"Food for the gods", work of bees, passion of men

The bees' story is glorious and eternal: zoologists studying prehistorical times are almost certain that these insects first made their appearance on earth at least fifty million years ago. Then it took them forty million years to build up an organised society that could produce honey reserves for its own sustenance. Man probably tasted honey for the first time a million years ago. And he probably loved it: so much so that he could no longer go without it.
For thousands and thousands of years, honey was the only sugar source known to man. The archaeologists are certain that the first 'man-made beehives' appeared in the Neolithic age, at least seven thousand years ago. These were empty trunks broken by lightning. Ancient Egyptians, on the other hand, were already expert bee-keepers. The bas-reliefs and the mural paintings