Questions bubbling up from the events on all of our minds:

How did the olive branch become a symbol of peace?

Is it such a symbol in cultures other than western civilization?

It's what the dove carried back to the Ark to let Noah know that the waters of The Flood were receeding. I guess the olive branch got its peacefulness from being linked with the bird -- metaphor by association, I guess. But why is the dove a symbol of peace?...

The olive branch was delivered by the dove to the ark as a symbol of God's promise to not destroy the Earth through flooding again. Peace.

But is the Bible the sole or original source? I ask that because the olive branch was apparently also a peace symbol within the separate tradition of classical Greek mythology.
http://www.bartleby.com/81/12416.html

But is the Bible the sole or original source? I ask that because the olive branch was apparently also a peace symbol within the separate tradition of classical Greek mythology.

Carl Jung and his followers have noted that mankind shares common symbols (see Jung's book, Man and His Symbols). After taking a course in children's literature some years ago, I realized that fairy tales tell essentially the same stories, despite their having been told in parts of the world with no contact with one another. We have a common human experience. So, now that I've laid bare my limited knowledge, would somebody pass me a fig leaf?

Militis in galea nidum fecere columbae

Does anyone have the rest of this poem? It's by Petronius Arbiter. Roughly "the doves have made their nest in the soldier's helmet, see how Venus loves Mars."

would somebody pass me a fig leaf?

Now, Geoff, that is way too much information for this forum...unless I am mistaken, aren't fig leaves rather small...and you need just one??

bel, you must be precise: he wants just one.
BTW: how does one attach a fig leaf?

Now, see, that's the beauty of language...in one fell swoop and by emphasizing just one word - "wants" - poor Geoff has gone from being sadly unendowed to being somewhat of an exhibitionist.

um, aren’t figs rather sticky. Does wonders for leaf-sticking I would think. But one would have to ask an expert...yoo-hoo, oh Geoff

a mechanism akin to velcro?

I can vouch that fig leaves are not sticky. So...p'raps a bit of delicate braiding?

re:So, now that I've laid bare my limited knowledge, would somebody pass me a fig leaf?

silly me, i thought he meant to make a cap(dunce cap?) with the leaf.. and fig leaves aren't that small. though NY is really to cold for them, they are cultivated by many, and each winter, pruned, bound, wrapped, topped with a waste can, (to keep rain and snow from leaking into the wrapping) and the roots are thickly mulched. the leaves are somewhat like an oak leaf, (white or black oak) and deaply lobed, but often larger than my hand.
but no one tries to grow olive trees.
the thought of something like velcro- on sensitive anatony..youch!

When Adam and Eve were getting married, which of course happened after the expulsion from the Garden, Eve told Adam he would have to dress formally. He put several fig leaves side by side, and this eventually became "The Figrow of Marriage."

Jackie vouches that fig leaves are not sticky
but if you cut them off the tree (or prune the branch) the tree weeps a very sticky thick white sap. One could use that to fix them. A word of warning though, the sap is incredibly itchy.

though NY is really to cold for them, they are cultivated by many, and each winter, pruned, bound, wrapped, topped with a waste can

[personal digression]We have a family myth about fig trees. My great-grandfather (an Italian immigrant) absolutely adored figs, and as soon as he bought a house in the Boston area he dutifully tended and coddled a small fig tree he planted in the yard, but never got more than one or two shriveled, bland fruits every year. The year after he died, though, the tree bloomed forth with an abundance of sweet figs.

I'm not sure if that's a tale about the impact those passed can effect in our world, or just about the way nature's processes will not be bound by our meager lifespans, but it always makes me smile just the same.[/personal digression]