Terraria orichalcum ore. Mysterious orichalcum. The emergence of orichalcum ore

The color of the alloy resembles the mythical orichalcum, which is mentioned in Plato's work on Atlantis.

On board a ship that sank off the coast of Sicily, divers found 47 ingots of a mysterious reddish-golden metal, which, according to scientists, can most likely be orichalcum, a metal from the mythical Atlantis.

Also recovered from the ship were weapons, an anchor, the remains of amphoras and several small containers used to transport precious oils. Most likely, it was a merchant ship carrying goods, and the weapons and armor were used by the ship's crew to protect themselves from pirate attacks. And in general, it would have been an ordinary ship, if not for these ingots of metal, which turned out to be an alloy of copper (about 75-80%), zinc (15-20%) and a small amount of impurities.

The color of the alloy resembles the mythical orichalcum, which is mentioned in Plato's work about Atlantis - a sunken island where an extremely advanced civilization lived. In the Critias dialogue, Plato writes that the city of the Atlanteans was surrounded by three walls, and the last of them, around the acropolis, was of orichalcum and "shone with a fiery shimmer." Also inside the temple of Poseidon, the supreme deity of the Atlanteans, there was a stele of orichalcum, and the price of the metal was “second only to gold”.

However, judging by the chemical composition, orichalcum may not be such an exotic alloy as it once seemed in antiquity, and the legends of Atlantis may be confirmed in the near future.

Orichalcum or avrychalk is a mysterious metal or alloy mentioned by ancient Greek authors. Even in the seventh century BC. e. Hesiod reports that the shield of Hercules was made from orichalcum. In one of the Homeric hymns (c. 630 BC), the corresponding epithet is applied to the curls of Aphrodite.

Flavius Josephus mentions orichalcum in Antiquities of the Jews, reporting that the sacred vessels in Solomon's temple were made of this metal. According to the pseudo-Aristotelian treatise De mirabilibus auscultationibus, this radiant metal was obtained by smelting copper by adding kalmium, a special breed that was brought from the shores of the Black Sea. According to Pliny the Elder, this metal fell into disuse when its mines were depleted. In modern times, Francis Bacon wrote about orichalcum in The New Atlantis.

Subsequently, vague ideas about orichalcum as an ancient substance accessible only to the elite were repeatedly used for their own purposes by esoteric societies and religious sects. Thus, the brother of Joseph Smith, founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Saints last days, stated that the golden plates (tablets) of Mormonism were made of an alloy of gold and copper. Further development this theme has received in science fiction literature and in computer games.

Orichalcum in Plato

Most detailed description Orichalcum is given by Plato in the Critias dialogue. According to Critias, this substance was in use in Atlantis. " The island itself provided most of the necessities for life, first of all, any kind of fossil hard and fusible metals, including what is now known only by name, but then existed in reality: native orichalcum, extracted from the bowels of the earth in various places on the island and in value then second only to gold.»

Critias goes on to say that " the relations of the Atlanteans to each other in the matter of government were arranged in accordance with the Poseidon prescriptions, as ordered by the law written by the first kings on the orichalcum stele, which stood in the center of the island - inside the temple of Poseidon". Besides, " they covered the walls around the outer earthen ring of the citadel around the entire circumference in copper, applying the metal in molten form, the wall of the inner rampart was covered with tin casting, and the wall of the acropolis itself was covered with orichalcum, emitting a fiery brilliance».

Orichalcum after Plato

Subsequently, vague ideas about orichalcum as an ancient substance accessible only to the elite were repeatedly used for their own purposes by esoteric societies and religious sects. So, the brother of Joseph Smith, founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, stated that the golden plates (tablets) of Mormonism were made of an alloy of gold and copper. This theme was further developed in science fiction literature and in computer games.

What is orichalcum?

ancient greek word ὀρείχαλκος made up of basic words όρος "mountain" and χαλκός "copper" and can be translated as "mountain copper". Latin authors erroneously transliterated the word as aurichalcum, literally "gold-copper". Based on this reading, the identification of orichalcum with various gold and copper alloys spread. In the Homeric hymns, the word "orichalcum" is usually translated as "yellow copper" or "yellow copper jewelry".

A common view in popular literature is that orichalcum is either brass or aluminium. Meanwhile, brass was well known to the Greeks of the classical period and by no means “only in name”, as Plato writes about orichalcum. Aluminum was first obtained in the nineteenth century. Hardly more reliable are comparisons of Platonic metal with chalcopyrite, jade, amber and other minerals and ornamental stones.

Literature

Zhirov N.F. Atlantis. The main problems of atlantology. - Moscow: Veche, 2004.
// Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.

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See what "Orichalcum" is in other dictionaries:

Orichalcum, ο̉ρίχαλκον, mountain ore, usually copper, but among the most ancient Roman writers, for example, Plautus, was mixed with aurichalcum and was considered an expensive metal ... Real Dictionary of Classical Antiquities

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Hymns (c. 630 BC) the corresponding epithet is applied to the curls of Aphrodite.

Orichalcum in Plato

The most detailed description of orichalcum is given by Plato in the Critias dialogue. According to Critias, this substance was in use in Atlantis. " The island itself provided most of the necessities for life, first of all, any kind of fossil hard and fusible metals, including what is now known only by name, but then existed in reality: native orichalcum, extracted from the bowels of the earth in various places on the island and in value then second only to gold.»

Orichalcum after Plato

Subsequently, vague ideas about orichalcum as an ancient substance accessible only to the elite were repeatedly used for their own purposes by esoteric societies and religious sects. Thus, the brother of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints, declared that the golden plates (tablets) of Mormonism were made of an alloy of gold and copper. This theme was further developed in science fiction literature and in computer games.

Identification versions

A common view in popular literature is that orichalcum is native brass or aluminium. Meanwhile, the brass alloy itself was well known to the Greeks of the classical period and by no means “only in name”, as Plato writes about orichalcum, while the deposits of native brass were all exhausted during the period of classical Greece. Aluminum was first obtained in the nineteenth century - although there are apocryphal tales of a bowl once presented to Emperor Tiberius as a gift from "an incredibly light metal obtained from clay." Hardly more reliable are comparisons of Platonic metal with chalcopyrite, jade, amber and other minerals and ornamental stones.

In numismatics orichalcum called bronze

Orichalcum appears frequently in books, films, and games set in fantasy universes. So, in the series of games The Elder Scrolls, orichalcum is used to make orc armor.

And in the game Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, orichalcum plays a significant role. Here, the orichalcum acts as a kind of fuel, with the help of which the ancient Atlanteans, being technologically very advanced, set in motion their many powerful and great machines and mechanisms. And the Nazis, with whom Indiana Jones competed in this race, intended to use orichalcum for military purposes: to build engines for tanks, trucks and planes, and also to stuff bombs with them.

Exploring the shipwreck of the 6th century BC, archaeologists found ingots of a brass alloy, the composition of which differs from other known ancient samples. Scientists suggest that this is orichalcum, which was previously known only from the writings of ancient authors.

Literally translated, the name orichalcum (ὀρείχαλκος) means "mountain copper". The most famous mention of orichalcum is contained in the Platonic dialogue Critias (4th century BC), in the description of Atlantis: hard and fusible metals, and among them what is now known only by name, but then existed in reality: native orichalcum, extracted from the bowels of the earth in various places on the island and then inferior in value only to gold ”(translated by S. S. Averintsev). It is further said that orichalcum, "orichalc, emitting a fiery brilliance", was covered with the walls of the acropolis of Atlantis, it was also used in the decoration of ceilings, walls, floors and columns of the temple of Kleito and Poseidon - the main shrine of the island. On an orichalcum stele inside the temple, the laws of Atlantis were written.

Other authors also wrote about orichalcum. In the essay "Shield of Hercules", which is attributed to Hesiod, but in fact was written no earlier than the 6th century BC. e., the leggings of Hercules, presented to him by Hephaestus, were made from orichalcum. In the Homeric hymn to Aphrodite, the ores, who met the sea goddess born from the foam, put earrings made of orichalcum and gold into her ears. Pausanias in the Description of Hellas says that the story of the sacraments instituted in Lerna by Philammon was written in verse on a heart made of orichalcum. In the book of Flavius Philostratus (170 - 250 AD) "The Life of Apollonius of Tyana" it is said that the Indians use orichalcum coins. It is assumed that the Orihalk is mentioned by Joseph Flavius in the Jewish antiquities (VIII, 3, 7), when he describes the utensils of the Solomon temple made by copper chime, “which with its beautiful brilliance resembled gold” (ἐκ χαλκοῦ τὴν ὁμουσῷ καὶ τὸ κάλοs ).

About getting orichalcum in real world mentions Strabo in the "Geography" when he talks about the city of Andira, located in the Troad. “Near Andir is a stone, which, when burned, turns into iron, and then, when it is melted in a furnace with the addition of some kind of earth, it releases zinc [ψευδάργυρος lit. “false silver”], which, when copper is added, turns into a so-called mixture, called by some “mountain copper” ”(translated by G. A. Stratanovsky). Such a description can be interpreted as getting brass by alloying copper with zinc ore (sphalerite or smithsonite). The treatise “On Miraculous Rumors” attributed to Aristotle in the Middle Ages (Περὶ θαυμάσιων ἀκουσμάτων) also reported that orichalcum was smelted from copper with the addition of a special earth from the shores of the Black Sea, which was called calmia. It is sometimes assumed that the original source of the Greek word ὀρείχαλκος was the Akkadian expression "mountain copper", and the production of brass from zinc ore and copper was known as early as Mesopotamia in the 8th century BC. e.

In imperial-era Rome, the Greek word orichalcum was misinterpreted and became the Latin aurichalcum "gold copper". This term came to be called brass. It was also sometimes used to refer to the mineral copper pyrite, or chalcopyrite (CuFeS2), which has a golden yellow color. As a valuable metal, orichalcum is mentioned in the comedy of Plautus "The Boastful Warrior", the chest armor of Thurn in Virgil's "Aeneid" is made of gold and orichalcum. Already in Cicero, orichalcum is mentioned as a cheap metal: “If a person, when selling gold, thinks that he is selling brass (orichalcum), then should an honest person tell him that it is gold, or can he buy for a denarius what is worth a thousand denarii ? (“On Duties” III, 23, 92, translated by V. O. Gorenshtein). Pliny the Elder calls orichalcum the ore from which copper was mined, and considers it the best of copper ores, but reports that by the time his book was written, the deposits of orichalcum had already been exhausted.

Later, the interpreters of ancient authors could not come to a consensus. They were well aware of the tradition of calling cheap brass orichalcum (in the same sense the word ορείχαλκος is used in modern Greek). However, the mentions of orichalcum as a very valuable metal, primarily by Plato, made us think that something else could be hidden under this word. Doubt was also sown by the fact that Plato calls orichalcum not an alloy, but an independent metal mined from the earth. Therefore, some even suggested that under this word, not brass, but platinum was previously hidden. A version was also put forward that Greek navigators reached South America, and they called orichalcum an alloy of 9% copper, 76% gold and 15% silver used in the Chavin culture.

In 2014, in the sea, three hundred meters from the coast of Sicily, near the city of Gela, traces of a shipwreck that occurred in the first half of the 6th century BC were discovered. The ship went to the city, which then bore the Greek name Gela (Γέλα) from Greece or from Asia Minor. Underwater archaeologists have raised to the surface, in particular, 39 metal ingots.

Ingots from a sunken ship after cleaning

The found metal was subjected to X-ray fluorescence analysis and found that the composition of the alloy includes 75-80% copper, 15-20% zinc and trace amounts of nickel, lead and iron. Then the archaeologist Sebastiano Tusa, head of the Department of Maritime Archeology of Sicily, suggested that it was the alloy of this composition that was called orichalcum in the archaic period of Greek history. In this case, the main hypothesis about the nutcracker, according to which it was brass, turns out to be true.

Gela was a Greek colony founded around 688-689 BC. e. immigrants from Crete and Rhodes. A century after its inception, it has become a prosperous city, the most influential on the island. Gela even had her own colony - Akragas (modern Agrigento, which we already had to talk about). Only after the natives of Gela - Gelon, and then his brother Hieron - began to rule in Syracuse and resettled some of the inhabitants of Gela there, the importance of the city fell and Syracuse became the most important city of Sicily. And in the VI century BC. e. Gela was rich, active construction was carried out there and luxury goods were made. For these purposes, apparently, metal in ingots was transported to the city on a ship.

Searches on the seabed continue. In the last season, underwater archaeologists found another 47 copper-zinc alloy ingots, bringing the total to 86. Also found were an amphora from Massilia (modern Marseille) and two Corinthian helmets in excellent condition.