Roman Beekeeping: Part 1
"I now come to the care of wild cattle and the rearing of bees, which also, Publius Silvinus, I can justly place among creatures which are fed on the farm,…
From: 4 C.E. To: 70 C.E.
Location: Carsoli, L'Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy
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 It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
I now come to the care of wild cattle and the rearing of bees, which also, Publius Silvinus, I can justly place among creatures which are fed on the farm, since ancient custom placed parks for young hares, wild goats and wild boars near the farm, generally within the view of the owner's dwelling-place, so that the sight of their being hunted within an inclosure might delight the eyes of the proprietor and that when the custom of giving feasts called for game, it might be produced as it were out of store. Also within our own memory accommodation for bees was provided either in holes cut in the actual walls of the farm-building or in sheltered galleries and orchards. So, since we have assigned a reason for the title which we have prefixed to this discourse, let us now proceed to deal, one by one, with the topics which we have proposed.
Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella, On Agriculture, trans. E. S. Forster and Edward H. Heffner, vol. 2 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1954), 421.
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