Fig tree is one of the oldest trees in the world. The fig was an important element of food in antiquity and was an important source of income for the ancient Athenian state.
It was a symbol of prosperity, unity and fertility.
The export of figs was forbidden, and those who indicated the illegal exporters were called "slanders".
Herodotus, the ancient historian claims, that the main reason of the Persian's King: Xerxes campaign against the Greeks, was the conquest of Attica and the dominance in the cultivation of figs.