Honey

While reading a book on an unrelated subject, the following macabre incident was related. The long-lasting preservative powers of honey are well known, even legendary.

"When Alexander the Great was killed in his last campaign, his body was placed in a gold coffin filled with honey for transport home and burial, Given the high cost of honey, it's not obvious whether the preservative or the ornate coffin was the more outrageous example of conspicuous consumption. This kind of outlay on dead rulers is not limited to the Greeks and the pharaohs of Egypt: in England, the first four Earls of Southampton were also buried in honey-filled caskets -- honey that was still free flowing and sweet , according to the workmen who excavated the containers centuries later .... before discovering what lay inside."