Bee Symbolism
Determining the symbolic meaning of the bee (as with any creature) is best done by observing its behavior, social habits, community and environment. Bees are highly social insect operating within a teamwork-based community with an intricate hierarchy. In many different cultures and myths honeybee's behavior is used as a model for lessons we can use for our own lives.
Essene were a communal people who were devout to Judaism; they're known for their role as keepers of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Essene priests were referred to as "bees" because of their integral role within the community, their tireless devotion to God and their faith. In effect, Essene priests were busy as bees keeping the spiritual wisdom within the community available and protected. (Ransome 58)
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As a symbol of love, bee meaning was associated with Cupid during Renaissance paintings. Bees are depicted stinging Cupid, the god of love and desire. The artistic symbolism deals with the blindness of love, and leaping into passion without regard to consequence. Apparently, Cupid is often shown dipping into honey, without thought to potential danger of protective bees. The Renaissance lesson here is "Beware of love's sting." (Wilson 14)
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Honeybees, signifying immortality and resurrection, were royal emblems of the Merovingian, revived by Napoleon.
"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." (The Symbol of the Empire) |
Minoan culture, of the Neolithic period around Crete, depicted some of it’s many goddess images with bee-like stripes, wings and antennae. Apiculture was a prominent part of the Minoan culture, and beehives and other bee images feature prominently in it’s engraved imagery. Later Egyptian, Greek and Roman cultures inherited these patterns and beliefs and transmuted them into their own later myths and legends.
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Some of my favorite bee lore is found in Greek and Roman mythology. Before Dionysus was torn to pieces and returned as a bee, he was in the form of a bull. His worshipers, called Maenad’s, were often depicted as frenziedly dancing females with wings. It’s now believed early Greek and Roman cultures actually drank mead as their chosen beverage, probably what’s now called pyment, a honey wine made with grapes. Pan, the Greek God commonly associated with the wild and sexuality, was also the God of Beekeeping.
The most important oracular site of ancient Greece, Delphi, was said to have been constructed by bees. The oracle of the temple itself was an object called an Omphalos, a carved stone, shaped like a beehive, and covered in bee-like images linked in a beautiful pattern. Phythia, the chief priestess at Delphi, was called ‘The Delphic Bee’. Priestesses of Greece were called Queen Bees. It was believed they entered states of spiritual trance that involved the use of honey. |