The fig tree is native to the Middle East and the Mediterranean, and was the world’s first cultivated tree. The fig is believed to be as old as human kind.

Adam and Eve made the fig famous after having covered their nakedness with fig leaves and among the ancient Greeks and Romans, the fig had a symbolic and spiritual significance. The fig tree gave shelter to the famous Roman mythical characters Romulus and Remus while the she-wolf nursed them. In Greek mythology, the Titan Sykeus was hidden from Zeus by his mother in the guise of a fig tree. The village Vidurashwatha, in the Kolar district of India, gets it’s name from an ashwatha (fig) tree said to have been planted by Vidura, a court member of King Dhritarashtra.

Spartan athletes in ancient Greece were said to eat figs in order to improve their performance.