NATURE’S GOLDEN NECTAR 2

Yesterday, we learnt about nature’s golden nectar which is honey. We also learnt how it is extracted and how to differentiate between pure honey and adulterated honey. Today we are going to learn about historical use of honey.

HISTORICAL USE OF HONEY
Honey was one of the important sweetener and healing agent used by mankind for thousands of years. The first evidence of its human use is from an eight thousand (8000) years old painting in a cave in Bicor in the region of Valencia, Spain. It depicts a man climbing lianas while ascending a cliff face and gathering honey from wild honey bees.

First painting of honey

The number of paintings in the past of bees and honey shows how honey was highly valued and considered an important food source by early humans.
In 6,200 BCE, the first written reference to honey was found in a Sumerian tablet which mentions the use of honey as a drug and ointment. It was also used in Egypt as it features frequently in the hieroglyphics which date as far back at least 3000 years.

Ancient Egypt and honey

The Egyptians were the first people to domesticate the honey bee by using clay and stone hives. They used honey as a sweetener, a healing ointment, and for the other domestic uses such as mummifying, ship and boat building and as a binding agent in paint and in metal castings. The Egyptians also offered honeycombs overflowing eith honey as valuable gifts to their gods in a show of devotion and worship. It is said that in the 12th century BC, Rameses III gave an offering of 15 tons of honey to the god of the Nile, Hapi.

Honey and Rameses III

They also believe honey to be the sustenance of life in the afterlife hence, they bury their dead with jars of honey. Archeologists have found pots filled with honey in the tomb of Pharaoh in the city of Thebes and also in the tomb of Tutankhamen. Wedding ceremonies in ancient Egypt never lacked honey which was used to make honey wine or mead. They believed it to bring good luck and happiness to the couples.
This custom passed on to Greco-Roman culture and medieval Europe and gave rise to the popular word HONEYMOON, means period of time spent alone together, especially away, by a newly-married couple.

In ancient Greece, honey was also viewed as an important food and a healing agent. It is said that Pythagoras lived largely on bread and honey. They also used honey to preserve the bodies of thos who had died at some distance from their homes.

Coin of Ephesus with a bee

In ancient Rome, honey was added to wide range of dishes as part of its ingredients. They also used it in wines and meat, fruit and vegetables were sometimes preserved through immersion in honey.

That’s it for today’s session. See you tomorrow for another episode dubbed HONEY AND ANCIENT RELIGIONS