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Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Ancient Egypt: Bee-keeping

Source: www.reshafim.org.il
The keeping of bees and the use of honey and wax
The civilization of Ancient Egypt lasted longer than the entire span of what we have come to accept as 'recorded history': over three thousand years. During these millenia the Egyptians developed a multitude of gods and goddesses, as well as esoteric practices that we are still unravelling the meaning of. Besides this, Egypt was the source of the first true monothestic religion, under the pharaoh Akhenaton. This rich tradition was mostly unknown until the early nineteenth century, when the Egyptian language was finally deciphered.

Bee-keeping
When the Sun weeps a second time, and lets fall water from his eyes, it is changed into working bees; they work in the flowers of each kind, and honey and wax are produced instead of water.

The main centre of bee-keeping was Lower Egypt with its extensive irrigated lands full of flowering plants, where the bee was chosen as a symbol for the country. Since earliest times one of the pharaohs' titles was Bee King,[32] and the gods also were associated with the bee. The sanctuary in which Osiris was worshipped, was the Hwt bjt [7], the Mansion of the Bee. The Egyptians had a steady honey supply from their domesticated bees, but they seem to have valued wild honey even more. Honey hunters, often protected by royal archers, would scour the wild wadis for bee colonies.
I appointed for thee archers and collectors of honey, bearing incense to deliver their yearly impost into thy august treasury.

Bee-keeping methods are conservative in this region, well adapted to local conditions, for instance the kind of hives depicted in the reliefs of Rekhmire, apparently made of unbaked clay [20] or possibly woven baskets or mattings covered with mud, have been used in Egypt [18] to this day.[20]
http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/timelines/topics/beekeeping.htm
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