Antonis G Perdikaris

Study of the compounds present in the leaves of Clea eurocpaea.

_ Olea europea L., |.e olive tree, ie the source of vegetable drug reputed
to have medicinal properties and is referred to in the literature as a plant
with antihypertensive, antipyretic and anticancer activities.

in the present work, the leaves of the wild variety of olive tree as well as
the leaves of some Greek cultivars of the cultivated variety have been
_ Studied. Trieterpenic acid, free and bonded sugars, sugar alcohol,
cyclitols, phenolic acids, alkaloids, tannins and flavonoids have been
detected.
*' - Sugars and sugar alcohols present in the leaves have been identified
by GLC. after acid hydrolysis. The presence of mannose, fructose,
has been shown by the above procedure. Mannitol has been isolated from
~ the leaves of the wild variety of the plant and identified by spectroscopic
methods. The amount of the collected pure D-mannitol was 1% of the
iy, a of the dry leaves.

The following flavonoids have been Isolated from the methanolic

extract. of the leaves: chrysoeriol, luteolin, apigenin, quercetin, chrysoeriol-
~. 7-glycoside, luleolin-7- glucoside, luteolin-4-gucoside and rutin. Another
ik. Mame'ef the flavonoids contained in the leaves are of the
A Structure of chrysoeriol is ‘proposed for “olivin”, a flavonoid isolated from the leaves of the olive tree by Bockova et al (1964)

The "Fetsis" family and the "notorious" city of Agia Mavra.
The clan bearing the surname "Fetsis" appear to have originated in NW Lefkada and are descendants of an Arvanite Greek-speaking Orthodox family that lived in the 16th century on the outskirts of the capital of the Ottoman-occupied Lefkada.
By researching the course of this family, the author tries to draw some safe conclusions about the history of the island of Lefkada, especially during the period of its rule by the Ottomans.

THE SETTLEMENT OF OTTOMAN LEFKADA WITH JEWS (AROUND 1504 AD)
Announcement at the 12th Pan Ionian Conference, which took place in Zakynthos from 18 to 21 October 2023
In 1492 the Catholic kings of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella, forced the Jews of Spain (: Sephardim) to leave the country. Most of them moved to nearby Mediterranean countries, but in 1504 there was a new migration stream, as Ferdinand became ruler of the Kingdom of Naples and expelled them from that area as well
Sultan Bayezid II is known to have willingly accepted waves of these refugees, settling proven Sephardim in Thessaloniki, Constantinople, Smyrna, etc. So it seems that he took advantage of the opportunity to colonize - either with one or the other wave of immigration - and the - practically empty of inhabitants - countryside of Lefkada
Although the exact location of the 16th-century settlement of the Sephardim in Lefkada is not known today, there are indications that the "city inhabited chiefly by Jews" as mentioned by the English traveller George Sandys (1578–1644), is the city mentioned in the Ottoman chronicles as "Kondryada" and is recorded in them since 1530. Today, no trace of it survives and its area is simply a rural area of a modern settlement called "Exanthia". There are, however, indications of the existence of a ruined fortress, a few kilometres further east, in the mountainous location of "Kastania" where the inhabitants of this city might have fled in the event of an attack (e.g. pirates, etc.)
Kondryada is referred to in the literature as a "Mediterranean Seasonal Lake" (MEL), during the early 20th century and there are many cases of areas that, after some strong earthquakes, were covered with water, it is believed that the city– which was notably built in a position through which one of the most dangerous active seismic faults in the region passes – was probably destroyed by the two strongest earthquakes centred in the wider area, which occurred on 16th/05/1612 and 2nd/10 /1613.
The magnitude of these vibrations is estimated today to have been around 6.5R. Historical sources of the time describe nightmarish scenes in the area with many dead and "ruined villages". This scenario is confirmed by a local rumour prevalent among the inhabitants of the Island, even today, which is known as the legend of "the city of the damned people that was swallowed by the lake”
After Venetian occupation of the island in 1684, it is speculated that the Sephardic Jews who survived the destruction, after initially being dispersed to the surrounding areas, were eventually forced to integrate into the Christian mountain communities established by the Venetians, accepting the new conditions. A remnant of this -almost violent- integration is the frequent appearance of churches of Saint Stephen in the area, a saint who at the time expressed the anti-Jewish spirit in the West.

In the year 1868, in the city of Lefkada, which had recently been under Greek administration, an official notarial document was signed between the representative of a landowner of the Island who had moved to Venice and two farmers who were small landowners who lived in a village on the island, called Agios Nikitas. Through this document, a significant piece of land, abandoned and uncultivated for decades, was re-integrated into production and produced significant quantities of local wine that was then in huge demand in Europe. Was this agreement a sign that the old feudal regime was collapsing on the island of Lefkada? What exactly was the situation on the Island and in the wider area? The author attempts to answer these questions.

Sites of archaeological interest in NW Lefkada
During ancient times, the island of Lefkada was a station for Mycenaean ships that moved from the centres of the Mycenaean civilization of the southern Greek peninsula to the regions of the western Mediterranean, where colonists had settled. This station was located on the western coastline of the Island, as the canal that separates it from the mainland had not been built. Later, despite the canal's construction, as it did not function for long periods, there was, according to historical information, an important port on the NW coast, called "Heraion". This port was preserved at least until the time of the conquest of the Island by the Romans (end of the 2nd century BC). Afterwards, the city was abandoned but the ancient port also functioned during the Middle Ages as a port for a community of farmers and breeders that survived on the internal plateaus of the Island and which was not completely controlled by the conqueror who settled in the medieval capital, "Agia Mavra". When at the end of the 15th century AD the Ottomans occupied the Island, succeeded by using military force to expel its old inhabitants and installed in their place a strong community of Sephardic Jews who established the most important residential centre in the area. This community survived for about a century and was hit by the strong earthquakes that hit the site in the 17th century and the survivors were eventually integrated into the new settler communities established by the Venetian conquerors at the end of that century.
The author, with a series of thoughtful observations and measurements, proposes specific sites of archaeological interest that document these events, in an area that has not been studied until today.

AN UNKNOWN PORTRAIT OF THE METROPOLITAN OF “LEFKΑS AND SAINT MAURA” EUGENIUS II
A brief reference to the life and work of Metropolitan Eugene II (1771-1851) whose painted portrait was discovered in an old residence (the 1830s) in the settlement of Agios Nikitas, Lefkada

.DISCUSSION ON A SAMPLE OF SATIRICAL POETRY IN LEFKADA DURING THE INTERWAR
In the year 1937, the Lefkada-born intellectual  Spyridon Fetsis, son of Konstantinos (1894-1941?), influenced by the artistic environment of Athens where the revue flourished and from where he was expelled following accusations of financial abuse, wrote during his stay in a small settlement of this island, the "Revue of Agios Nikitas", a satirical poem depicting the then situation in this settlement.
The author publishes this text and comments on its content, relating it to the historical events of this time

In an earlier article (in 2020), the author argued that a significant number of Sephardic refugees settled on the island of Lefkada around 1500 AD, which was then a part of the Ottoman Empire. Given that this community has been lost as an entity since the early 17th century, the author claimed that it was then integrated into the local community.
In this article, the author explores the conditions under them- during the 17th century- the prosperous Sephardic community of Lefkada was forced to integrate into the local community of Greek Orthodox cattle breeders, living in the area. As there were a series of solid earthquakes hitting the island the infrastructure of the Sephardim was destroyed and the few survivors had to seek refuge in remote areas, where there was not any contact with their compatriots. The only possibility to survive was to be declared as Greek Orthodox citizens of the empire, otherwise, they should leave the island, together with the Ottoman army, under the pressure of the winning Venetian forces, which occupied the island in 1684 A.D.

On the beach of Kalamitsi, in western Lefkada, within a layer of clay that slides from the overlying plateaus, significant quantities of ceramic materials are detected with the probable origin of a destroyed settlement in the area. Examination of the pottery at a local laboratory of archaeometry gave an average time span for its firing, the middle of the 19th century when the Island was under British Administration. The author claims that these ceramic fragments are materials from damaged houses of the surrounding settlements that were hit by three very strong seismic shocks, in the period 1825-1870.

ABOUT THE EVENTS IN THE HOLY MONASTERY OF KOUTLOUMOUSI ON MOUNT ATHOS -IN SEPTEMBER 1860- AND THE ROLE OF THE LEFKADIAN MONK MELETIOS (MICHAEL) PHILIPPAS
  At the monastery of Koutloumousi in the Ottoman-occupied peninsula of Mount Athos, during September 1860, there were significant disturbances after the request of a Russian archaeologist to study the Byzantine manuscripts kept there. The Greek Orthodox monks of Mount Athos, the Ottoman Administration of the region and the diplomatic missions of Russia and England in the Ottoman State were involved in this conflict. The author tries to trace the real causes of this controversy by focusing his research on a protagonist of the events, the monk Meletios (Michael) Philippas who was born in Lefkada island of the Ionian State, shortly after 1820.

Utilizing the information about the existence of some remains of an old wall in the area of the village Exanthia on the island of Lefkada, Greece, which was recorded in a 19th-century magazine by I.N. Stamatelos, a scholar of this period, the author locates the monument in a rural area called Castanias. The author, based on  the history of Exanthia, but also on the history of the main medieval  settlement of the area, called Contryada (a settlement that has now disappeared) claims that these ruins probably come from a medieval fortress to which the shepherds and cultivators of the area took refuge in cases  of a raid by enemy forces

The relationship of the people of Lefkada with the people of the opposite site. The attitude of the English Administration. The meeting of Central Greece’s chiefs at the city of Lefkada. The first military operations in Western Central Greece and the participation of the people of Lefkada in them

The icon of the Coronation of the Virgin in the church of Saint Nikitas of Lefkada

Inside the church of Agios Nikitas, of the homonymous village of Lefkada island, an icon is kept that represents the coronation of the Virgin Mary. This icon was once placed in an older church named after this saint, which is believed to have been constructed in the area during the first half of the 18th century, about 100 years before the foundation of the village.
The study of this icon has proven that it was made by an unknown artist of the area sometime during the 18th century, certainly later than the plague epidemic of the year 1743, which hit the Island and killed almost 30% of the people of Lefkada city. The icon was actually created for the Greek Orthodox Church in Lefkada , but it was strongly influenced by the philosophy and style of Catholic art, as, during these times, Lefkada was ruled by the Venetians.
Besides the Holy Trinity and the Virgin Mary, the icon depicts the "plague exterminators" - according to the Orthodox faith - Saint Charalambus, the Catholic saint Francis of Assisi, Saint John Chrysostom and also an unknown Saint Nicetas, who was an Orthodox bishop. The icon was probably a tribute to this church by a local farmer, a resident of the village of Drymonas, in the neighbourhood of the village of Agios Nikitas
As the representation of Saint Nicetas in the form of a bishop is rather seldom in Greek Hagiography, the author considers the fact that the icon stems from an older source, probably before the Venetian occupation of the island (1684 a.D.), but this cannot be confirmed at present.

Investigation of an oral tradition of the inhabitants of the village of Agios Nikitas regarding the promotion of the patron saint of the settlement
The village of Agios Nikitas in NW of Lefkada was founded in an uninhabited area of the island, during the first half of the 19th century. Choosing of the bishop of Chalcedon Nikitas –a non well-known saint of Asia Minor, who lived in the 8th or 9th century- as the patron saint of the village can neither be explained based on the data of the time nor be connected with the knowledge of its inhabitants. Oral tradition claims that the patron saint was chosen because the inhabitants found his icon by chance, in a rocky area. The author studies this tradition and tries to recognize what is false in it, in order to reveal the true history.

Sephardic refugees in medieval Lefkada and their assimilation into the local population
In the period of the late 15th and the beginning of the 16th century, the island of Lefkada, in the Ionian Sea, was under Ottoman rule, when it received a large number of refugees of Sephardim. They had been expelled from Western Mediterranean countries and settled in the island, following a decision of Sultan Bayezid II. The fate of these refugees is unknown, but we do know that in the 17th century, shortly before the island came under Venetian rule, the Jewish community was limited to a small number of people, about 50, who lived exclusively in the capital of the island staying behind the walls of its fortress named “Agia Mavra”.
After studying the historical sources, the author claims that in the 16th century, a lot of the Sephardic migrants moved to the mountainous countryside of the island in small communities, where they engaged in agriculture. They were surviving there in solitary confinement, without any communication with their religious and social traditional structures, which were preserved only in the distant capital, at the northern coast of the island. They gradually came into contact with the community of the “Vlachs”, a group of Latin-speaking cattle breeders who had settled there with their flocks, renting large tracts of land from the Ottomans. The decisive factors in the mixing of these two communities, were the similarity of their languages and their significant cultural features, which differentiated them from the other inhabitants of the Ionian Islands, who were rather cosmopolitan people, working with the sea. The result of this merging process was the creation of a mountain population, who had particular linguistic characteristics, declared themselves Orthodox Christians, were living in isolation and hated the sea. They are the so-called "Villagers" of Lefkada, who were culturally different from the inhabitants of the capital of the island. Their integration into the social fabric of the island began after the development of road transport in the middle of the 20th century, which ended their long isolation.

The study of the frescoes of the stone iconostasis at the church of Agios Georgios, near the village of Tsoukalades, Lefkada, leads us to a conclusion that it is a building of the year 1700 A.D.and has been constructed by farmers who settled in the area at that time. Based on this observation, some thoughts are made on the history of the area. The author proposes the conservation and promotion of this small temple, as a cultural monument of western Lefkada.

The villages of “Aghios Nikitas” and “Vassiliki” in the island of Lefkada, are designated as commercial ports of the United States of the Ionian Islands
Between the years 1815 and 1864, the British Empire established a formally independent state in the Ionian Islands, which was, in fact, a strict regime, administered by the British High Commissioner, who was usually indifferent to the needs of the local community.
At the beginning of this period, Lefkada was an island, home to several mountainous villages except for its capital, which was, also, the only port of the island, from which small quantities of local agricultural products were exported. However, under the pressure of international and local developments, mainly after the 1830s, Aghios Nikitas and Vassiliki - which in 1820 were still described as uninhabited areas - began to operate, in the North and South coast of the Island, respectively, as informal commercial ports. In 1850, obliged to acknowledge the new situation, the English High Commissioner, in a speech given by his secretary to the Ionian Parliament, demanded that these ports to be recognized and their operating costs approved.
This proposal by the English High Commissioner was, in fact, the official decision to establish the two newest villages on the island, which eventually functioned as ports only under Greek administration.  Technical work was carried out only in the port of Vassiliki, bowing to the pressure of local politicians. The importance of these harbours declined in the first half of the 20th century when roads were built, allowing land transportation.

Historic anchorages for sailing ships, in the west coast of Lefkada
The island of Lefkada was, from the antiquity, an important station for commercial and military ships moving from the Eastern to the Western Mediterranean Sea and vice versa. The passage along this island was often made on the West Coast, since in certain historical periods, the canal that separates it from the mainland was not in use, for technical or political reasons
The author - studying certain historical sources- tries to identify the points on the West Coast of the island which were used as anchorages for merchant and warships in the area, and concludes that there were two of them: The one in the NW at a distance of about 2 km northeast of the current village of Agios Nikitas, and the other in SW, a little further south, close to the rocky island of Sessula [...], on the beach of the current village of Dragano.
These historic anchorages, popular among the seafarers in the area, from antiquity to the 19th century, lost their importance in the 20th century, when sailing ships were replaced, gradually, by steamships, which did not need frequent refueling to complete a long journey in the Mediterranean

The Greek island of Lefkáda, in the Ionian Sea, was known as the “island of Santa Maura” for a long period of time (14th to 19th century AD). This name appears initially as the name of the fortress, built in the northeastern part of the island by the Angevins (Anjous) conquerors of the Kingdom of Naples (1331 AD) and gradually became the name of the whole island.
The author argues that, in the area where the fortress was erected, there was an old Christian church of Aghia Mavra, a virgin martyr, who died in Constantinople in the 3rd century AD. She was a very popular saint in the past, for both East and West Christian Churches. This church possibly replaced the famous temple of the goddess Venus, which had existed there in the Antiquity. The old Christian church  possibly was upgraded by the Frankish conquerors of the island and it became the Catholic Metropolitan church of the area, named “Santa Maura,” which was operated within the homonymous fortress.
During the Ottoman occupation (1479-1684) the church of Santa Maura, served as a mosque for the Muslim habitants. When the Venetians took possession of the island, they transformed it again into a church, which was completely destroyed during the siege of the fort by the English Army (1810). At the end of the 19th century, the local Greek Orthodox Metropolis unveiled a chapel in honor of the saints Timothy and Maura (Thebes of Egypt, 4th century AD) in the same place.

Today's church of Saint Anna in northwest Lefkáda, on a hillside east of the village of Agios Nikitas, was built in the early 1920s as a private church, by a well-known family of the Village. The family claimed to have been obliged to build a new church, as one of its ancestors found an old ruined church of the Saint in the 1870s, when he had bought this area to grow vines.
Based on old maps, documents, and other historical sources, the author tries to prove whether the family's claims that an old church had existed in the area are valid.
Indeed, documents from the 19th century and the last half of the 18th century bear such references. It seems that there was church in the area. A map of 1726 shows a church, which was named "Saint Aneta", alongside a small number of residences. Older maps, from 1688, however, call the area "Saint Mana".
The author claims that the original church was founded by shepherds of the region, in honor of St. Mamas, their patron saint according to the Orthodox Church. During the Venetian rule, the church was used by a Slavophone Orthodox community, which devoted it to the Holy Mother of Virgin Mary. This church was abandoned after some time, and as the area remained uninhabited for a long time, it turned into ruins and was redeveloped by the new owners in 20th century.

The role of a small ruined church, on the southeast coast of Lefkada, is being studied, using a Venetian map of XVIII century. The church seems to have been raised in honor of Saint Niceas, a bishop of the 5th century, in the region of northern Dalmatia

The village of "Aghios Nikitas" in NW Lefkada, after its foundation by poor farmers in the 19th century, who took the advantage of the elimination of piracy by the English fleet and the great demand of wine by the European countries, entered in the 20th century as an important, production, trade and export center of the region. Gradually, after the first decade of the century, under the influence of certain factors analyzed in this study, the village was degraded and isolated. That’s why its inhabitants fell in poverty and were driven to external and internal migration. During the two last decades of the century, the village, gradually, evolved into a tourist resort, with many consequences on the life and employment of local residents.

The village of Aghios Nikitas on the NW coast of the island of Lefkada began as a settlement of a few farmers coming from neighboring villages, who settled first on the coast, in the beginning of the British occupation of the island (about 1815), considering the longer safe from pirate raids . The first inhabitants were involved with the usual agricultural crops in the region, especially with viticulture, as there have been favorable government decisions, large demand of the local variety and uncultivated fertile soil that could be exploited.
In the early 1830s, the settlement was upgraded, because of the arrival of new settlers and it became the only coastal village of W. Lefkada. It referred as a geographical term in the maps and the books of the period (1830), acquired a parish church (1841) and -in 1857- a resident elected member of the 11th House of the "Ionian State".
Gradually-after the union with Greece (1864)-as a village of “ Exanthia municipality”- became the commercial center for the export of Lefkada’s wine not only to the Greek territory but  also and mainly to Western European Countries (France). In the late 19th century, trade delegations have been established there, and the village was a duty Customs outpost and a regular destination of merchant ships ("steamers") receiving the wine. The permanent residents of this period amounted to 200 people.

7ο ΠΑΝΕΛΛΗΝΙΟ ΣΥΝΕΔΡΙΟ ΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΟΥ ΙΝΣΤΙΤΟΥΤΟΥ ΕΦΑΡΜΟΣΜΕΝΗΣ ΠΑΙΔΑΓΩΓΙΚΗΣ ΚΑΙ ΕΚΠΑΙΔΕΥΣΗΣ ΜΕ ΘΕΜΑ:
«ΜΕΓΑΛΟΙ ΕΛΛΗΝΕΣ KAI KYΠΡΙΟΙ ΠΑΙΔΑΓΩΓΟΙ ΑΠΟ ΤΗΝ ΑΡΧΑΙΟΤΗΤΑ ΕΩΣ ΣΗΜΕΡΑ: ΕΚΠΑΙΔΕΥΤΙΚΗ ΣΥΜΒΟΛΗ ΚΑΙ ΠΑΙΔΑΓΩΓΙΚΗ ΜΝΗΜΗ»
ΑΘΗΝΑ, 11-12 Οκτωβρίου 2014
ΜΑΡΑΣΛΕΙΟ ΔΙΔΑΣΚΑΛΕΙΟ ΔΗΜΟΤΙΚΗΣ ΕΚΠΑΙΔΕΥΣΗΣ ΠΑΝΕΠΙΣΤΗΜΙΟΥ ΑΘΗΝΩΝ,
ΜΑΡΑΣΛΗ 4, ΚΟΛΩΝΑΚΙ
Παρουσιάσθηκε το: ΣΑΒΒΑΤΟ 11 ΟΚΤΩΒΡΙΟΥ 2014 ΑΙΘΟΥΣΑ: 2, ΝΕΟΚΛΑΣΙΚΟ ΚΤΗΡΙΟ 1ος ΟΡΟΦΟΣ
16:30 – 18:00: ΣΥΝΕΔΡΙΑ ΠΕΜΠΤΗ

The village "Agios Nikitas" in North West coast of Lefkada was founded in the early 19th century and named after the discovery by its founders of an icon of an unknown Saint Nikitas, clothing as bishop, in a rocky place of the region. In order to identify this Saint, residents have approached scholar monks of Mount Athos, who felt that he was the Bishop of Chalcedon.
The author, after a research in National Archives’ Service in Lefkada town, argues that the icon of this saint, is coming from an abandoned temple founded around the year 1715 in the area, by people belonging to a religious community  of  Byzantine Rite Christians and having origin in the Venetian occupied areas of North  Ionian and Adriatic Sea

Ο θολωτός Μυκηναϊκός τάφος που βρέθηκε στη περιοχή, τα αρχαία αγγεία που ανασύρουν τα δίχτυα των ντόπιων ψαράδων και τα επιφανειακά ευρήματα σε αρχαιολογικό χώρο στη θέση "Ελληνικά" οδηγούν στο συμπέρασμα, ότι το χωριό Άγιος Νικήτας στη Β.Δ. πλευρά της Λευκάδας, υπήρξε σημαντικός σταθμός των ναυτικών που παρέκαμπταν την νήσο, ακολουθόντας πορεία παράλληλη με την Δυτική ακτή της, στην  διαδρομή τους  προς την Ιταλική χερσόνησο, κατά τους προϊστορικούς και ιστορικούς χρόνους.

During XIVth century, the relics of “saint Nicetas the Martyr” are placed in the altar of the church of “Angel Rafael”, in Dorsoduro area, Venice. The holy body has been transferred from the area of Nicomedia, the capital of the Byzantine eparchy of Bithynia, which already has fallen in Ottoman hands.
As this saint was unknown in the city of Venice, the relics were attributed to saint “Nicetas of Nicomedia, who believed to be a child, son of Roman emperor Maximianus (3rd century A.D.), considered as Christian Martyr. But, a modern day (1995) anthropological research, which took place in Italy, proved that this decision was wrong, as the relics found to belong to an elder man.
The writer, through a study in Greek and international literature, exposes the opinion that “saint Nicetas the Martyr” was in fact, “saint Nicetas, bishop of Chalcedon”, a saint of 9th century A.D., who martyred during the iconoclastic period and whose worship was spread fairly among the Slavic tribes in the Middle Ages. Although this saint in the Slavic and Russian Churches is described as a confessor, in Byzantine literature is referred as a martyr and as a martyr was worshiped in Byzantium.
The body of saint Nicetas of Chalcedon, seems to be kept from the 9th to 14th century in a Byzantine sarcophagus, existing in a church dedicated to him, in Byzantine city of “Ryssion” (known also in Greek “Aretsou” and in Turkish “Darika” ), which is a city about 45 km far from Nicomedia and was belonging to the diocese of Chalcedon. The Church of saint Nicetas in Ryssion, has been destroyed by the great fire, that struck the city in the early 20th century

CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF THE LIFE OF THE NEW MARTYR GERASIMOS II, BISHOP OF RETHYMNON (19TH CENTURY)
The Greek Orthodox saint, Gerasimos II (Perdikaris), bishop of Rethymnon, Creta, was lynched by the Turks in April 1822 and his blood was used to dye the flags of the Ottoman army which was fighting the insurgent Greeks of the island. The bishop had been arrested a year earlier during a period of violence in this city and was jailed in an old, dirty, stinking house.
Through this research, specific biographical details of this person are clarified and his life - before his recovery to the bishopric throne - is illuminated.

Olea europaea L., i.e. olive tree, is reputed to have
medicinal properties and is referred to in the littérature
as a plant with antihypertensive, antipyretic, tonic and anticancer
activities.
The present work has shown that triterpene acids, lipids,
saponins, small quantities of essential oils, free and
bonded sugars, sugar alcohols, cyclitols, phenolic acids,
alkaloids, tannins and flavonoids are present in the leaves
and the branches of the olive tree. It has also shown that ther3
are no quinones and leucoanthocyanidins.
Sugars present in the leaves of the cultivated form of
Olea europaea has been identified by gas-liquid chromatography
(GLC), after acid hydrolysis. The above procedure has shown the presence of mannose, fructose,
galactose, glucose, xylose, rhamnose, arabinose, inositol
and mannitol. Mannitol
has also been isolated from the leaves of the wild form and
identified by spectroscopic methods. Similar compounds except for inositol, have been found in the mucus of
the leaves of both the cultivated and the wild form of Olea
europaea. However, it is interesting to note that pentoses
were in more significant amounts there.
The following flavonoids were isolated from the ethanolic
extract of the leaves of the cultivated form:chrysoeriol,
chrysoeriol-7-glucoside, apigenin, luteolin, luteolin-
-7-glucoside, luteolin-^'-glucoside, quercetin, rutin and 3
unidentified flavonoids which were in smaller amounts. One
of the unidentified flavonoids was probably 7-methoxy-^teolin.
Similar flavonoids were detected in the leaves of the wild form
of the plant, and some of them were also detected in the
branches of the cultivated form, using HPLC. From the branches
of the cultivated form, another phenolic compound which
has not been detected in the leaves was also isolated. In
both the cultivated and the wild form there was apigenin,
not only in the free form but also as a glycoside.
The sugars of the glycosides have been studied by hydrolysis
and then by GLC-MS. In this way, glucose, galactose and
some pentoses were again detected together with another unidentified
sugar which has not been detected in the hydrolysed
aqueous extracts of the leaves.
Furthermore, some extracts of the plant have been studied
for anticancer activity-using mice in which ascites fluid
of POQQ lymphocytic leukaemia has been implanted. Although two
of the tested extracts (a chloroformic extract of the leaves
of the wild form and an aqueous extract of the leaves of
cultivated form) increased the median life of the animals
more than the other extracts, another extract (an alcoholic
extract of the leaves of the cultivated form) was found to
be toxic. It should be noted that the TLC examination has shown
that some terpenoids, lipids and non-polar substances were
present in the first extract. Some glycosides, polyhydroxylated
and other polar substances were also in the second,
whilst in the third extract terpenoids, free phenols and .«
other substances of intermediate polarity were found.