XVI 

 IN GREECE AND ITALY 



It is to be noted that Greek literature treats mainly of 

 the product of the bee rather than, as in India, of the bee 

 itself; although in Greek mythology, as will be seen, the 

 bee also occupies an indispensable place. 



The honey of Hymettus is the most famous honey in 

 the world. 



It is, as Burroughs says, the classical honey of antiquity 



— only sharing the honor with the honey of Hybla and of 

 Mount Ida. 



Mount Hymettus is in Attica, not far from Athens, and 

 the splendor of that ancient capital was reflected upon 

 the neighboring thyme-covered mountain, illuminating its 

 golden-banded bees as they gathered storied honey for 

 the poets. 



It is not in Attic Hymettus, however, that the bees had 

 their origin. That honor belongs to the neighboring island 

 of Crete, where the race of bees is fabled to have been born 

 in a cavern in a high and all but inaccessible wall of 

 rock on Mount Ida. 



These bees were born to a great end, no less a one than 

 the nourishing of Zeus, the father of the gods. 



Kronos devoured his children as soon as they were born 



— as he still does all the children of earth — and when 

 Zeus came into the world his mother Rhea, desiring to 

 save his life, hid him away from his unnatural father on the 

 island of Crete, where in a holy grotto she bore him, and 



