Honey

Honey in the Ancient World was considered to be a sacred substance with healing powers. It had a high value and was also used as a currency.
The Romans, Ancient Greeks, Ancient Egyptians, Persians, Babylonians and Assyrians were all known to produce and use Honey.
An 8,000 year cave cave painting on the wall of the Cueva de la Arana, Valencia, Spain, shows a man surrounded by bees gathering honey.

Honey had a high value and could also be used as payment.
The symbol of Lower Egypt was a Bee.
In Ancient Egypt, one hundred pots of Honey had the same value as an ox under Pharaoh Seti (c.1290-1279 BCE).
The Romans, on occasion, used Honey instead of Currency to pay Taxes.

Although made of sugar, bacteria cannot survive in honey due to its high acidity, and it acted as a preservative in foods and was also used to embalm the dead.
Honey has medicinal healing properties.
Hippocrates recommended honey as a medicinal cure for healing various ailments .
It was used by the Roman Legions to heal the soldiers wounds.

The Ancient Egyptians made Honey Bread, Honey Beer and Honey wine (Mead).
Wealthy Romans used honey in their cooking.
The Recipes of Apicius recommend using Honey either as an ingredient or as a Glaze.

The Ancient Egyptians used enormous quantities of honey in their sacrifices to the Gods.

The Ancient Greeks poured honey over the graves of the dead.
Bodies of important men in the Ancient world were embalmed in wax and honey to preserve the corpse.
The Ancient Kings of Sparta were embalmed in Honey.
Pythagoras thought honey made people live longer.
Democritus believed a corpse embalmed in Honey would reincarnate, and had himself embalmed in Honey.
The Ancient Romans, Greeks and Egyptians buried Pots of honey with the dead for use as food in the afterlife. Honey, placed in pots buried with the Pharaohs in their Tombs, was found to be still edible.
Herodotus described the Babylonians as burying their dead in Honey, whilst the Assyrians waxed the Body and then covered it in Honey.
Homer describes in the Odyssey (XXIV.68), that Achilles was buried in Honey.
Strabo wrote in volume XIV, that the body of Alexander the Great was placed in a golden coffin full of white honey.

The Ancient Persians used Honey to mummify corpses.
No Sources exist as to how the Ancient Egyptians mummified their Bodies, but it is thought Honey was used as well as wax.

This is secreted from the bees glands and fed to all bee larvae for three days. However, the selected Queen bees are fed purely on Royal jelly until they become mature bees.
The healing properties of Royal Jelly, as well as honey, were known in the Ancient World.

Malta was famous throughout the Ancient World for its Honey. The Roman name for Malta, ‘Melite’ is derived from the Greek word ‘Melis’ and the Latin word ‘Mel’ meaning Honey.
Malta has a distinct strain of Honey Bee called the Maltese Honey Bee which was nurtured in Roman Beehives in Malta.

The Vikings took Honey with them in their Galleys as a supply of food and energy.