According to the inscription, large beehive houses 500 (8)
I believe the answer is:
lapidary
'according to the inscription' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'large beehive houses 500' is the wordplay.
'large' becomes 'L' (eg in clothes sizes).
'beehive' becomes 'apiary' (I've seen this before).
'houses' is an insertion indicator.
'500' becomes 'D' (Roman numeral for 500).
'apiary' going around 'd' is 'apidary'.
'l'+'apidary'='LAPIDARY'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for lapidary that I've seen before include "Person who cuts and polishes stones - April day (anag)" , "Dealer in gem-stones" , "A cutter of gem-stones" , "Engraver of gems on April day" , "stone worker" .)