An ancient obol from Macedon, dated between 412 BCE and 350 BCE, shows a bee one side.
Posted on 07/30/2023 8:34:21 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
In 2022, the Royal Australian Mint issued a $2 coin decorated with honeybees. Around 2,400 years earlier, a mint in the kingdom of Macedon had the same idea, creating a silver obol coin with a bee stamped on one side.
Over the centuries between these two events, currency demonstrating a symbolic link between honey and money is surprisingly common.
In a recent study in Australian Coin Review, I trace the bee through numismatic history—and suggest a scientific reason why our brains might naturally draw a connection between the melliferous insects and the abstract idea of value...
Ancient Malta was famous for its honey. The modern 3 Mils coin (1972–81) celebrates this history with images of a bee and honeycomb. According to the information card issued with the coin set, "A bee and honeycomb are shown on the 3 Mils coin, symbolizing the fact that honey was used as currency in Ancient Malta."
In ancient Greece, bees were used on some of the earliest coins made in Europe. A silver Greek obol coin minted in Macedon between 412 BCE and 350 BCE, now housed in the British Museum, shows a bee on one side of the coin.
Bees also feature on coins minted elsewhere in the ancient Greek world, such as a bronze coin minted in Ephesus dated between 202 BCE and 133 BCE.
The use of bees on ancient coins extended for many centuries including widely circulated bronze coins, and new varieties continue to be discovered.
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
I never tasted a bee.
The other GGG topics added since the previous digest ping, alpha sort:
Here are five topics that were pinged at the time (links lead right to the pings, btw), but had the keyword misspelled, so they *may* not have appeared in the respective Digests.
I can kind of see a bee.
The other side depicts mans struggle to survive…..or maybe it’s a wolverine.
Hive tried a bee salad, served of course with honey mustard dressing.
Must be man’s struggle, wolverines were only found in the Americas. ;^)
The Sweetness of Honey and the Sting of Bees:
A Book of Love from the Ancient Mediterranean
by Michelle Louvric
and Nikiforos Doxiadis Mardas
:^) And I’ve had that same problem with onions.
Perhaps a wolverine jumped on the back of a friendly dolphin who carried him there.
Dolphins are nature’s sea taxis.
35 seconds in
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Dayum..You beat me to it.
Bees and Money both spread the pollination and make growth, reproduction and life for everything else possible.
I thought bees were a symbol of industriousness and hard work. . .
although I do see a connection between honey and money, as in "Honey, I need more money!"
Finally!
After 70 years we know "who wrote the book of love?"!
I think it was Ginger, Marianne, and Mrs. Howell...
Let it bee
Let it bee
Let it bee
Let it bee
Macedonian Beatles...thats George on the obol..
Two Bee or not two Bee......that is the question...................
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