“The Wasps” is a Greek satire written in 422 B.C. at a time when Athenian politicians were very litigious.
Elderly jurors, dubbed “the wasps,” could be manipulated by those in authority — something which the playwright, Aristophanes, feared was turning democracy into oligarchy.
Anyway, in the play, the bellicose jurors dressed as wasps as they swarmed to rescue one of their number from captivity.
Presumably, no actual swarming insects were involved in ancient Greek theater — or in the 1909 production of "The Wasps" at Trinity College, Cambridge for which Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote the incidental music.
That said, in the overture to "The Wasps," Vaughan Williams was remarkably accurate in portraying a swarm of agitated insects.
I will not deny that angry wasps are dangerous, and many people have genuine reason to be wary of these insects, but they really are beneficial.
Entomologist Heather Holm, who researched and wrote the book “Wasps,” has learned that wasps inject venom into their insect or spider prey, then carry or drag them back to their nests to feed their young.
Adult wasps live on sweet liquid, such as the nectar from flowers.
Consequently, almost all wasps are extremely valuable, albeit unappreciated, pollinators without which we would be overrun with insect pests.
Social wasps — paper wasps and yellowjackets — make up only 1.5% of all wasps.
Social wasps live in colonies, and they contribute to the environment by keeping insect pests in check, but they crave sweets.
When adults bring insects to their young, the grubs exude a sweet liquid which the adult wasps lap up.
But once the young wasps have matured, the adults must look elsewhere for sweets.
They are attracted to soft drinks, watermelon, cakes and cookies (picnic food), or hummingbird feeders, especially in late summer when they can become problematic.
Almost all wasps are benign.
Social wasps only become hostile when they or their nests are threatened.
But like the so-called wasps of the Greek play or the wasps portrayed by Vaughan Williams, angry wasps become aggressive, rather like, as Aristophanes called out long ago, "litigious politicians and their collaborators."
