacles beneath, care being taken not to heap the fruit too much, and so prevent the free escape of the juice, which is injurious to the oil, though itself useful in other ways (Colum. U.S. xii, 50; Aug. Cie. Dei, i, 8, 2). If while the berries were yet green, instead of being thrown into the press, they were only beaten or squeezed, they yield- ed the best kind of oil. It was called ophacinum, or the oil of unripe olives.
2. Pressing. — In order, however, to make oil in gen- eral, the fruit was either bruised in a mortar, crushed in a press loaded with wood or stones, ground in a mill, or trodden with the feet. Special buildings used for grape- pressing were used also for the purpose of olive-press- ing, and contained both the press and the receptacle for the pressed juice. Of these processes, the one least ex- pedient was the last (treading), which perhaps answers to the " canalis et solea" mentioned by Columella, and was probably the one usu'ally adopted by the poor. The "beaten" oil of Exod. xxvii, 20; Lev. xxiv, 2; Exod. xxix, 40, and Numb, xxviii, 5, was probably made bj' bruising in a mortar. There were presses of a peculiar kind for preparing oil called ')'2"d P5, gath-shemen (whence the name Gethsemane, or "oil-press," Matt, xxvi, 36; John xviii, 1), in which the oil was trodden out by the feet (Mic. vi, 15). See Gkthsemane. The first expression of the oil was better than the second, and the second than the third. Ripe olives yielded the least valuable kind of oil, but the quantity was more abun- dant. These processes, and also the place and the ma- chine for pressing, are mentioned in the jMishna. Oil- mills are often made of stone, and turned by hand. Others consist of cylinders enclosing a beam, which is turned by a camel or other animal. An Egyptian olive- press is described by Niebuhr, in which the pressure exerted on the fruit is given by means of weights of wood and stone placed in a sort of box above. Besides the above-cited Scripture references, the following pas- sages mention either the places, the processes, or the machines used in olive-pressing (Joel ii, 24; iii, 13; Isa. Ixiii, 3 ; Lam. i, 15 ; Hag. ii, 16 ; comp. the Talmud, Menach. viii, 4; Shehiith, iv, 9; vii, 6; Terum. x, 7; Shabh. i, 9 ; Baba Bathra, iv, 5 ; Vitruvius, x, 1 ; Cato. R. It. p. 3 ; Celsius, Hierob. ii, 346, 350; Niebuhr, Voy. i, 122, 1)1. xvii; Arundell, Asia Minor, ii, 196; Wellsted, Trav. ii, 430). See Oil-Pkess.