Modern apiculture history in short

Father of modern apiculture is considered the American Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth, who constructed (1851) the European type hives with removable panels. Surely the same type of contraption was used in Ancient Greece as well. In Kithira the ancient apiarists used the “adonaki” which is the ancestor of modern European hives with removable panels.

On the island of Kea, the old apiarists used the “ipseli” a ceramic contraption that resembled a pot that was then positioned upside down. The used to collect the honey by wringing the honey combs with their bare hands, a copious, time consuming and counterproductive task. It was only after World War One that step by step this method was replaced with the European type hives. 

Eva Kanakaki

Graduate in Greek Literature