The Symbolism of the Hornet in the Greek World, in P. Johnston, A. Mastrocinque, S. Papaioannou (eds.), The Role of Animals in ancient Myth and Religion, forthcoming in Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

The Greeks called the hornet Βέμβηξ, a word also used in order to indicate the spinning top. This fact probably depended on the rapid and round trajectories of such animals, which evoke the children's toy. Nevertheless a further similarity between the insect and the object existed. Indeed according to the Greeks the spinning top is an instrument that turns after been whipped (see e. g. Suda s. v. Βέμβηξ). Moreover the ancients linked the word πληγεὶς to the hornet as well. For instance Eutecnius writes that he is aware of the medication required for one who has been wounded by a hornet: “the hornet’s bite (πλῆγμα) is very painful, but he immediately dies when you pull out his sting (οἶστρος)”. Consequently, we can thus ask whether these two spheres of meanings – the beat of the whip and the bite of the hornet – were not infact superimposed by the ancients. My analysis therefore investigates this possibility, whilst also considering the fact that insects such as the hornet – and especially their bites – were believed to be typical means of bringing on divine madness. The most famous example of this theme is perhaps the story of the cow Io, tormented by an οἶστρος, Tabanus Bovinus, an insect which infests cattle. It is interesting to note that such holy insanity, provoked by certain insects, had often a Dionysiac imprint. As Io, the daughters of king Proetus were driven mad by Dionysus or Hera. In this state of madness, believing to be cows, they wandered through Peloponnesian mountains as frenzied Maenads until Melampus managed to heal them. It is not explained what the organic cause of such madness was, and yet the theme of the crazy cows recalls the myth of Io driven insane by a hornet. My aim is to demonstrate how the ancients connected such a rich symbolism to the hornet with deep Dionysiac implications therein.