Apiculture – Honey Halkidiki- Greece

The ancient Greeks considered honey a gift from the gods, while the bee and honey play a leading role in Greek mythology, customs and traditions. Honey has been a symbol of fertility, happiness, well-being and inspiration while the bee has been used as a symbol of colonization, prosperity and abundance throughout the ages. The mythology of every people captures its collective memory long before history came to record the events in a scientific way. Thus, Greek mythology with its numerous references to honey and the bee allows us to conclude that at an early stage in Greek history the value of honey in human nutrition had been duly appreciated, while the bee had won human admiration for its valuable work . The mythological reference to the use of honey for the upbringing of the king of the gods, Zeus, is not accidental. The bee, a small but miraculous insect was given an important place among the protagonists of Greek Mythology and art due to its utility which was recognized very early by humans. Myths and realities, gods and demigods, nymphs and humans, divine figures create myths giving the bee and the value of honey a prominent place in Greek Mythology.

Honey as a “divine” and “heavenly” choice food was worshiped for its nutritional and healing properties. Offered longevity and hope for eternity to gods and men through purification of soul and body from any error. Written references to honey or the bee are numerous. Some are indicated as examples.

• The bee is deified. She is the nymph to whom Rhea delivered the infant “Cretaceous” Zeus.
• Bees, the priestesses of the goddess Demeter, Artemis, Cybele and Persephone.
• The Odyssey mentions the fine drink “Melikraton”, a mixture of honey and milk.
• In Sparta, educators and trainees lived in Taygetos for a month, feeding exclusively on honey.
• Aristotle built a glass hive to see how bees work, while in his writings the society of bees emerges as an ideal state.
• Hippocrates, Pythagoras and Democritus extol the beneficial properties of honey, noting the stimulation, well-being and longevity it offers to the healthy and the sick.

In ancient times, the medicinal and nutritional value of honey is evident from a multitude of records and data, which, in addition to being a food as a raw material, had a prominent place in worship, the manufacture of medicines, ointments, perfumes, drinks and decoctions, while its marketing from country in a country. The bee, honey and wax held a prominent place in all social classes and groups. It is reported that systematic beekeeping has been practiced in Greece since 150 AD. century. Scholars report that honey and the art of beekeeping came to Greece from Ancient Egypt. According to legend, bees and wax were born from the tears of the sun god Ra, and the bee was considered a guide on the long journey to the other world. Honey, drink and food of the gods nectar and ambrosia held an important place in the daily life of people not only as food but also as a means of healing while the bee is deified. The most scientific information about bees and their biology comes from Aristotle in his “History about animals” and “about the creation of animals” In art the presence of the bee is strong in jewelry, gold plates, sculptures, paintings, in amphorae and goblets. In daily life and nutrition, honey was consumed as is, in cooking or in preparations with other foods such as “apple honey”, “honey honey”, “oxymelo”, “hydromelo”, “wine honey” etc. The mythology of the bee and the references to it and honey is almost inexhaustible and has different versions, but what is certain is its connection with the generative forces of nature and that man recognized it early on. Today we know that 80% of plant pollination is due to these persistent workers who never stop working as one of the most well-organized societies that can be observed in nature.