WHAT'S in a NAME

The history of our family name (Paiano) has roots as deep as those of a centennial olive tree, entwined with the myths of the eastern Mediterranean.

 

PAEAN ( Greek: Παιάν, Παιήων, Παιών - Paian, Paiêôn or Paiôn), that is, "the healing," is according to Homer the designation of the physician of the Olympian gods, who heals, for example, the wounded Ares and Hades. (Il. v. 401, 899.) After the time of Homer and Hesiod, the word Paian becomes a surname of Asclepius, the god who had the power of healing. (Eustath. ad Hom. p. 1494; Virg. Aen. vii. 769.) The name was, however, used also in the more general sense of deliverer from any evil or calamity (Pind. Pyth. iv. 480), and was thus applied to Apollo and Thanatos, or Death, who are conceived as delivering men from the pains and sorrows of life. (Soph. Oed. Tyr. 154 ; Paus. i. 34. § 2 ; Eurip. Hippol. 1373.) With regard to Apollo and Thanatos however, the name may at the same time contain an allusion to paiein, to strike, since both are also regarded as destroyers. (Eustath. ad Hom. p. 137.) From Apollo himself the name Paean was transferred to the song dedicated to him, that is, to hymns chanted to Apollo for the purpose of averting an evil, and to warlike songs, which were sung before or during a battle. (from William Smith, ed.,[1870], Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mithology, vol.3, pp.82-83, Boston, Little, Brown and Co.)

 

Max Olive Oil's logo mirrors the myth of the Paean (the lyre, symbol of Apollo, used to play his hymns) embraced by olive branches. We have been olive oil producers for five generations.