HONEY CONSUMPTION AND UTILIZATION IN LATE ANTIQUE EGYPT | ||||
Journal of the General Union of Arab Archaeologists | ||||
Article 4, Volume 10, Issue 2, June 2025, Page 60-81 PDF (2.67 MB) | ||||
Document Type: Original Article | ||||
DOI: 10.21608/jguaa2.2024.262656.1167 | ||||
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Author | ||||
Mona Hassan Ahmed Sawy ![]() | ||||
Assiut University | ||||
Abstract | ||||
استهلاك العسل واستخدامه في مصر القديمةالمتأخرة[Ar] يُعد عسل النحل (Api mellifera) من أغلى واثمن العناصر الطبيعية التي كانت تستخدم باستمرار منذ عصور ما قبل التاريخ وحتى الآن. ويعود تاريخ استخدام العسل إلى تاريخ طويل جدًا، ففي عصر الأسرات، كان يُعتبر العسل «دموع إله الشمس«، وقد حظي بتقدير كبير نظرًا لخصائصه الغذائية والطبية. وقد تم استهلاك العسل بطرق مختلفة، بما في ذلك الأغراض الطبية والطهي والطقوس الدينية. ولا يزال الاستخدام نفسه معروفاً في مصر البيزنطية ومصر القديمة المتأخرة من خلال النصوص القبطية التي تذكر استخدام العسل في الطعام والشراب والعلاجات الطبية. أسعى هنا إلى تقديم تحليل لأهم أنواع العسل، مقارنة بنظيراتها المصرية القديمة. يهدف هذا البحث إلى تسليط الضوء على أنواع العسل المختلفة وأوعيته ومقاييسه. وعلاوة على ذلك، تعرض الألقاب والمهن والأسماء القبطية المرتبطة بالعسل. وعلاوة على ذلك، تتناول هذه الورقة البحثية النصوص غير المنشورة التي تحتوي على معلومات عن العسل. من خلال هذا البحث، أريد أن أتحرى كيف ولماذا تطور النطاق الاقتصادي لتربية النحل في مصر القديمة، وكذلك كيف انعكس هذا التطور في تربية النحل والثقافة المادية المتعلقة بالنحل والألقاب والتجارة في مصر ما بعد الفرعونية ومصر القديمة المتأخرة. ستتم مناقشة سلوك ونوع خلية النحل المصري، وكذلك تطور تربية النحل في فترة ما قبل الأسرات حتى عصر الدولة الحديثة بإيجاز من أجل تمهيد الطريق للمناقشة الرئيسية. ستكون الموضوعات الرئيسية للمناقشة هي التجارة والألقاب والثقافة المادية لمنتجات النحل في مصر ما بعد الفرعونية ومصر القديمة المتأخرة. [En]Bee honey (Api mellifera) is one of the most cherished and valuable natural substances that has been in constant usage since prehistoric times until the present day. The use of honey has a very long history; in the dynastic period, it was considered the «tears of the sun god» and was appreciated for its nutritional and medicinal properties. Honey has been used for various reasons, e.g., for medicinal purposes, cooking and religious rituals. The same use continued in Byzantine and Late Antique Egypt, as recorded in the Coptic texts, which mentioned the use of honey in food, drinks, and medical remedies. I endeavor to present an analysis of the most important types of honey in the Late Antique period, in comparison with ancient Egyptian counterparts. This paper aims to highlight the various kinds of honey, receptacles, and measures of honey. Moreover, it presents Coptic titles, professions, and names associated with honey. It presents unpublished texts that provide information about honey. With this research, I want to investigate how and why the economic scope of apiculture in ancient Egypt evolved and the impact of this evolution on beekeeping and bee-related material culture, including titles, and trade throughout post-Pharaonic and late Antique Egypt. The behavior and hive type of the Egyptian bee species, as well as the development of beekeeping from the predynastic until the New Kingdom, are briefly discussed in order to set the stage for the main debate. The primary topics of discussion are the trade, titles, and material culture of bee products in post-Pharaonic and late Antique Egypt. | ||||
Keywords | ||||
Honey; honeycomb; wax; Coptic; medicine; pharmacy; ritual; remedy; ostraca | ||||
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