Ancient paintings on rocks have shown that humans have been collecting honey at least in the last 8000 years. Writings dating back to 2100 BC from Sumerians, Babylonians, Indians and ancient Egyptians mention the use of honey. It is characteristic that during the excavations in the area of Egypt near the pyramids and inside the tomb of the ancient Egyptian king Tutt, quantities of honey and wine were found in clay vessels that were still unchanged 3. Written records from ancient Egypt mention the use of honey as a sweetener for food and as preservative in mummification [4].

In ancient Greece honey was already collected since the Archaic period (800 BC). In ancient Athens, beekeeping was so widespread that Solon had to pass a law to regulate the distances between hives. In ancient Greek mythology, the food of the twelve Gods of Olympus, that made them immortal, was honey, nectar and ambrosia.

The bee (Melissa) in Greek Mythology was the daughter of the king of Crete, Melisseus, and the sister of Amalthea. Melissa was the nurturer of Zeus, when he was an infant and his mother Rhea hid him in the Dikteian Andron in Crete, in order to save him from Saturn, who was eating his children. According to one tradition, when Zeus' father, Saturn, discovered this, transformed Melissa into a worm, but Zeus later turned her into a queen-bee out of gratitude for saving his life [3].