Honey - The Roman Empire

Honey - The Roman Empire


In the ancient Roman Empire honey was in great abundance. All Mediterranean states surrounding this glorious sea were veritable honey-lands. During the second Punic War (218—201 B.C.), apiculture was already flourishing. Honey production was practiced at a much earlier date in Greece and the art was conveyed by the Phoenicians and early Greek settlers to the Italian peninsula.

Virgil, the poet laureate of bees, was the greatest glorifier of honey. Book IV of Georgics is a panegyric on "heaven-born" honey. Protinus cerii mellis caelestia dona exsequar, is the first line of Georgics (next I sing of honey, the heavenly ethereal gift). Virgil often bepraises even in the A Aeneid the "sweet-scented honey, fragrant with thyme."

Pliny in the Xlth book of his Historia Naturalis devotes many chapters to honey, "which the bees collect from the sweet juices of flowers, so beneficial to health." From Pliny's very voluminous works (thirty-seven books) we derive much information. This most prolific writer, who quotes no less than twenty-five hundred authors, had great admiration for honey and assembled all the Egyptian, Greek and Latin knowledge on the subject. Pliny also describes the contemporary honey industry in Italy, in old Ger-mania and in the British Isles during the Roman invasion. Pliny refers to eight-feet long "honey-slabs", brought from Alemannia. All other Latin writers speak in high terms of bees and honey. Cicero remarks in De Senectute that he considers the successful production of honey essential to good farming and describes how the slaves collected wild honey in the forests. Foods and drinks, mixed with honey, were seldom missing on the daily menus of ancient Rome. It was a courteous act of the Romans to offer a respected guest some honey, fresh from the hives. The host welcomed his visitors with the words: "Here is honey which God provided for your health." Snails destined for the royal tables were fattened and sweetened with honey.