Ancient Egyptian BeesAncient bees and beekeeping where integral to Egyptian society.
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Honey Bees have been present in human history for over 6,000 years (Bee Wilson), and beekeeping/ honey hunting can be traced back to the Mesolithic Era and further (Jones, Sweeny-Lynch, 26). Tickner Edwardes, a 20th century authority of beekeeping, believed bee hives to be the oldest civilization in the world, and beekeeping to be one of the "oldest crafts under the sun". (Edwardes, 11). This lasting bee history is supported by evidence including cave paintings, hieroglyphs, and bronze age weaponry. However, the majority of evidence to widespread beekeeping originates in Egypt. Egypt is one of the first societies to have extensive records of beekeeping. Honeybees and beekeeping were crucial to Egyptian society, and their usage pervaded into almost every aspect of Egyptian life. From an ingredient in cakes, to ceremonies, and even in burial, honey was used. Overall the bee was valued, and its’ importance is proven by the socio-political-religious implications and uses.
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A stone bas-relief of Abu Gurab which dates to about 2400 B.C. (Caption BIble, 30). This Image shows the different stages of Egyptian Beekeeping. First on the far left exhibits smoking the bees, Hilda Ransome furthers the observation by suggesting that the most likely used material for smoking was cow dung (Ransome,18). Smoking the bees is a method to warn them of human interference, it also serves to make them groggy and less likely to attack. The second grouping involves removing the combs and filling the various jars with honey. The Third section is damaged however Ransome implies that the image would be pressing the honey,and that the last is sealing (Ibid, 19).
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Egypt is one of the first societies that managed to record their happenings with honeybees. These records indicate that not only were honeybees a part of their society, but also that honeybees were used as representation of political authority with religious ideological associations. In their society honeybees were symbols of royalty. They were used as a visual notation and symbol for the the King of Lower Egypt at around 3500 B.C., (shown by the image on the right) (Ransome 17). Not only were honeybees important enough to merit recording but they were renown enough to be used as a political symbol. By extension this political symbol also served dual functionality as a religious symbol. As Egyptian kings or Pharaohs were actually considered and worshipped as incarnate deities, the symbol while in use represented not only a King but a divine being. Bees where featured in many religious texts and most of the information about Egyptian beekeeping is drawn from them. This includes the evidence of the Pharaohs hieroglyph. Hallman cites in his "The Story of Bees" the Kahun papyrus that reads, "He hath united the two lands, he hath joined the Reed to the Bee.", (Hallman, 199). This citation references when the Upper and Lower sections of Egypt united. Honeybees were used in Egypt to denote their key political agent and ultimate arbiter of their society. The honeybees importance to Egyptian society is reflected in the importance of their Pharaohs. After Egypt the honeybee is continually used as a symbol of monarchy or royalty. Its' use in political nature is traced through the Merovingians, to England's Stuart Kings, and ends with Emperor Napoleon in France some 5,000 years later, (Bee-Bible, 18).
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Bees and Society:
Egypt is believed to be the first civilization to have begun keeping bees as part of an industry. Its' government was equipped with official positions, and there existed collection and production practices. One of the official positions was called the "Sealer of the Honey", other positions where administration in charge of recording jars, "By around 1500 BC, Beekeeping in Egypt was organized on a vast scale. There were state granaries, production lines, and accompanying administrations." (Bible, 31). Beyond centralized production, Egyptians had established patterns of individualized migratory beekeeping (Ransome,20) . The had advanced practices (beyond honey-hunting), and Egypt hasWhat this means is that during the hospitable seasons in Egypt beekeepers would move their honey up and down the nile by night, therefore allowing the bees to take full advantage of different kinds of flowers to aide in their honey creation, a practice which the Germans call "Wanderbienenzucht" (Ibid, 19). Beekeeping was critical to Egyptian society. Its’ products honey and wax were used for sweetening, in marriage contracts, healing, sorcery, taxes, tributes, and religious rituals. According to Ransome, there are some specific rituals in which honey and beeswax where used. These include mummification, sorcery, in sacrificial rituals, mythology, and as tributes.
Bees and Mummification:
Egyptians believed heavily in life after death, and as such they preserved their dead so that their bodies could serve them in the afterlife. This process of mummification, one of the most iconic practices of Egyptian society and religion, used both honey and beeswax. Beeswax was often used to seal the coffins of embalmed bodies in order to make it airtight (Ibid, 21). Honey itself was sometimes even used to encase and preserve entire bodies. Hilda Ransome tells quite a vivid tale accounting for this practice. This tale speaks of an expedition seeking treasures in graves by the Pyramids at Giza. Amidst their inquiries and excavations they found a sealed jar of honey, and they began to eat it along with their bread. They continued to do so until they realized that one of their companions bread had hair upon it. Later after they looked into the jar they saw the remains of a small child ornately dressed and ornamented in a relatively good state of preservation (Ibid, 22). An important part of mummification is to preserve the body in order for the ka, or spirit, to find it in the next life. it is even suggested that this spirit could be represented by the honeybee, "
Beeswax and Sorcery:
There are multiple accounts of religious and spiritual leaders in Egypt utilizing the products of bees as a part of their practices. A few examples include wax voodoo-esk dolls and transfiguration. The first is a very old tradition, which hinges upon the principle that is a witch/wizard/sorcerer where to create the figure of a man out of beeswax that the man associated with the likeness would befall the same harm as the wax figure (Ibid, 21). These concepts are still a part of existing myths and legends today. According to the Westcar Papyrus, a compendium of magical tales representing the fourth dynasty or "Golden Age of the Old Kingdom", a magician and office holder named Aba-aner made a beeswax figurine of a crocodile. He put this wax crocodile into the pool in which his wife's lover bathed, and upon it touching the water the figure came to life and drug the lover to the bottom of the water where it remained for seven days. (Ibid, 22). Thomas Cowan an early Twentieth Century Bee History corroborates these stories of beeswax figures that could be implanted with magical properties. Cowan tells of a different story based on a papyrus from the time of Ramses the III were a magician made beeswax figurines that were enchanted to win the favor of the Pharaohs harem women (Cowan, 26). This mythology and specific use of beeswax persisted into the mid 1500's and beyond. There is evidence that in France this practice continued. A document dating to 1564, which holds the story of Charles of Valois, corroborates the persisting practice of waxen witch tools. This specific testimony tells of a waxen figure modeled after the king, and made to look sickly. As the wax figure was held to the fire it melted, as the figure was degraded likewise the health of the king deteriorated to near death. The account however, ends with the waxen figure being found, and the king saved from near death (Cowan, 27).
Honey in Rituals and tribute:
As a crucial element to societal functions, honey was highly valued. As such many used honey as a sort of barter system. Instead of paying in currency honey was used as literal liquid gold. Thothmes III was given honey by the Syrian people in tribute after his conquering of Syrian lands, and there is evidence that multiple Pharaohs even taxed honey in order to supply their priests. Thomas Cowan quotes an unidentified tablet of Ramses III. This tablet accounts for 1,933,766 jars of incense, honey, oil, fat & C. that were paid out by the royal treasury for various religious ceremonies (Cowan, 27). These religious ceremonies primarily are centered around religious offerings, and rituals for the afterlife. Honey was used with flour and milk to make cakes which where feed to sacrificial animals, and some of these same cakes where left as alter offerings (Ransome, 23).Additionally these foods made with honey as offerings for the dead were then later consumed by the priests and families as part of the funeral ceremonies.
One specific religious ceremony that used honey was called the "Opening of the Mouth". This ceremony required priests to use specific instruments to "open the mouth" of statues which represented a king, a god, or a great noble and feed them food (much of which was honey) that underwent special processes to become divine (Ransome, 25). Overall this practice held many individual parts, on such part was called the "Chapter of the Festal Perfume in the form of Honey" (Ransome, 25). During this portion of the ceremony the following passage was read, "Hail, Amen-Ra, Lord of the Throne of the Two Lands! I present unto thee honey..." (Ibid, 25).
Bees in Egyptian Mythology:
Egyptians believed that honeybees originated from the sun god Ra. Ra in Egyptian mythology is the designer of the Earth and of the sea, his right eye was believed to be the sun and complementary the left was the moon (Ransome, 25). Ra also was the god who caused the Nile to flood, and controlled water. Honeybees not only were not only believed to arise from Ra, but additionally more precisely from his waters (Ibid, 26).
Egypt is believed to be the first civilization to have begun keeping bees as part of an industry. Its' government was equipped with official positions, and there existed collection and production practices. One of the official positions was called the "Sealer of the Honey", other positions where administration in charge of recording jars, "By around 1500 BC, Beekeeping in Egypt was organized on a vast scale. There were state granaries, production lines, and accompanying administrations." (Bible, 31). Beyond centralized production, Egyptians had established patterns of individualized migratory beekeeping (Ransome,20) . The had advanced practices (beyond honey-hunting), and Egypt hasWhat this means is that during the hospitable seasons in Egypt beekeepers would move their honey up and down the nile by night, therefore allowing the bees to take full advantage of different kinds of flowers to aide in their honey creation, a practice which the Germans call "Wanderbienenzucht" (Ibid, 19). Beekeeping was critical to Egyptian society. Its’ products honey and wax were used for sweetening, in marriage contracts, healing, sorcery, taxes, tributes, and religious rituals. According to Ransome, there are some specific rituals in which honey and beeswax where used. These include mummification, sorcery, in sacrificial rituals, mythology, and as tributes.
Bees and Mummification:
Egyptians believed heavily in life after death, and as such they preserved their dead so that their bodies could serve them in the afterlife. This process of mummification, one of the most iconic practices of Egyptian society and religion, used both honey and beeswax. Beeswax was often used to seal the coffins of embalmed bodies in order to make it airtight (Ibid, 21). Honey itself was sometimes even used to encase and preserve entire bodies. Hilda Ransome tells quite a vivid tale accounting for this practice. This tale speaks of an expedition seeking treasures in graves by the Pyramids at Giza. Amidst their inquiries and excavations they found a sealed jar of honey, and they began to eat it along with their bread. They continued to do so until they realized that one of their companions bread had hair upon it. Later after they looked into the jar they saw the remains of a small child ornately dressed and ornamented in a relatively good state of preservation (Ibid, 22). An important part of mummification is to preserve the body in order for the ka, or spirit, to find it in the next life. it is even suggested that this spirit could be represented by the honeybee, "
Beeswax and Sorcery:
There are multiple accounts of religious and spiritual leaders in Egypt utilizing the products of bees as a part of their practices. A few examples include wax voodoo-esk dolls and transfiguration. The first is a very old tradition, which hinges upon the principle that is a witch/wizard/sorcerer where to create the figure of a man out of beeswax that the man associated with the likeness would befall the same harm as the wax figure (Ibid, 21). These concepts are still a part of existing myths and legends today. According to the Westcar Papyrus, a compendium of magical tales representing the fourth dynasty or "Golden Age of the Old Kingdom", a magician and office holder named Aba-aner made a beeswax figurine of a crocodile. He put this wax crocodile into the pool in which his wife's lover bathed, and upon it touching the water the figure came to life and drug the lover to the bottom of the water where it remained for seven days. (Ibid, 22). Thomas Cowan an early Twentieth Century Bee History corroborates these stories of beeswax figures that could be implanted with magical properties. Cowan tells of a different story based on a papyrus from the time of Ramses the III were a magician made beeswax figurines that were enchanted to win the favor of the Pharaohs harem women (Cowan, 26). This mythology and specific use of beeswax persisted into the mid 1500's and beyond. There is evidence that in France this practice continued. A document dating to 1564, which holds the story of Charles of Valois, corroborates the persisting practice of waxen witch tools. This specific testimony tells of a waxen figure modeled after the king, and made to look sickly. As the wax figure was held to the fire it melted, as the figure was degraded likewise the health of the king deteriorated to near death. The account however, ends with the waxen figure being found, and the king saved from near death (Cowan, 27).
Honey in Rituals and tribute:
As a crucial element to societal functions, honey was highly valued. As such many used honey as a sort of barter system. Instead of paying in currency honey was used as literal liquid gold. Thothmes III was given honey by the Syrian people in tribute after his conquering of Syrian lands, and there is evidence that multiple Pharaohs even taxed honey in order to supply their priests. Thomas Cowan quotes an unidentified tablet of Ramses III. This tablet accounts for 1,933,766 jars of incense, honey, oil, fat & C. that were paid out by the royal treasury for various religious ceremonies (Cowan, 27). These religious ceremonies primarily are centered around religious offerings, and rituals for the afterlife. Honey was used with flour and milk to make cakes which where feed to sacrificial animals, and some of these same cakes where left as alter offerings (Ransome, 23).Additionally these foods made with honey as offerings for the dead were then later consumed by the priests and families as part of the funeral ceremonies.
One specific religious ceremony that used honey was called the "Opening of the Mouth". This ceremony required priests to use specific instruments to "open the mouth" of statues which represented a king, a god, or a great noble and feed them food (much of which was honey) that underwent special processes to become divine (Ransome, 25). Overall this practice held many individual parts, on such part was called the "Chapter of the Festal Perfume in the form of Honey" (Ransome, 25). During this portion of the ceremony the following passage was read, "Hail, Amen-Ra, Lord of the Throne of the Two Lands! I present unto thee honey..." (Ibid, 25).
Bees in Egyptian Mythology:
Egyptians believed that honeybees originated from the sun god Ra. Ra in Egyptian mythology is the designer of the Earth and of the sea, his right eye was believed to be the sun and complementary the left was the moon (Ransome, 25). Ra also was the god who caused the Nile to flood, and controlled water. Honeybees not only were not only believed to arise from Ra, but additionally more precisely from his waters (Ibid, 26).
Egypt Summary:
In summation every aspect of Egyptian life involved to some degree honeybees and their products. Politically honeybees were used in symbology to represent their King. Financially honey could be used in taxation for both the "church" and the state. Socially honey was a necessity for every class as it was used by individuals in diet and life accomplishments. Additionally beekeeping was at it's highest prominence in human history to that point with early industry and bureaucracy. Religiously honey was used for a wide variety of purposes and ceremonies including the most iconically Egyptian practice of mummification. The mention and testaments of Egyptian honeybees immortalized in literature and mythology. While there is little evidence that suggests Egyptians admired honeybees due to a perceived social utopia, it is evident that in society honey bees where generally revered and crucial due to multiple organizational, practical, and ideological functions.
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Classical Honeybees in the Greco-Roman Era
Introduction:
Honeybees in Classical society functioned in similar purposes as Egyptian society. Honeybees had divine, political, and financial associations that saturated classical culture. The great philosophers and writers of the time such as Virgil, Aristotle, Pliny the Elder, and Varro among others, commented on honeybees and began to draw parallels. It is in the Greco-Roman era when humans first began to draw comparisons between bees and society. More precisely, writers of this period began comparing people and their functions to individual bees. This precedent which is established by the Greco-Romans extends into modern society. |
"He (Virgil) was a firm believer in the Divine origin of bees. To all the ancients the honey-bee was a perpetual miracle, as much a sign and token of an omnipotent will, set in the flowery meadows, as in the rainbow, to modern pietists, set in the sky. While all other creatures in the universe were seen to produce their kind by coition of the sexes, these mysterious winged people seemed to be exempt from the common law."- (Tinker Edwardes pg 19-20)
Honeybees and Greco-Roman Religion:
In Greco-Roman Religious practice honeybees are evident to exist at its very core.
In Greco-Roman Religious practice honeybees are evident to exist at its very core.
"the bee was in the Aegean area a holy creature...associated frequently with a major divinity" (Lawler, 103).
Numerous Gods, and Goddesses are attributed with having connections to bees, honey was given special powers and divine status, bees where attributed as symbols of the actual soul, and additionally there are specific religious rites and practices held by the Greeks and the Roman that used honey. In Grecian culture Artemis, Zeus, Apollo, Demeter, Persephone, and Dionysus (among many, many others) have connections and mythology that directly connects them with honeybees. In Roman culture, Jupiter has the main association with honeybees.
Artemis: The bee is the emblem of Artemis, and her priestesses were given the title of Melissa or "Bee" (Elderkin, 203).
Zeus: The cavern in which Zeus was born is said to be sacred to bees, and in mythology he was supposed to be feed by bees as a child, (Cook, 2-3).
Apollo: The priestess from Delphi who foretold the future though divine visions, gained their powers through the sacred bee, furthermore the temple at Delphi is supposed to have been built by bees who used their own wax and wings, (Cook, )
Aristaueus: The son of Apollo, is according to the Greeks the first beekeeper (Jones, Sweeny, 14).
Demeter: The Godess of the harvest is attributed with exacting revenge through sending bees from the dead body of the slain in order to punish the perpetrators, (Ransome, 87).
Dionysus: In legend Dionysus was torn apart while in bull form only to be reborn later in the form of a bee later (Cook, 6).
Central Bee Myth: Most of the Religious ideas that surround honeybees include those of the escape of the soul from the body. The Greeks and the Romans believed that bees originated from a sacrificial bull. The bull was to be buried underneath the soil (while still trying to preserve the body of the bull as much as possible),when the Sun entered the sign of the bull, for approximately three weeks and 10 days (Ransome, 101). After this process the life of the bull passed naturally to the life of the bees (Ibid). " The bee was a sacred animal closely associated with the birth and death of the soul. this belief is not altogether extinct in modern Europe. In the Engandine it is still though that the should of men emigrate from the world and return to it in the form of bees, " (Cook, 23).
Magical Honey:
Greco-Roman religious practices also held the beliefs that honey had mystical properties. Honey was believed to bestow upon young children the gifts of prophecy, foresight, and shrewdness. Those who possess these skills are said to have been feed by honey or "the nectar of the Gods" , "Sophocles, Plato, Vergil, and Lucan were all said to have been fed by bees, or had their lips touched by honey in their infancy," (Ransome, 94). Honey was also used in a significant amount of religious rituals for the Greeks and Romans, it was featured extensively in ritual offerings. A main practice of the time included digging a trench and burning a feast in honor of the departed. This practice is preserved by the Iliad, Achilles honors the fallen Patrocles by placing jars of honey in a fire and pouring wine to call of his spirit. Honey was given as offerings to the nymphs and to the fates by women in order to preserve their good fortune, and Cerberus the three headed dog of Hades is said to have often been appeased through offerings of honey-cakes much like the devil-spirit incarnate as a snake (Ransome 114). Overall there is a very widely and intricately woven web between bees and Greek and Roman legends and religions. It seems as though nearly every god had some kind of connection to honeybees. The intricately woven web of culture and honeybees relates a story of how central bees were to their society and why they were observed closely enough to merit significant writings of them, which lead to the first comparisons of bees to humans and human culture.
Greeco-Roman social implications of the hive:
Honeybees were often observed by Greek and Roman philosophers and writers. In their observations, these men noticed the specific social order of the bees and began to compare individual bee functions with the roles of their societal members.
Pliny the Elder, a Roman naturalist philosopher, used the beehive to demonstrate the flaws of humans and human nature, " Pliny employed the beehive to highlight human failings-the bees show that it is not inevitable that society should be dominated by faction and the self-interest of a few," (Morely, 463). He focused on the bees ability to manage on their own for the good of the hive, and believed human society could and should function under a similar capacity. Pliny believed the social complexity and order of bees positioned them in superior to humans (Morely, 463).
Virgil, a Roman poet and writer, looked at bees and saw them an ideal in which human society can never reach. He saw society as requiring management and vulnerable, and he too looked towards the honeybees as a contrasting example of social utopia. In Georgics part IV, Virgil writes about the myth of Aristaeus, the habits of honeybees, and how they represent society. Virgil saw honeybees as, " a complete paradigm for human society...[In Georgics] Virgil did not offer an explicit rationale for learning from the bees; readers are simply left to be struck by the analogy with Roman society, and to draw their own conclusions. It is in the nature of such analogies that they can sometimes highlight the inferiority of reality, or indeed of humanity, to the ideal,' (Morley, 464).
Aristotle commented on honeybees in Book IX of Historia Animalium, as he was a great observer of bees. He created the first glass observation hive in order to better look at the bees, (Ransome, 71). He was the Greek authority of beekeeping and much of the Roman understanding of bees stems from him.
Other writers looked at bees in order to legitimize the social order, and political organization of the nations. The hive was a model for both the loyalty of citizens and for the expected actions for kings, "the bees offered a template for the behavior expected of the king, in order to conform to nature's law and elicit the same measure of loyalty from his subject: they presented a model for the vital tasks of supervision, distribution and the encouragement of labour within society," (Morley, 463).
Overall the Greek and Roman Nations looked at the social complexity of the hive, and saw their own societal potential. The hive became a reflection of society to which observers could look for answers, "What is striking in Roman accounts of bees is the way that they were influenced not only by mythology, litterer tradition, and the authority of Aristotle but by contemporary political preoccupations. The sources tend to interpret all bee behavior not only in human terms but in specifically Roman terms, and to assume the existence of the shoe range of Roman institutions within the hive, " (Morley, 466).
Artemis: The bee is the emblem of Artemis, and her priestesses were given the title of Melissa or "Bee" (Elderkin, 203).
Zeus: The cavern in which Zeus was born is said to be sacred to bees, and in mythology he was supposed to be feed by bees as a child, (Cook, 2-3).
Apollo: The priestess from Delphi who foretold the future though divine visions, gained their powers through the sacred bee, furthermore the temple at Delphi is supposed to have been built by bees who used their own wax and wings, (Cook, )
Aristaueus: The son of Apollo, is according to the Greeks the first beekeeper (Jones, Sweeny, 14).
Demeter: The Godess of the harvest is attributed with exacting revenge through sending bees from the dead body of the slain in order to punish the perpetrators, (Ransome, 87).
Dionysus: In legend Dionysus was torn apart while in bull form only to be reborn later in the form of a bee later (Cook, 6).
Central Bee Myth: Most of the Religious ideas that surround honeybees include those of the escape of the soul from the body. The Greeks and the Romans believed that bees originated from a sacrificial bull. The bull was to be buried underneath the soil (while still trying to preserve the body of the bull as much as possible),when the Sun entered the sign of the bull, for approximately three weeks and 10 days (Ransome, 101). After this process the life of the bull passed naturally to the life of the bees (Ibid). " The bee was a sacred animal closely associated with the birth and death of the soul. this belief is not altogether extinct in modern Europe. In the Engandine it is still though that the should of men emigrate from the world and return to it in the form of bees, " (Cook, 23).
Magical Honey:
Greco-Roman religious practices also held the beliefs that honey had mystical properties. Honey was believed to bestow upon young children the gifts of prophecy, foresight, and shrewdness. Those who possess these skills are said to have been feed by honey or "the nectar of the Gods" , "Sophocles, Plato, Vergil, and Lucan were all said to have been fed by bees, or had their lips touched by honey in their infancy," (Ransome, 94). Honey was also used in a significant amount of religious rituals for the Greeks and Romans, it was featured extensively in ritual offerings. A main practice of the time included digging a trench and burning a feast in honor of the departed. This practice is preserved by the Iliad, Achilles honors the fallen Patrocles by placing jars of honey in a fire and pouring wine to call of his spirit. Honey was given as offerings to the nymphs and to the fates by women in order to preserve their good fortune, and Cerberus the three headed dog of Hades is said to have often been appeased through offerings of honey-cakes much like the devil-spirit incarnate as a snake (Ransome 114). Overall there is a very widely and intricately woven web between bees and Greek and Roman legends and religions. It seems as though nearly every god had some kind of connection to honeybees. The intricately woven web of culture and honeybees relates a story of how central bees were to their society and why they were observed closely enough to merit significant writings of them, which lead to the first comparisons of bees to humans and human culture.
Greeco-Roman social implications of the hive:
Honeybees were often observed by Greek and Roman philosophers and writers. In their observations, these men noticed the specific social order of the bees and began to compare individual bee functions with the roles of their societal members.
Pliny the Elder, a Roman naturalist philosopher, used the beehive to demonstrate the flaws of humans and human nature, " Pliny employed the beehive to highlight human failings-the bees show that it is not inevitable that society should be dominated by faction and the self-interest of a few," (Morely, 463). He focused on the bees ability to manage on their own for the good of the hive, and believed human society could and should function under a similar capacity. Pliny believed the social complexity and order of bees positioned them in superior to humans (Morely, 463).
Virgil, a Roman poet and writer, looked at bees and saw them an ideal in which human society can never reach. He saw society as requiring management and vulnerable, and he too looked towards the honeybees as a contrasting example of social utopia. In Georgics part IV, Virgil writes about the myth of Aristaeus, the habits of honeybees, and how they represent society. Virgil saw honeybees as, " a complete paradigm for human society...[In Georgics] Virgil did not offer an explicit rationale for learning from the bees; readers are simply left to be struck by the analogy with Roman society, and to draw their own conclusions. It is in the nature of such analogies that they can sometimes highlight the inferiority of reality, or indeed of humanity, to the ideal,' (Morley, 464).
Aristotle commented on honeybees in Book IX of Historia Animalium, as he was a great observer of bees. He created the first glass observation hive in order to better look at the bees, (Ransome, 71). He was the Greek authority of beekeeping and much of the Roman understanding of bees stems from him.
Other writers looked at bees in order to legitimize the social order, and political organization of the nations. The hive was a model for both the loyalty of citizens and for the expected actions for kings, "the bees offered a template for the behavior expected of the king, in order to conform to nature's law and elicit the same measure of loyalty from his subject: they presented a model for the vital tasks of supervision, distribution and the encouragement of labour within society," (Morley, 463).
Overall the Greek and Roman Nations looked at the social complexity of the hive, and saw their own societal potential. The hive became a reflection of society to which observers could look for answers, "What is striking in Roman accounts of bees is the way that they were influenced not only by mythology, litterer tradition, and the authority of Aristotle but by contemporary political preoccupations. The sources tend to interpret all bee behavior not only in human terms but in specifically Roman terms, and to assume the existence of the shoe range of Roman institutions within the hive, " (Morley, 466).
The Honey Bee and its connections to finances:
The honeybee was used extensively as images on currency, in tokens and coins. the coins to the left are from Delphi and they are Dyrrachium, (Ransome, 88). The coin above is the head of Aristaeus (the bee-born ox myth). In Crete, the bee has been found on coins and even has treasuries that are built in the shape of hives, (Elderkin, 209). |
Greco-Roman Summary:
In Greek and Roman society, honeybees are evident and extensively pervasive. They were compared to the exemplified nature of each specific member of their social strata. In religion honeybees and their products were used throughout mythology, and honey was even given magical properties as it was a divine substance. Citizens were conscious of the honeybee from many cultural aspects. In religion, writing, and coin.
In Greek and Roman society, honeybees are evident and extensively pervasive. They were compared to the exemplified nature of each specific member of their social strata. In religion honeybees and their products were used throughout mythology, and honey was even given magical properties as it was a divine substance. Citizens were conscious of the honeybee from many cultural aspects. In religion, writing, and coin.