Golden plaques representing bee-women, dating to the VII century B.C.
and now in the British Museum, London. The bees are sometimes associated
with diverse goddesses and, according to some versions, was entrusted
to them the task of nursing with their honey the child Zeus, concealed
in a cave of the Mount Ida, on the island of Crete. A particular bond
exists between Artemis and the bees, it seems, indeed, that the priestesses
of the goddess who officiated in the sanctuary of Ephesus were called
“bees”, in the same way of the girls that at Brauron participated
in the initiation rites and were called “she-bears” (Ferguson,
1989, p. 52).
[Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Plaque_bee-goddess_BM_GR1860.4-123.4.jpg]