Bugonia
Sign in to savethumb|300px|Aristeas and bugonia. Virgil's Georgics. Lyon. 1517 Bugonia (; bougoníā) was a folk practice in the ancient Mediterranean region based on the belief that bees were spontaneously generated from a cow's carcass. By extension, it was thought that fumigation with cow dung was beneficial to the health of the hive.
~8 min read
Encyclopedic overview
9 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Origin
- Ancient attestation
- Variations
- Ancient scepticism
- In Judaism
- See also
- References
- Further reading
thumb|300px|Aristeas and bugonia. Virgil's Georgics. Lyon. 1517 Bugonia (; bougoníā) was a folk practice in the ancient Mediterranean region based on the belief that bees were spontaneously generated from a cow's carcass. By extension, it was thought that fumigation with cow dung was beneficial to the health of the hive.
It is possible that bugonia had more currency as a poetic and learned trope than as an actual practice. The process is described by Virgil in the fourth book of the Georgics. Multiple other writers mention the practice.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Bugonia” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.