Melissa. Archeologia dell api e del miele nella Grecia antica. - GIUMAN, M.,

Roma, 2008. XV,287,23,XXIIIp. ills.(B&W photographs and line drawings). Paperback. Series: Archeologica, 148.Antiquarian Titel: Melissa. Archeologia dell api e del miele nella Grecia antica. Auteur: GIUMAN, M.,
'This book contains an almost overwhelming number of ancient sources on bees, honey, and wax. Some themes are linked in more tenuous ways than others, and some are considered from multiple viewpoints. Iconographic evidence is introduced on occasion, but information about the technology and practice of beekeeping in antiquity is lacking. The title is thus misleading; this is more a book about ancient attitudes toward bees as expressed in culture, myth, and literature than the archaeology of beekeeping. For this topic, one should still turn to the publications of Crane (e.g., The Archaeology of Beekeeping [London 1983]). With this slant in mind, however, one may still appreciate Giuman?s volume, and one takes from it a clearer understanding of how the ancients viewed bees: perplexing, mysterious, enigmatic yet compelling, associated with heroes and deities, connected with death and rebirth?practical creatures who furnished necessary honey and wax. The mystery of the bee in antiquity has not been solved, but Giuman?s book does much to illuminate its often complex and multifaceted meaning.' (JANE E. FRANCIS in American Journal of Archaeology, 2010). From the library of Prof. Carl Deroux.