Re: Bee goddesses?

From: Trotsky <TTrotsky_at_tCYrTBtjrl-T7lSn6VY3TL5RVYXHrvCkEj9rjfBJ4SKO0GKLgrBAV469DT2b_0bZHJ->
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:03:12 +0000


Richard Hayes wrote:
>
>
>
> Finally in the real world the beehive is sometimes used as a symbol of
> hard work, strong community spirit and civic pride (e.g. in Utah and
> in Manchester, England. They may even have a common source, as (iirc)
> many early Mormons hailed from the Northwest of England). Do any
> Gloranthan cities/cultures adopt similar imagery?
>

This originates in medieval Christian mythology. It was believed that all animals served as some kind of moral lesson (which might be good or bad) that God had put there for our edification. Bees served as a moral lesson on the virtues of industriousness and civic loyalty. To quote Bodley 764 (whose author was probably paraphrasing the 2nd-5th century /Physiologus/):

    "They are eager workers at their task of making honey, each with a     specific task and dwelling assigned to him. They live in homes made     with indescribable skill, and make honey using different blossoms.     The fill castles made of wax with their innumerable offspring. They     have an army and kings; they fight battles... Only the bees, among     all creatures, have a shared offspring, a shared dwelling... shared     toil, shared tasks, shared produce of their labour... They choose a     king, create their own people, and although subject to a king are     nonetheless free... But those bees who fail to obey the royal laws     inflict their own punishment on themselves, and die by their own     sting... so no race on Earth serves their king with such reverence     and devotion as the bees, not even the Persians, who have the     harshest laws for their kings subjects."

That seems the sort of belief that at least some Malkioni cultures might share, although one must generally be wary of drawing too many close parallels between Malkionism and Christianity, medieval or otherwise.

-- 
Trotsky
Gamer and Skeptic

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Trotsky's RPG website: http://www.ttrotsky.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
Not a Dead Communist: http://jrevell.blogspot.com/




           

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