NGC Ancients: Bees
May 12, 2026
For centuries, the coins of Ephesus celebrated its reputation for honey.
World Bee Day on May 20 is a chance to reflect on an insect that has played a key role in the environment and in human history. Honeybees, which were domesticated thousands of years ago, made regular appearances on coins of the ancient Greek world.
The main source of bees on ancient coins is Ephesus, a city devoted to the goddess Artemis, to whom bees were sacred. In this column we’ll focus on Ephesus, though bees appear as main designs of coins from several other mints in Greece, Crete, Asia Minor, and Phoenicia. Beyond this, they appear as secondary designs — usually issue symbols — on many other coins.
From NGC