WI: Athenian olive trees destroyed in the Greco-Persian wars?

The olive was a major cash crop and trade good for the ancient Athenians, and it helped their rise to power considerably. The possibility that the trees would get destroyed, as well as the decision to defend the limited land Athens had, might have been a factor in the decision to fight at Marathon. While the Achaemenids were pushed back, what I am curious about is what if, during the invasion, the Achaemenids committed economic sabotage and destroyed the trees, laid more waste to the land, and gutted much of the Athenian economy through this action? The trees the Athenians grew took a very long time, and they were quite delicate. How would this affect Athenian politics at the time? Does the wall still get built after the Persians leave? Does Athens still become dominant? What happens with the Ionian cities?
 
I saw somewhere that olive was long-term bad for them, for exhausting the soil.

I think the Greek soil is poor anyway considering it is very rocky and mountainous country. Olive trees can grow in that environment as it is used to such conditions.

Perhaps Athens sets out earlier to conquer other cities to make up for their crops being destroyed, instead of setting up a league initially as per otl
 
Thing is, it's a lot harder to destroy olive trees than you might think, especially permanently. Victor Davis Hanson's practically sole contribution to scholarship that somewhat holds up is his pointing out that olive trees, vines, and wheat are far less vulnerable to devastation than commonly understood. Olive trees, even if cut down, retain a strong an lively root system, which will bring forth new shoots with time; farmers could expedite the process by grafting branches onto the stump, which could bear fruit in three years or so. Still a long time, but far from the 50-60 years some more credulous writers think. To destroy olive trees permanently, you would basically have to uproot them completely; since this would take many men several hours of backbreaking work, and Attica would have [at a guess] millions of trees to destroy, the whole army would have to be working all day for months on end, which would leave them vulnerable to a Greek attack, being scattered all over Attica.
 
Thing is, it's a lot harder to destroy olive trees than you might think, especially permanently. Victor Davis Hanson's practically sole contribution to scholarship that somewhat holds up is his pointing out that olive trees, vines, and wheat are far less vulnerable to devastation than commonly understood. Olive trees, even if cut down, retain a strong an lively root system, which will bring forth new shoots with time; farmers could expedite the process by grafting branches onto the stump, which could bear fruit in three years or so. Still a long time, but far from the 50-60 years some more credulous writers think. To destroy olive trees permanently, you would basically have to uproot them completely; since this would take many men several hours of backbreaking work, and Attica would have [at a guess] millions of trees to destroy, the whole army would have to be working all day for months on end, which would leave them vulnerable to a Greek attack, being scattered all over Attica.
Can we solve the problem by having it be done in both Achaemenid invasions? Or if they attempt to use them as firewood?
 
Maybe an alternative crop could be vinyards? Imagine an alternate reality where Greek wine is held in higher esteem than french
 
Maybe an alternative crop could be vinyards? Imagine an alternate reality where Greek wine is held in higher esteem than french

Wine was a staple of Greek society, the various poleis exported it across all Europe and beyond, from the Black Sea to as far as Britannia, as well as to the Persians.
 
Wine was a staple of Greek society, the various poleis exported it across all Europe and beyond, from the Black Sea to as far as Britannia, as well as to the Persians.

Ah I didn't know that, thank you. Struggling to think of another food stuff that would replace olives?

Spices? Tomatoes? Maybe the cotton plant?
 
Ah I didn't know that, thank you. Struggling to think of another food stuff that would replace olives?

Spices? Tomatoes? Maybe the cotton plant?

I’m afraid none is an option. But really, Athens wouldn’t need to replace olives, an olive plantation is really, really hard to eradicate, the Spartans didn’t even bother trying when they occupied Decelea.
 
I’m afraid none is an option. But really, Athens wouldn’t need to replace olives, an olive plantation is really, really hard to eradicate, the Spartans didn’t even bother trying when they occupied Decelea.
Can we have a blight strike at the same time, if man-made eradication is not enough?
 
Can we have a blight strike at the same time, if man-made eradication is not enough?
Uhh...speaking as someone from northern Italy (where I'm currently harvesting olives), in order to kill kill an olive tree of a certain age (oftern 50+ as productive trees used to be, before irrigation and fertilization) you basically would have to chop it down and start a bonfire ON the stump. And if there were roots far-flung enough , new shoots are still a likelihood.
I've grown an olive tree back from a shoot from a 2-years-old piece of firewood (two years since tree was chopped down, stump unearthed, quartered and left to dry => "wait, what's growing here? Oh well, I guess we won't burn this one").

The main problem of olive trees as far as I know is wood-rot ( caused by an anaerobic fungus , encouraged by humid climate => not Attica ) and root-rot or "drowning" (caused by enough water in the soil that the roots can't survive => also not Attica ), but you could maybe make something with either a few years of fluke for Prays oleae (whose larvae damage the leaf but also cause massive fruit-fall in early summer) or possibly a xylofage insect + unfavourable weather?
 
Thing is, it's a lot harder to destroy olive trees than you might think, especially permanently. Victor Davis Hanson's practically sole contribution to scholarship that somewhat holds up is his pointing out that olive trees, vines, and wheat are far less vulnerable to devastation than commonly understood. Olive trees, even if cut down, retain a strong an lively root system, which will bring forth new shoots with time; farmers could expedite the process by grafting branches onto the stump, which could bear fruit in three years or so. Still a long time, but far from the 50-60 years some more credulous writers think. To destroy olive trees permanently, you would basically have to uproot them completely; since this would take many men several hours of backbreaking work, and Attica would have [at a guess] millions of trees to destroy, the whole army would have to be working all day for months on end, which would leave them vulnerable to a Greek attack, being scattered all over Attica.

At that point it would make more sense for the Persians just to steal the crop and then if they need firewood use whatever is above the ground. The roots would still be there, but it's going to take sometime to rebuild that biomass.
 
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