Honey: Sweets for Pharaohs, Emblaming Fluid and Weapon of War
Fossilized honey bees are believed to be 50 million years old. And for most of those 50 million years, the bees were largely undisturbed. Then along came the primates and finally the most bothersome member of the family, Homo sapiens. Cave paintings found in Spain, India and Africa, dated at between 8000 and 15,000 years ago, depict ancient humans climbing trees to obtain hives, using torches to keep off angry bees. And man has been tricking bees out of their honey ever since.
Archaeologists discovered the remains of an ancient apiary in northern Israel in 2007, thought to be nearly 3000 years old, including thirty intact beehives, made of unbaked clay and straw. Remnants of honeycomb and honey were also found, indicating that Israel truly did have milk and honey.
Hindus, Babylonians, Egyptians, Chinese, Greeks and Romans all used honey in their death rituals. The soul needed sustenance on its journey. Honey cakes were often left with the dead as bribes for the guardians of the land of the dead. In Jaihu, China 9000 year old pottery jars contained a residue of honey mead, the fermented drink made from honey. Earthenware jars containing remnants of honeycomb and honey have been found in Egyptian tombs in the Valley of the Kings, dating back to 2400 B.C. And honey found in Georgia, in the Caucasus Mountains, is at least 5500 years old. Our ancestors had quite a sweet tooth, as well as the ability to turn almost any food substance into an alcoholic beverage.
Most ancient cultures referred to bees as the protectors of the honey, thinking that honey was a natural substance made by trees or the earth and the bees simply guarded the golden syrup. They honored the bee in a multitude of ways. The Hindu Bee Goddess was Istar, who later became Artemis in Greek mythology, and then Diana to the Romans. All of them have the bee as a symbol. Ancient Hittite and Greek coins used bees as a symbol on one side. Zeus was hidden in a cave and raised by bees who fed him their honey. Certain cultures, especially the Toltecs in Mexico, believed that the souls of people became bees when they died. The Egyptians used honey for a sweetener, but also produced mead from it. In addition they would pour vats of honey into the Nile as a sacrifice to insure the coming of the seasonal floods, which sustained the agriculture in the valley.
But honey had more interesting uses as well. Since honey never goes bad and has excellent antibacterial properties, it was used in combination with vinegar and other chemicals as an embalming fluid by several ancient cultures. It helps prevent decomposition of the corpse. In fact Alexander the Great was killed in Babylonia and transported home to Macedonia in a vat of pure honey. Soldiers and wisewomen used honey in poltices for wounds and abscesses and it worked fairly well.
Honey picks up distinct flavors from the flowers that the bees frequent, since chemicals in the pollen are incorporated into the honey. In the Black Sea region of Turkey there grows a variety of rhododendron that produces a compound called grayanotoxin, which causes dizziness, hallucinations, cardiac rhythm irregularities and low blood pressure. In 67 B.C. Roman legions invaded the area. The loyalists dropped pieces of honeycomb, dripping with golden goodness, into the paths of the soldiers, who predictably picked up the sweets and ate them. The Roman army got stoned and were subsequently slaughtered. That particular type of honey has been called 'mad honey'. It was popular in Europe for a time for its hallucinatory effects.
Honey continues to be a favorite food, especially since it has been found to be such a healthy and nutritious food. So we continue to trick the poor bees out of tons of their honey every year.
