According to the biblical story (Genesis 8:11), a dove was released by Noah after the Flood in order to find land; it came back carrying a freshly plucked olive leaf (Hebrew: עלה זית alay zayit),^{[Gen 8:11]} a sign of life after the Flood and of God’s bringing Noah, his family and the animals to land. Rabbinic literature interpreted the olive leaf as “the young shoots of the Land of Israel” or the dove’s preference for bitter food in God’s service, rather than sweet food in the service of men.

•  Genesis Rabbah, 33:6
• “Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 108b”. Halakhah.com. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
• “Eruvin 18b” (PDF). Retrieved 21 February 2012.
• “Rashi”. Tachash.org. Archived from the original on 19 August 2018. Retrieved 21 February 2012.

Medieval illuminated manuscripts, such as the Holkham Bible, showed the dove returning to Noah with a branch. Wycliffe’s Bible, which translated the Vulgate into English in the 14th century, uses “a braunche of olyue tre with greene leeuys” (“a branch of olive tree with green leaves”) in Gen. 8:11. In the Middle Ages, some Jewish illuminated manuscripts also showed Noah’s dove with an olive branch, for example, the Golden Haggadah (about 1420).

• “British Library, The Holkham Bible“. Bl.uk. 30 November 2003.
• “Wycliffe Bible, Gen 8:11”. Studylight.org. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
• Narkiss, Bezalel, The Golden Haggadah, London: The British Library, 1997, p. 22 
• British Library, Online Gallery, Sacred Texts. The Golden Haggadah, p.3, lower left hand panel.

In the story The Epic of Gilgamesh, the god of water, Enki, warns the character Utnapishtim that the gods are going to create a massive flood. He then tells Utnapishtim to build a giant boat to save all living beings from the flood. The cataclysmic storm arrives, lasting for seven days. After the storm subsides, Enki tells Utnapishtim to release a dove and a raven to find land. The dove merely circles and returns. Only then does Utnapishtim send forth the raven, which does not return, and Utnapishtim concludes the raven has found land.

• Stanton, Kristen M. (12 September 2022). “Dove Meaning & Symbolism & the Dove Spirit Animal”. UniGuide®. Retrieved 16 September 2022.
• Kovacs, Maureen Gallery (1989). The epic of Gilgamesh. Stanford University Press. p. 102. ISBN 978-0-8047-1711-3.