Honey’s History: Thousands of Years of the Sweet Liquid Nectar
By Theodora Tsevas
This article was inspired by Ohanga Creative and beekeeper Kate Callahan’s local honey.
You can browse Callahan’s products in the Ohanga Market.
Hippocrates and Honey
Hippocrates (460 BC – 370 BC), the father of medicine, said: Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food. Hippocrates was a true believer that nutrition is one of the primary tools that a doctor can use, and one of the main foods that he would treat people with was honey. The sweet liquid nectar produced by bees and found in flowers could relieve all kinds of pain. According to Hippocrates, “honey and pollen cause warmth, clean sores and ulcers, soften hard ulcers of lips, heal carbuncles and running sores.” He would combine vinegar with honey to reduce pain in his patients. In cases of dehydration, he advised the use of mead, also known as honey water or the “nectar of the gods'’. Honey water was also used by Olympic athletes. After competitions, Olympic athletes of any kind supposedly drank honey water to regain their strength. Hippocrates would mix honey, water, and various other ingredients to heal any short febrile illness or even open wounds.
Honey in Ancient Greece
In Ancient Greece, honey was considered a source of poetry and wisdom and bees were thought of as “messengers of the gods.” In theory, no one was really sure how honey was produced or where it came from — it only seemed that it was originating close to bees. That was the reason why ancient Greeks held the belief that honey could be a “star”–– star sent from the heavens down to earth, and which was placed on trees and flowers for the bees to collect. Honey bees were also regarded as a sacred symbol of the goddess Artemis; for this reason, the honey bee was featured on the coin of Ephesus for approximately six centuries. The bee was the symbol of Artemis at Ephesus, just as the owl was the emblem of Athena in Athens.
The use of honey was, of course, not limited to healing properties; ancient Greeks would use it as an ingredient to sweeten cakes or even mix it with cheese. Honey cakes were also very famous and were commonly used as offerings to the gods. A popular treatment in Athens’ health spas was “honey therapy,” and ancient Greeks would also use honey as the main ingredient for face masks.
In ancient Greek mythology, the gods were also huge fans of honey. The foods that granted immortality, namely nectar and ambrosia, were considered to have somewhat close properties to mead and honey.
An ancient Greek amphora depicting four men, Laios, Keleos, Kerberos, and Aigolios, stung by bees, who plundered from the hives the honey on which the infant Zeus was nourished.
Honey in Modern Greece
Today, honey is considered one of the most traditional products of Greece and also one of the top exports of the country. Honey is a product consumed globally, and it can be produced wherever bees are found. In one of the five blue zones, the island of Ikaria in Greece, honey is a very popular food. In fact, Ikarians produce honey and consume it at least twice throughout their day. They usually prefer to stir it in their morning coffee or they consume it prior to dinner. As Hippocrates did, Ikarians also use honey as medicine for the treatment of colds or wounds.
Apart from Ikaria, honey is produced almost everywhere in Greece, but there are a few regions especially notable for their honey production. For example, thyme honey is well-known in the islands of Crete and Kythera. Fir honey is famous in Vytina, which is located in the Peloponnese hills near Tripoli. Also, it is important to mention that approximately thirty-percent of all Greek honey is produced in Halkidiki. The Dodecanese Islands are a significant commercial producer and, lastly, Epirus is known for its peculiar honey, particularly bittersweet chestnut honey.
Benefits of Honey
Over the past years, numerous studies have shown that honey possesses great properties and should be consumed often as part of a balanced diet. According to the Mayo Clinic, the antioxidants in honey can be related to a lower risk of heart diseases. Studies have also found that honey could have antidepressant and anti-anxiety properties or even help with the prevention of memory related conditions. Even today, it can still be used to heal wounds, especially burns, and as a cough suppressant.
Honey has a long history in Ancient Greece as well as in Modern Greece. From then until now, honey has been used as an alternative tool in medicine but also as a nutritious food incorporated into many recipes. Honey’s therapeutic properties, plus its delicious taste and benefits, makes it a one of a kind super-food.
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Images:
"File:Tétradrachme En Argent Représentant Une Abeille Et Un Cerf.Jpg - Wikimedia Commons". Commons.Wikimedia.Org, 2012, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:T%C3%A9tradrachme_en_argent_repr%C3%A9sentant_une_abeille_et_un_cerf.jpg.
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