A BEE from Mount
Hymettus, the queen of the hive, ascended to Olympus to present Jupiter some honey fresh from her combs.
They were the work of Athenian stone masons of the fourth and fifth centuries before Christ, and they were very simple, work of no great talent but with the exquisite spirit of Athens upon them; time had mellowed the marble to the colour of honey, so that unconsciously one thought of the bees of
Hymettus, and softened their outlines.
Thither the bees came, however, and plunged into the squash-blossoms, as if there were no other squash-vines within a long day's flight, or as if the soil of Hepzibah's garden gave its productions just the very quality which these laborious little wizards wanted, in order to impart the
Hymettus odor to their whole hive of New England honey.
Paul preached from, and another faction claimed that that hill was
Hymettus, and another that it was Pentelicon!
See there the olive-grove of Academe, Plato's retirement, where the Attic bird Trills her thick-warbled notes the summer long; There, flowery hill,
Hymettus, with the sound Of bees' industrious murmur, oft invites To studious musing; there Ilissus rowls His whispering stream.
The modalities with which the growth of the main urban centre (greater Athens and Piraeus) has occurred until now are, to a great extent, determined by the four large mountains of the region surrounding the plain of Attica (Mount Aegaleo, Mount Parnitha, Mount Penteli and Mount
Hymettus).
The rocky mountains surrounding Athens, especially Mount
Hymettus, don't look like they could produce much of anything.
on Mount
Hymettus in eastern Athens when he was burned to death,
from high
Hymettus to the plain, The queen of night asserts her silent reign.
It became extinct in this country in 2000, and Natural England, the Bumblebee Conservation Trust (BBCT), the RSPB and bee charity
Hymettus have launched a scheme to bring the species home.
The project partners are Natural England, the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, the RSPB and
Hymettus. Launching the project earlier this month, Poul Christensen, Natural England's Acting Chair, said: "Bumblebees play a key role in maintaining food supplies - we rely on their ability to pollinate crops and we have to do all we can to provide suitable habitat and to sustain the diversity of bee species.