The Ancient Lands of Honey: Middle East, Egypt, Greece

This discovery provides a tangible link to the Old Testament phrase to the Promised Land flowing with milk and honey (Exodus 3:17).

But honey is also mentioned in other religious texts, such as the Vedas, the Talmud, the New Testament, and the Quran. For example, Hindu gods Vishnu, Krishnu, and Indra were called Madhava, nectar-born ones, and were symbolized by bees. In the Quran, Surah 16 is entitled “The Bees” and commends humans to emulate the industry of bees. Beyond its nutritional value, honey became a spiritual and metaphysical symbol, which affected the collective consciousness of many traditions.

In ancient Greece, the most famous production centre of thyme honey – the finest variety – was Athens. Beehives dating to the mid-sixth century BCE were found in the centre of the city, as well as at its outskirts. Ancient writers even attributed supernatural qualities to Attic honey, believing it could bring long life. Philosophers such as Pythagoras and Democritus – both of whom lived until approximately 90 – claimed that their good health was due to the consumption of honey.

For the first time honey also became the subject of scientific research by the Greek philosopher Aristotle, the first scientific beekeeper, in his compendium Historia Animalium. The physician Hippocrates also established the health benefits of honey, advising the use of vinegar and honey for pain, water and honey for thirst, and a mixture of honey, water, and other substances for fevers. Hippocrates recommended honey for treatment of many other conditions, including baldness, contraception, wounds, eye diseases, and many more. Both honey and the bees played a central role in ancient Greek myths, as symbols of chastity, rebirth, and fertility.

The Romans dealt with beekeeping extensively, organizing it in terms of taxation and achieving high levels of quality, variety, and efficiency. Bees and the beekeeping practices were thoroughly studied by Roman agricultural writers such as Virgil, Varro, Columella, and Pliny the Elder. The physician Pedanius Dioscorides described the characteristics and qualities of the finest honey as sweet and pungent in taste, with a pleasant smell, yellowish in colour, not liquid but somehow ‘sticky’ and fine.

Recipes featuring honey are found in the collection De Re Coquinaria, erroneously attributed to Marcus Gavius Apicius (1st c. BCE). These include honey as a substance for the preparation of beverages, as a meat- and fruit preservative, and as an additive to sauces, usually next to vinegar. Souffles, fruit desserts, pancakes, veal, and tuna dishes all featured honey.

By the end of Classical Antiquity and during the spread of Christianity, honey collection and management were fully organised industries. Mediterranean honey producers sought ways to increase the quantity to be gathered and to improve the honey’s quality. In order to attain these goals, simple but effective practices were applied, such as nomadic beekeeping, in which beekeepers moves hives from place to place to follow the various seasonal plants in bloom.

Another method to improve quality were technical innovations, probably applied for the first time by the beekeepers in ancient Attica, namely vertical rather than horizontal beehives, and circular extension rings adjusted the mouth of horizontal hives.