Bugonia
Encyclopedia
In the ancient Mediterranean region, bugonia or bougonia was a ritual
based on the belief that bee
s were spontaneously generated
from a cow's carcass
, although it is possible that the ritual had more currency as a poetic and learned trope
than as an actual practice.
Geoponica
:
The story of Aristaeus
was an archetype of this ritual, serving to instruct bee keepers on how to recover from the loss of their bees. By extension, it was thought that fumigation with cow dung
was beneficial to the health of the hive.
Different variations are attested, such as simply burying the cow, or covering the corpse with mud or dung. Another variation states that use of the rumen
alone is sufficient.
In Ancient Egypt
the ox would be buried with its horns
projecting above the surface of the ground. When severed, bees would emerge from the base of the horns.
Bugonia is described twice in the second half of Virgil's Georgics and frames the Aristaeus
epyllion in the second half. The first description, opening the second half of the fourth book, describes a 'traditional' form of the ritual, followed by the tale of Aristaeus, who after losing his bees, descends to the home of his mother, the nymph Cyrene, where he is given instructions on how to restore his colonies. He must capture the seer, Proteus
, and force him to reveal which divine spirit he angered. Proteus changes into many forms but is bound at last and recounts how he caused the death of Eurydice
, thus angering the nymphs. the ritual demanded of Aristaeus by Cyrene upon his return is markedly different. He is to sacrifice four bulls, four heifers, a black sheep and a calf in an open glen. This second version served as the climax of a large work so may be based more on the traditional Roman sacrificial ritual than bugonia itself in order to close the Georgics in a more symbolically appropriate way. Thus the first version can reflect man's relation to the gods in the Golden Age
and the later the current relation.
"βοῦς", meaning "ox
" and "γονή" meaning "progeny
". Furthermore the expressions "bugenès melissae" and "taurigenae apes" meant "oxen-born bees" and the ancient Greeks would sometimes simply call honey bees "bugenès" or "taurigenae".
The process is described by Virgil
in the fourth book of the Georgics
. Many other writers mention the practice.
In the Hermetic
Cyranides
it is reported that worm
s are born after one week and bees after three weeks.
Florentinus
of the Geoponica reports the process as a proven and obvious fact:
never mentions bugonia and dismisses generation of bees from other animals. Furthermore, he is able to distinguish the castes of drone
, worker
, and "king"
so he would certainly have been able to distinguish bees from their mimics. Later authors mention bugonia in commentaries on Aristotle's Physics. Archelaus
calls bees the "factitious progeny of a decaying ox". Celsus
and Columella
are recorded as having opposed the practice.
in the first German book of natural history claimed that the bees are born from the skin
and the stomach
of an ox. Michael Herren gives a detailed description of bugonia drawn from Geoponica. Johannes Colerus whose book constituted the book of reference for many generations of apiarists expresses the same belief in bugonia. The method appears even in European apiculture books of the 1700s.
, where Samson
puts forward the riddle of "out of the strong came forth sweetness," referring to a swarm of bees found inside a dead lion
The bugonia belief is also reported in the Jerusalem Talmud
and the Babylonian Talmud.
Philo
offers this origin of bees as a possible reason why honey is forbidden as a sacrifice to Yaweh.
One explanation claims that any of the numerous Batesian mimics of bees with scavenger
larva
were mistaken for bees ("footless at first, anon with feet and wings"). More specifically, the hoverfly
Eristalis tenax
has received particular attention. While not providing honey, these flies would have been productive pollinators.
Others argue that bee keepers would have understood that flies do not produce honey and give the explanation that Apis mellifera (western honey bee) resorts to any cavity, and in particular cavities of trees and rocks, but also in skulls and in thoracic cavities of large animal carcasses in which to construct a nest. There is one, possibly apocryphal, attestation of actual usage of a man's skull by wasps.
The story of Samson and the bees is celebrated on tins of Tate & Lyle
golden syrup
.
William Shakespeare
knew of bugonia as he says in Henry IV
: "Tis seldom when the bee doth leave her comb, in the dead carrion".
Ritual
A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....
based on the belief that bee
Bee
Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants, and are known for their role in pollination and for producing honey and beeswax. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila...
s were spontaneously generated
Spontaneous generation
Spontaneous generation or Equivocal generation is an obsolete principle regarding the origin of life from inanimate matter, which held that this process was a commonplace and everyday occurrence, as distinguished from univocal generation, or reproduction from parent...
from a cow's carcass
Carcass
Carcass may refer to:*Cadaver of a human, or carrion of an animal.*Carcass , a death metal/grindcore band*Carcass , a type of incendiary ammunition designed to be fired from a cannon, three ships of the Royal Navy...
, although it is possible that the ritual had more currency as a poetic and learned trope
Trope (literature)
A literary trope is the usage of figurative language in literature, or a figure of speech in which words are used in a sense different from their literal meaning...
than as an actual practice.
Description
A detailed description of the bugonia process can be found in byzantineByzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
Geoponica
Geoponica
The Geoponica is a twenty-book collection of agricultural lore, compiled during the 10th century in Constantinople for the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus...
:
Build a house, ten cubits high, with all the sides of equal dimensions, with one door, and four windows, one on each side; put an ox into it, thirty months old, very fat and fleshy; let a number of young men kill him by beating him violently with clubs, so as to mangle both flesh and bones, but taking care not to shed any blood; let all the orifices, mouth, eyes, nose etc. be stopped up with clean and fine linen, impregnated with pitch; let a quantity of thyme be strewed under the reclining animal, and then let windows and doors be closed and covered with a thick coating of clay, to prevent the access of air or wind. Three weeks latter let the house be opened, and let light and fresh air get access to it, except from the side from which the wind blows strongest. After eleven days you will find the house full of bees, hanging together in clusters, and nothing left of the ox but horns, bones and hair.
The story of Aristaeus
Aristaeus
A minor god in Greek mythology, which we read largely through Athenian writers, Aristaeus or Aristaios , "ever close follower of the flocks", was the culture hero credited with the discovery of many useful arts, including bee-keeping; he was the son of Apollo and the huntress Cyrene...
was an archetype of this ritual, serving to instruct bee keepers on how to recover from the loss of their bees. By extension, it was thought that fumigation with cow dung
Cow dung
Cow dung is the waste product of bovine animal species. These species include domestic cattle , bison , yak and water buffalo. Cow dung is the undigested residue of plant matter which has passed through the animal's gut. The resultant faecal matter is rich in minerals...
was beneficial to the health of the hive.
Variations
The idea that wasps are born of the corpses of horses was often described alongside bugonia.Different variations are attested, such as simply burying the cow, or covering the corpse with mud or dung. Another variation states that use of the rumen
Rumen
The rumen, also known as a paunch, forms the larger part of the reticulorumen, which is the first chamber in the alimentary canal of ruminant animals. It serves as the primary site for microbial fermentation of ingested feed...
alone is sufficient.
In Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
the ox would be buried with its horns
Horn (anatomy)
A horn is a pointed projection of the skin on the head of various animals, consisting of a covering of horn surrounding a core of living bone. True horns are found mainly among the ruminant artiodactyls, in the families Antilocapridae and Bovidae...
projecting above the surface of the ground. When severed, bees would emerge from the base of the horns.
Bugonia is described twice in the second half of Virgil's Georgics and frames the Aristaeus
Aristaeus
A minor god in Greek mythology, which we read largely through Athenian writers, Aristaeus or Aristaios , "ever close follower of the flocks", was the culture hero credited with the discovery of many useful arts, including bee-keeping; he was the son of Apollo and the huntress Cyrene...
epyllion in the second half. The first description, opening the second half of the fourth book, describes a 'traditional' form of the ritual, followed by the tale of Aristaeus, who after losing his bees, descends to the home of his mother, the nymph Cyrene, where he is given instructions on how to restore his colonies. He must capture the seer, Proteus
Proteus
In Greek mythology, Proteus is an early sea-god, one of several deities whom Homer calls the "Old Man of the Sea", whose name suggests the "first" , as protogonos is the "primordial" or the "firstborn". He became the son of Poseidon in the Olympian theogony In Greek mythology, Proteus (Πρωτεύς)...
, and force him to reveal which divine spirit he angered. Proteus changes into many forms but is bound at last and recounts how he caused the death of Eurydice
Eurydice
Eurydice in Greek mythology, was an oak nymph or one of the daughters of Apollo . She was the wife of Orpheus, who loved her dearly; on their wedding day, he played joyful songs as his bride danced through the meadow. One day, a satyr saw and pursued Eurydice, who stepped on a venomous snake,...
, thus angering the nymphs. the ritual demanded of Aristaeus by Cyrene upon his return is markedly different. He is to sacrifice four bulls, four heifers, a black sheep and a calf in an open glen. This second version served as the climax of a large work so may be based more on the traditional Roman sacrificial ritual than bugonia itself in order to close the Georgics in a more symbolically appropriate way. Thus the first version can reflect man's relation to the gods in the Golden Age
Golden Age
The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology and legend and refers to the first in a sequence of four or five Ages of Man, in which the Golden Age is first, followed in sequence, by the Silver, Bronze, and Iron Ages, and then the present, a period of decline...
and the later the current relation.
Etymology
Bougonia comes from the GreekGreek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
"βοῦς", meaning "ox
Ox
An ox , also known as a bullock in Australia, New Zealand and India, is a bovine trained as a draft animal. Oxen are commonly castrated adult male cattle; castration makes the animals more tractable...
" and "γονή" meaning "progeny
Progeny
Progeny can refer to:*A genetic descendant or offspring*An academic progeny Other uses*Progeny Linux Systems*Progeny - an episode of the television series Stargate Atlantis...
". Furthermore the expressions "bugenès melissae" and "taurigenae apes" meant "oxen-born bees" and the ancient Greeks would sometimes simply call honey bees "bugenès" or "taurigenae".
Ancient attestation
Perhaps the earliest mention is by Nicander of Colophon..The process is described by Virgil
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
in the fourth book of the Georgics
Georgics
The Georgics is a poem in four books, likely published in 29 BC. It is the second major work by the Latin poet Virgil, following his Eclogues and preceding the Aeneid. It is a poem that draws on many prior sources and influenced many later authors from antiquity to the present...
. Many other writers mention the practice.
In the Hermetic
Hermetic
* Hermeticism, a magical and religious movement stemming from the teachings of Hermes Trismegistus* Hermeticism , a literary movement in poetry started in Italy* Hermetics, the deliberate use of esoteric imagery...
Cyranides
Cyranides
The Cyranides is a compilation of Hermetic magico-medical works in Greek first put together in the 4th century. A Latin translation also exists. It has been described as a "farrago" and a texte vivant, owing to the complexities of its transmission: it has been abridged, rearranged, and supplemented...
it is reported that worm
Worm
The term worm refers to an obsolete taxon used by Carolus Linnaeus and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck for all non-arthropod invertebrate animals, and stems from the Old English word wyrm. Currently it is used to describe many different distantly-related animals that typically have a long cylindrical...
s are born after one week and bees after three weeks.
Florentinus
Florentinus
Florentinus was a Roman politician who served as Urban prefect of Rome from 395 to 397 AD.-Career:A native of Augusta Treverorum, Florentinus was possibly a Notarius around 379/380 AD. He was the Comes sacrarum largitionum in the west from 385 to 386 and the Quaestor sacri palatii in 395...
of the Geoponica reports the process as a proven and obvious fact:
If any further evidence is necessary to enhance the faith in things already proved, you may behold that carcases, decaying from the effect of time and tepid moisture, change into small animals. Go, and bury slaughtered oxen -- the fact is known from experience -- the rotten entrails produce flower-sucking bees, who, like their parents, roam over pastures, bent upon work, and hopeful of the future. A buried war-horse produces the hornet.
Scepticism
Pre-dating Nicander by a century, AristotleAristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
never mentions bugonia and dismisses generation of bees from other animals. Furthermore, he is able to distinguish the castes of drone
Drone (bee)
Drones are male honey bees. They develop from eggs that have not been fertilized, and they cannot sting, since the worker bee's stinger is a modified ovipositor .-Etymology:...
, worker
Worker bee
A Worker bee is any female eusocial bee that lacks the full reproductive capacity of the colony's queen bee; under most circumstances, this is correlated to an increase in certain non-reproductive activities relative to a queen, as well...
, and "king"
Queen bee
The term queen bee is typically used to refer to an adult, mated female that lives in a honey bee colony or hive; she is usually the mother of most, if not all, the bees in the hive. The queens are developed from larvae selected by worker bees and specially fed in order to become sexually mature...
so he would certainly have been able to distinguish bees from their mimics. Later authors mention bugonia in commentaries on Aristotle's Physics. Archelaus
Archelaus
- Historical persons :*Archelaus , pupil of Anaxagoras, 5th century BC*Archelaus I of Macedon, reigned 413-399 BC*Archelaus , fought in the First, Second and Third Mithridatic Wars...
calls bees the "factitious progeny of a decaying ox". Celsus
Celsus
Celsus was a 2nd century Greek philosopher and opponent of Early Christianity. He is known for his literary work, The True Word , written about by Origen. This work, c. 177 is the earliest known comprehensive attack on Christianity.According to Origen, Celsus was the author of an...
and Columella
Columella
Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella is the most important writer on agriculture of the Roman empire. Little is known of his life. He was probably born in Gades , possibly of Roman parents. After a career in the army , he took up farming...
are recorded as having opposed the practice.
Later sources
Pietro de' Crescenzi refers to Bugonia circa 1304. In 1475, Konrad of MegenbergKonrad of Megenberg
Konrad of Megenberg was a German Catholic scholar, and a versatile writer.- Biography :...
in the first German book of natural history claimed that the bees are born from the skin
Skin
-Dermis:The dermis is the layer of skin beneath the epidermis that consists of connective tissue and cushions the body from stress and strain. The dermis is tightly connected to the epidermis by a basement membrane. It also harbors many Mechanoreceptors that provide the sense of touch and heat...
and the stomach
Stomach
The stomach is a muscular, hollow, dilated part of the alimentary canal which functions as an important organ of the digestive tract in some animals, including vertebrates, echinoderms, insects , and molluscs. It is involved in the second phase of digestion, following mastication .The stomach is...
of an ox. Michael Herren gives a detailed description of bugonia drawn from Geoponica. Johannes Colerus whose book constituted the book of reference for many generations of apiarists expresses the same belief in bugonia. The method appears even in European apiculture books of the 1700s.
In Abrahamic religions
A similar story of the creation of bees is seen in the Book of JudgesBook of Judges
The Book of Judges is the seventh book of the Hebrew bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its title describes its contents: it contains the history of Biblical judges, divinely inspired prophets whose direct knowledge of Yahweh allows them to act as decision-makers for the Israelites, as...
, where Samson
Samson
Samson, Shimshon ; Shamshoun or Sampson is the third to last of the Judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Tanakh ....
puts forward the riddle of "out of the strong came forth sweetness," referring to a swarm of bees found inside a dead lion
Lion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
The bugonia belief is also reported in the Jerusalem Talmud
Jerusalem Talmud
The Jerusalem Talmud, talmud meaning "instruction", "learning", , is a collection of Rabbinic notes on the 2nd-century Mishnah which was compiled in the Land of Israel during the 4th-5th century. The voluminous text is also known as the Palestinian Talmud or Talmud de-Eretz Yisrael...
and the Babylonian Talmud.
Philo
Philo
Philo , known also as Philo of Alexandria , Philo Judaeus, Philo Judaeus of Alexandria, Yedidia, "Philon", and Philo the Jew, was a Hellenistic Jewish Biblical philosopher born in Alexandria....
offers this origin of bees as a possible reason why honey is forbidden as a sacrifice to Yaweh.
Origin of the belief
Scavenger
Scavenging is both a carnivorous and herbivorous feeding behavior in which individual scavengers search out dead animal and dead plant biomass on which to feed. The eating of carrion from the same species is referred to as cannibalism. Scavengers play an important role in the ecosystem by...
larva
Larva
A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
were mistaken for bees ("footless at first, anon with feet and wings"). More specifically, the hoverfly
Hoverfly
Hoverflies, sometimes called flower flies or syrphid flies, make up the insect family Syrphidae. As their common name suggests, they are often seen hovering or nectaring at flowers; the adults of many species feed mainly on nectar and pollen, while the larvae eat a wide range of foods...
Eristalis tenax
Eristalis tenax
Eristalis tenax is a European hoverfly, also known as the drone fly . It has been introduced into North America and is widely established....
has received particular attention. While not providing honey, these flies would have been productive pollinators.
Others argue that bee keepers would have understood that flies do not produce honey and give the explanation that Apis mellifera (western honey bee) resorts to any cavity, and in particular cavities of trees and rocks, but also in skulls and in thoracic cavities of large animal carcasses in which to construct a nest. There is one, possibly apocryphal, attestation of actual usage of a man's skull by wasps.
In popular culture
Tate & Lyle
Tate & Lyle plc is a British-based multinational agribusiness. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index as of 20 June 2011...
golden syrup
Golden syrup
Golden syrup is a pale treacle. It is a thick, amber-colored form of inverted sugar syrup, made in the process of refining sugar cane juice into sugar, or by treatment of a sugar solution with acid. It is used in a variety of baking recipes and desserts. It has an appearance similar to honey, and...
.
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
knew of bugonia as he says in Henry IV
Henry IV
Henry IV may refer to:* Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor , King of The Romans and Holy Roman Emperor* Henry IV, Duke of Brabant * Henry IV Probus , Duke of Wrocław* Heinrich IV Dusemer von Arfberg Henry IV may refer to:* Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor (1050–1106), King of The Romans and Holy Roman...
: "Tis seldom when the bee doth leave her comb, in the dead carrion".
See also
- AristaeusAristaeusA minor god in Greek mythology, which we read largely through Athenian writers, Aristaeus or Aristaios , "ever close follower of the flocks", was the culture hero credited with the discovery of many useful arts, including bee-keeping; he was the son of Apollo and the huntress Cyrene...
- Bee (mythology)Bee (mythology)The bee, found in Ancient Near East and Aegean cultures, was believed to be the sacred insect that bridged the natural world to the underworld...
- Bull (mythology)Bull (mythology)The worship of the Sacred Bull throughout the ancient world is most familiar to the Western world in the biblical episode of the idol of the Golden Calf. The Golden Calf after being made by the Hebrew people in the wilderness of Sinai, were rejected and destroyed by Moses and his tribe after his...
- BucraniumBucraniumBucranium, plural bucrania , is the word for the skull of an ox. It is also an architectural term used to describe a common form of carved decoration in Classical architecture, used to fill the metopes between the triglyphs of the frieze of Doric temples...
- GeorgicsGeorgicsThe Georgics is a poem in four books, likely published in 29 BC. It is the second major work by the Latin poet Virgil, following his Eclogues and preceding the Aeneid. It is a poem that draws on many prior sources and influenced many later authors from antiquity to the present...