Roman Beekeeping: Part 7

Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.

When, therefore, the sites have been arranged, beehives must be constructed in accordance with local conditions. If the place is rich in cork-trees, we shall certainly make the most serviceable hives from their bark, because they are neither cold in winter nor hot in summer; or if it grows plenty of fennel-stalks, with these too, since they resemble the nature of bark, receptacles can be quite as conveniently made by weaving them together. If neither of these materials is at hand, the hives can be made by plaiting withies together; or, if these are not available either, they will have to be made with wood of a tree either hollow or cut up into boards.

Those made of earthenware have the worst qualities of all, since they are burnt by the heat of summer and frozen by the cold of winter. Two kinds of hives remain to be described, those which are either made of dung or built of bricks. Celsus was right in condemning the former because it is very liable to catch fire; the latter he approved, although he made no secret of its chief disadvantage, namely, that if occasion should arise, it cannot be moved to another site. I do not agree with him who thinks that hives of this kind ought to be used in spite of this drawback, for it is not only against the interests of the owner that they should be immovable when he wants to sell them or furnish another site with hives (for these considerations concern the convenience of the owner alone), but the question arises as to what ought to be done for the sake of the bees themselves, when it is advisable that they should be sent to another district because they are suffering from disease or from the barrenness and poverty of the locality and yet cannot be moved for the reason mentioned above—a state of affairs which ought above all things to be avoided.

So, though holding in respect the authority of a learned man, yet, without seeking to set myself up against him, I have not omitted to express my own opinion. For Celsus’ chief anxiety, lest the bees' quarters should be exposed to fire or thieves, can be avoided by building a brick wall round the hives to prevent the plundering of robbers and to give protection against the violence of fire, and, when the hives have to be moved it will be possible to take apart the framework of the structure and move the hives elsewhere.

Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella, On Agriculture, trans. E. S. Forster and Edward H. Heffner, vol. 2 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1954), 443-445.

Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (4-70 CE)

Historic Beekeeping

A collection of historic documents about bees and beekeeping.

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