Bees in mythology

[5] In Egyptian mythology, bees grew from the tears of the sun god Ra when they landed on the desert sand.

Nambi aided Kintu in this final test by transforming herself into a bee and whispering into his ear to choose the one whose horn she landed upon.

[13] According to Hittite mythology, the god of agriculture, Telipinu, went on a rampage and refused to allow anything to grow and animals would not produce offspring.

The god grew even angrier and it was not until the goddess Kamrusepa (or a mortal priest, according to some references) used a ritual to send his anger to the Underworld that Telipinu was calmed.

To kill Arunasura, she stung him numerous times with the help of innumerable black bees emerging from her body.

[16] In mythology found in Indian, ancient Near East and Aegean cultures, the bee was believed to be the sacred insect that bridged the natural world to the underworld.

After inadvertently causing the death of Eurydice, who stepped upon a snake while fleeing him, her nymph sisters punished him by killing every one of his bees.

Witnessing the empty hives where his bees had dwelt, Aristaeus wept and consulted Proteus who advised him to honor the memory of Eurydice by sacrificing four bulls and four cows.

The Homeric Hymn to Hermes acknowledges that Apollo's gift of prophecy first came to him from three bee-maidens, usually but doubtfully identified with the Thriae, a trinity of pre-Hellenic Aegean bee goddesses.