Honeybee Histories
Explore the rich history of honeybees and beekeeping
Join Dr Matt Phillpott on a journey through the fascinating world of honeybees, exploring their history and significance throughout time.
Thomas Hill Chapter 5 – Another look at bee anatomy
Part 12 in a semi-regular series of essays examining the 1568, A Profitable Instruction of the perfect ordering of Bees, written by Thomas Hill.
What do we know about the Drone Bee Part 1?
Hello and welcome to another Honeybee Histories essay. This week I’m starting a new series of essays for paid subscribers focused on the drone honeybee. I’m hoping to turn this into an e-book sometime in the future and have quite a bit of content on the subject to share.The drone (the male bee) has had an interesting history, which in many ways parallels the uncertainty about the Queen Bee. Often called lazy and for most of history its role (and gender) misunderstood or not recognised at all, the drone is ripe for study! Read more
The importance of Mead in the early Middle Ages
Mead is a type of honey-wine, which was extremely popular in the stories told in the early Middle Ages. What were these stories and why were they important?
Welcome to Honeybee Histories in 2026
Food supplements for Honeybees – Beekeeping in Brazil – a general history of beekeeping
REPOST The Life of the Bee by Maurice Maeterlinck
In this repost of an old essay from 2 May 2024, I explore some of the ideas that Maurice Maeterlinck put forward about honeybees at the start of the 20th century.
The Honeybee Choose your own Adventure Game
In this little game you can make choices for a honeybee leading it through its youngest days to its eventual death. If you reach an end, you can simply refresh the browser page to restart!
