THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF HONEYBROUGHT TO YOU BY THE HUMBLE BEE

HONEY COMPANY

HONEY• WHEN THE SUN WEEPS A SECOND TIME, AND LETS FALL WATER FROM HIS EYES, IT IS

CHANGED INTO WORKING BEES; THEY WORK IN THE FLOWERS OF EACH KIND, AND HONEY AND WAX ARE PRODUCED INSTEAD OF WATER.PSALT 825, FIRST MILLENNIUM BCE [29]

• ONE DOES NOT BUILD A ROYAL PALACE FOR THE HONEY BEE. A HIVE OF DUNG IS BETTER THAN A HIVE OF STONE [LIKE A BARN]...THE HOUSE OF THE BEE IS EFFECTIVELY AN ARRANGEMENT OF COMBS, A PLACE SUITABLE FOR STORING HONEY...IT IS MORE PLEASANT FOR THE BEES BENEATH THE HONEY COMBS.MYTH OF THE EYE OF RE, LEIDEN CAT, I 384 [32

ANCIENT HISTORY OF HONEY BEES AND HONEY

• THE HISTORY AND USES OF HONEY GOES BACK AS FAR AS RECORDED TIME.

• BEES HAVE BEEN PRODUCING HONEY FOR AT LEAST 150 MILLION YEARS

• A CAVE PAINTING DEPICTING AN ANDROGYNOUS FIGURE ROBBING HONEY OUT OF THE HIVE WAS FOUND IN THE CAVE OF THE SPIDER IN VALENCIA, SPAIN. IT IS ESTIMATED TO BE 15,000 YEARS OLD.

• THE EARLIEST RECORD OF KEEPING BEES IN HIVES WAS FOUND IN THE SUN TEMPLE ERECTED IN 2400BC NEAR CAIRO. THE BEE FEATURED FREQUENTLY IN EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHS AND, BEING FAVORED BY THE PHARAOHS, OFTEN SYMBOLIZED ROYALTY.

A GIFT OF THE GODS

HONEY WAS THOUGHT TO HAVE HEALING POWERS• GIFT OF THE GODS• THE GREEK PHYSICIAN HIPPOCRATES CURED SKIN DISORDERS WITH HONEY• USED ON ROMAN WARRIORS TO HEAL WOUNDS

• ANTIBACTERIAL PROPERTIES• VESSELS OF HONEY WAS FOUND IN 14TH CENTURY EGYPTIAN TOMBS CRYSTALIZED

BUT STILL GOOD.• HONEY WAS ALSO USED IN THE EMBALMING PROCESS FOR MUMMIFICATION

DURING THE 14TH CENTURY

• HONEY APPEARS IN ANCIENT RELIGIOUS TEXTS• HEBREW BIBLE• NEW TESTAMENT• QUR’AN

BUDDHISM

THE BEE WAS THE SIGN OF THE KING OF LOWER EGYPT DURING THE FIRST DYNASTY

(3,200BC)

HONEYTHE FIRST OFFICIAL MENTION RECOGNIZING THE IMPORTANCE OF HONEY DATES FROM THE FIRST DYNASTY, WHEN THE TITLE OF "SEALER OF THE HONEY" IS GIVEN [11];

• THE OLDEST PICTURES OF BEE-KEEPERS, THE OLD KINGDOM:

• IN NIUSERRE'S SUN TEMPLE BEE-KEEPERS ARE SHOWN BLOWING SMOKE INTO HIVES AS THEY ARE REMOVING THE HONEY-COMBS.

• AFTER EXTRACTING THE HONEY FROM THE COMBS IT WAS STRAINED AND POURED INTO EARTHEN JARS WHICH WERE THEN SEALED.

• HONEY TREATED IN THIS MANNER COULD BE KEPT YEARS.  [8

ANCIENT COINS

In the third century BC, the bee was the

emblem used on coins in the Greek city of Ephesus.

HONEY, THE ELIXER OF MEDITERRANIAN SOCIETIES

THE ROMAN EMPEROR AUGUSTUS ONCE ASKED A MAN WHO LIVED TO BE 100 YEARS OLD WHAT HIS SECRET WAS AND THE MAN REPLIED “OIL WITHOUT AND HONEY WITHIN”.

THE GREEK SEA GOD GLAUCUS, THE SON OF MINOS AND PASIPHAE, WAS RESTORED TO LIFE WHEN BURIED IN A JAR OF HONEY.  THIS IS WHY ALEXANDER THE GREAT WAS WRAPPED IN HONEY AS PART OF HIS BURIAL PREPARATION

THE MINOANS WERE EXPERT BEEKEEPERS WHO TAUGHT THE CRAFT OF APICULTURE TO THE GREEKS. GREEKS BELIEVED THAT BEES WERE INTRICATELY ENTWINED IN THE EVERYDAY LIVES OF THEIR GODS.  ZEUS “GREEK KING OF THE GODS” WAS BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN BORN IN A CAVE AND RAISED BY BEES, EARNING HIM THE TITLE MELISSAIOS, OR BEE-MAN. THE TITLE MELISSAIOS - OR BEE-MAN, HAS A FEMININE COUNTERPART IN MEDITERRANEAN CULTURES CALLED MELISSA, OR THE BEE.

HONEY IS USED AS THE SYMBOL OF LIFE AND THE SYMBOL OF DEATH. THE BEE REPRESENT THE CYCLE OF EXISTENCE . THE BEGINNING IS THE END AND THE END IS THE BEGINNING.

HTTP://ANDREWGOUGH.CO.UK/BEE2_1.HTML.

Minoan Gold Bee pendant from Crete, circa 2000 BC

NAPOLEON

NAPOLEON'S FLAG CARRIED A SINGLE LINE OF BEES IN FLIGHT, AND HIS ROBE WAS

EMBROIDERED

WITH BEES.

THE SYMBOLS OF EMPIRE

THE BEE

SYMBOL OF IMMORTALITY AND RESURRECTION, THE BEE WAS CHOSEN SO AS TO LINK THE NEW DYNASTY TO THE VERY ORIGINS OF FRANCE. GOLDEN BEES (IN FACT, CICADAS)

WERE DISCOVERED IN 1653 IN TOURNAI IN THE TOMB OF CHILDERIC I, FOUNDER IN 457 OF THE MEROVINGIAN DYNASTY AND FATHER OF CLOVIS. THEY WERE CONSIDERED AS

THE OLDEST EMBLEM OF THE SOVEREIGNS OF FRANCE.

NAPOLEON

NAPOLEON’S ROBE WAS EMBROIDERED WITH BEES.

FRENCH HISTORY

TWO EXAMPLES OF FRENCH HERALDRY BEE SHIELDS: MAZAMET AND LA MEILLERAYE DE BRETAGNE © WWW.NGW.NL

BEES AND THE SUN

POPE URBAN VIII (MAFFEO BARBERINI 1568-1644) USED THE BEE AS HIS EMBLEM

BIBLIOGRAPHY ANCIENT HISTORY

[  ] PHOTOS COURTESY OF DR. KENNETH J. STEIN [17] AND JON BODSWORTH  

BIBLIOGRAPHY:ROGER S. BAGNALL, RAFFAELLA CRIBIORE, EVIE AHTARIDIS, WOMEN'S LETTERS FROM ANCIENT EGYPT, 300 BC-AD 800, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

PRESS, 2006S. BIRCH (ED.), RECORDS OF THE PAST, VOL.6, 1876

J. H. BREASTED, 1906, ANCIENT RECORDS OF EGYPT, CHICAGOALAN HOUGHTON BRODRICK, 1972 ANIMALS IN ARCHAEOLOGY, PRAEGER

PATRICIA BROTHWELL, 1998 FOOD IN ANTIQUITY: A SURVEY OF THE DIET OF EARLY PEOPLES, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESSERNEST ALFRED WALLIS BUDGE, THE MUMMY: CHAPTERS ON EGYPTIAN FUNEREAL ARCHAEOLOGY, UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1894

EGYPT EXPLORATION FUND, THE JOURNAL OF EGYPTIAN ARCHAEOLOGY VOL. 63, EGYPT EXPLORATION FUND, 1977EVA CRANE, 1999, THE WORLD HISTORY OF BEEKEEPING AND HONEY HUNTING, TAYLOR & FRANCIS

SIGRID HODEL-HOENES, 2000 LIFE AND DEATH IN ANCIENT EGYPT: SCENES FROM PRIVATE TOMBS IN NEW KINGDOM THEBES, CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS

ANDREW B. KIDD, BERTHOLD SCHRIMPF, "BEES AND BEE-KEEPING" IN R. BLENCH, KEVIN C. MACDONALD (EDS.), THE ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT OF AFRICAN LIVESTOCK: ARCHAEOLOGY, GENETICS, LINGUISTICS AND ETHNOGRAPHY, ROUTLEDGE, 2000

PANAGIOTIS KOUSOULIS, "NINE MEASURES OF MAGIC; PART 3: 'OVERTHROWING APOPHIS': EGYPTIAN RITUAL IN PRACTICE" IN ANCIENT EGYPT MAGAZINE: ISSUE NINE - NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2001 [2]

MIRIAM LICHTHEIM, ANCIENT EGYPTIAN LITERATURE, VOLUME I, THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS 1973MIRIAM LICHTHEIM, ANCIENT EGYPTIAN LITERATURE, VOLUME III, THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS 1980

PAUL T. NICHOLSON, IAN SHAW, 2000 ANCIENT EGYPTIAN MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGY, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESSHILDA M. RANSOME, 1937, THE SACRED BEE IN ANCIENT TIMES AND FOLKLORE, COURIER DOVER 2004

IAN SHAW, PAUL NICHOLSON, THE BRITISH MUSEUM DICTIONARY OF ANCIENT EGYPT. BRITISH MUSEUM PRESS 1995W. VOGEL, "BEES AND BEEKEEPING IN EGYPT" IN GEORGE W. JOHNSON, ROBERT HOGG (EDS.), JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE, COTTAGE GARDENER

AND COUNTRY GENTLEMEN, VOL. XII, NEW SERIES, G. W. JOHNSON, LONDON 1867

 FOOTNOTES:

[3] ON HIS FIFTH CAMPAIGN THUTMOSE III EXACTED FROM DJAHI (A REGION IN CANAAN) I.A. 470 (MN-)JARS OF HONEY, AND THE TRIBUTE FROM SYRIA IN THE YEAR 39 OF HIS REIGN INCLUDED AMONG OTHER THINGS:

               HONEY 264 [+X JARS]J. H. BREASTED ANCIENT RECORDS OF EGYPT, PART TWO, § 462 AND § 518