Honey in Ancient Egypt: Beekeeping, Offerings and Tombs

The oldest beekeeping scenes

The earliest known pictures of organized beekeeping come from Egypt. A relief from the sun temple of King Nyuserre, from the Fifth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom around 2400 BCE, shows workers smoking hives, taking out combs and storing honey in jars. Scholar Manal Hammad, writing in the Journal of Association of Arab Universities for Tourism and Hospitality, describes the Egyptians as among the first people known to practice beekeeping.

How Egyptians kept bees

Egyptian hives were long horizontal cylinders of dried mud or clay, stacked in rows like pipes. Beekeepers used smoke to calm the bees and removed combs from the back of the hive. Some hives were floated on boats down the Nile to follow the bloom, an early form of migratory beekeeping.

• Horizontal clay or mud pipe hives
• Stacked in walls of many hives
• Smoke used to calm bees
• Combs pressed and honey stored in sealed jars

The bee as a royal symbol

The bee was the symbol of Lower Egypt, the northern Nile Delta, and one of the pharaoh's titles, often translated as He of the Sedge and the Bee, combined the symbols of Upper and Lower Egypt. The bee hieroglyph appears in royal names from the earliest dynasties.

The tears of Ra

A well-known Egyptian text says that when the sun god Ra wept, his tears fell to earth and became bees, which built honeycomb and made honey and wax. This myth tied bees and honey to the divine and to the sun's life-giving power.

Honey as an offering

Honey was offered to gods in temples and to the dead in tombs. Temple records list large quantities of honey given to deities such as Min, a fertility god. Honey cakes and sweetened bread were common offerings. Bees were also linked to several major gods and appear in the Pyramid Texts.

Honey in Egyptian food

Honey was the main sweetener of ancient Egypt, since cane sugar was unknown. It sweetened breads, cakes, beer and wine. Wealthy households ate dates, figs and honey cakes, while poorer families relied more on dates and fruit syrups for sweetness.

Honey in Egyptian medical papyri

Honey appears in hundreds of recipes in ancient medical texts such as the Ebers and Edwin Smith papyri, often mixed with plants and minerals and applied to wounds. These texts show how Egyptians valued honey, though their ideas of medicine were very different from modern science. Our article on the history of honey in medicine explores this further.

Beeswax uses

Egyptians used beeswax to seal jars, model figures, coat paintings, fix wigs and in the mummification process. Wax was valuable and carefully collected along with honey.

Honey in the tombs

Jars of honey were placed in tombs so the dead would have food in the afterlife. Reports say archaeologists found honey in Egyptian tombs that was still edible after thousands of years. Smithsonian Magazine explains how honey's low moisture and acidity let it last so long when sealed. Our oldest honey guide covers the famous finds.

Honey as wealth

Honey was valuable enough to be used in payments and taxes. Records mention honey given as rations and gifts, and royal estates managed hives. Beekeepers held a respected place in the economy.

Egypt's legacy in beekeeping

Horizontal pipe hives similar to ancient Egyptian ones are still used in parts of Egypt and the Mediterranean. The image of the bee as a symbol of order and royalty passed into later cultures, from Greece and Rome to Napoleon's France. Our article on bee symbolism follows that thread.

Taste an ancient tradition

Honey was the sweetener of the pharaohs. Today, Raw Wildflower Honey, harvested in New York State, offers a similar mixed-blossom character. Pair it with dates and figs for a taste of ancient Egyptian sweets.

The takeaway on honey in ancient Egypt

Honey in ancient Egypt was sacred and practical: offered to gods, placed in tombs, used in food, crafts and remedies, and produced by some of the world's earliest beekeepers. The bee became a lasting symbol of kingship.

Bring history to your table

Serve Raw Wildflower Honey or Raw Orange Blossom Honey with dates and figs. Save with a 3 jar or 6 jar pack of any honey, and orders over $50 ship free. Visit our shop.