SILVER - THE QUEEN OF METALS

Arguably One of the Most Beautiful Coins ever Minted

Hello My Friend and Welcome.

Today we continue our study of ancient metals when we take a look at silver. If you missed our first post in this series on Gold, The King of Metals, you can find it HERE. The second in this series on Copper is HERE. 

PUTTING THINGS IN PERSPECTIVE

To put ancient metallurgy into perspective, consider the following facts. There are currently 86 known metals. These include a number of trans-uranium elements such as Neptunium, Plutonium, Einsteinium, and others created in particle accelerators, popularly known as atom smashers. Prior to the 19^th Century, only 24 of these 86 metals had been discovered and half of those were added in the 18^th Century. Five of those remaining 12 date to the 16^th or 17^th Century. Thus, ancient civilizations survived with only seven metals.  

These posts, by the way, are following the chronology of their discovery. Gold was first, Copper second, and Silver is considered to be the third metal discovered by man. Unlike gold and copper which occur naturally in their pure form, silver in its native form very rarely appears as nuggets. Most often, silver is found in combination with copper, nickel, gold, lead, zinc and sulfur. Mankind’s use of silver represented a great leap forward in ancient metallurgy. For the first time, men began gathering ore rather than nuggets, refining and separating silver from its companion elements.

AN ANCIENT METAL

Silver has been known since very ancient times. Slag heaps have been found in Asia Minor and on the Aegean islands, indicating that silver was being separated from lead as early as 4,000 BC. The silver mines at Laurium fueled the economy of Ancient Athens. It involved mining the ore in underground galleries, washing the ore and smelting it to extract the metal. Elaborate washing tables still exist at the site that utilized rainwater collected during the winter months in cisterns. By the First Century AD extraction of silver from lead ore was widespread in Roman Britannia.

SILVER IN THE BIBLE

The first mention of silver in the Bible occurs in Genesis 13:2, “Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.” It continues to appear in nearly all of the following books. Interestingly, in 1 Kings 10:27 the writers emphasize Solomon’s wealth by saying, “The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the foothills.” The most famous reference to silver is the New Testament mention of Judas and the thirty pieces of silver he was paid to betray Jesus. Thirty pieces of silver, by the way, was the standard price of a slave at that time. Silver’s final appearance occurs in Revelation 18:11-12, “The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes anymore—cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls…”

Silver Ingots

Silver, like gold and copper, was frequently monetized. Most every nation and empire had, or has, silver coinage. Silver is second only to gold in its ductility and malleability, meaning it is easily pounded, stamped, shaped, bent and drawn out. Polished silver has the highest optical reflectivity of any metal and was used in the ancient world to make mirrors for the wealthy. The lower classes had to make do with polished copper or brass which gave rise to St. Paul’s famous quote, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.” 1 Cor. 13.12.   

SILVER IN JEWELRY

Silver jewelry, often set with gemstones, has been worn for personal adornment by people of all cultures since ancient times. Glass and stone beads were often strung on silver wire to make necklaces, bracelets and anklets. Silver was also made into rings and earrings. Decorative objects made of silver castings were popular in higher class homes in that era.

Roman Linked Chains of Silver

By necessity, Early Christians were discreet about their faith in order to survive. However, in 303 the emperors Constantine I and Licinius signed the Edict of Tolerance, which resulted in a flowering of Christian art and artistry. It is difficult, if not impossible, to know what it would have meant to these early believers to suddenly be allowed to openly wear an emblem of their faith. Many objects in antiquity, both everyday items as well as those for holy rituals, abounded in Christian imagery.  Besides the cross, Christians used the Chi-Rho symbol, an Alpha and Omega, the fish, angels, a starburst and abbreviated inscriptions in Greek which translated to “In Christ, Victory” or “Jesus Christ, King of Kings.” 

Silver Dish Honoring the Roman Goddess Minerva

EARLY CHRISTIAN JEWELRY

Many Christian believers wore a cross. Christian jewelry reflected the humility Christ preached. Much of the Christian jewelry in antiquity was simple in design. Stunning bejeweled adornments were avoided.  Many of the Byzantine coins of that era had religious inscriptions and images of Jesus or Mary. These coins are sometimes found with holes punched through them so they could be worn as a pendant by an early believer.

Ring found in Kourion with Chi-Rho

Archeologists began studying the site of the ancient city of Kourion on the island of Cyprus in the 1980s. The entire town was destroyed on July 21, 365AD when a massive earthquake, with its epicenter near Crete, hit the eastern Mediterranean. Thousands of people vanished beneath tons of stone when the town’s buildings collapsed. The exact death-toll from this disaster will never be known. However, in a poignant display of familial love, researchers found an ancient ring with both the Chi-Rho and the Alpha-Omega symbols on the skeletal finger of a young father who had thrown himself over his family to try to protect them as their home collapsed.  

Next Monday we’ll take a look at St. Valentine whose feast day, as you know, the 14^th of February.

Until then, we wish you Peace and Blessings.

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METALS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD — COPPER

Hello My Friend and Welcome.

In our first post on metallurgy we looked at the discovery and uses of gold, the king of metals. If you missed it, you can find it HERE. By the way, we’ve decided to present the metals in their order of usage by ancient populations.

Today we move onto copper which represented a giant leap for ancient man. Whereas gold was freely strewn about the creeks and riverbeds waiting for man to pick it up, copper exists only as an ore. The Copper Age became a practical reality when men mastered not only the ability to identify copper ore in its natural state, but also the understanding of how to smelt and work the metal into usable items.

 

THE BEGINNINGS OF THE COPPER AGE

Copper is one of the rare metals that’s found in nearly pure concentrations in nature. This is most likely where the ancients began. Gold casting was known by that time and it’s easy to imagine people of that era gathering chunks of copper into a pot and treating it pretty much as they did gold. When they achieved essentially the same result, they were off and running. Copper metallurgy is well-documented in the Middle East and into Egypt as early as 4,000 BC.

COPPER IN THE BIBLE

The Israelites mined copper and used it extensively. The Bible refers to the importance of copper: “Men know how to mine silver and refine gold, to dig iron from the earth and melt copper from stone.” (Job. 28:1-2) Leaving Solomon and skipping ahead about ten centuries, we find the famous Copper Scroll. Found at Qumran in 1952, it is arguably the most intriguing use of copper in ancient Israel. Unlike the other Dead Sea Scrolls, which were written on animal skins or papyrus, the Copper Scroll is engraved on thin copper sheets. Clearly, this was done because of the importance of the information it contained. The Copper Scroll contains a list of 64 underground hiding places throughout the land of Israel.

These deposits are identified as containing gold, silver, aromatics, and precious manuscripts. They are believed to be treasures from the Temple at Jerusalem that were smuggled out of Jerusalem during the Roman barricade and hidden away for safekeeping. To date, none of these treasures has been found. While this sounds like a Hollywood adventure film, the idea should not be dismissed out of hand.

An Ancient Copper Bowl with Embossed Animals

WORKING COPPER IN ANCIENT TIMES

In the earliest of times, copper items were made by cutting, curving and hammering with a stone mallet on a stone anvil. These ancient metalworkers made an important discovery. Metal hardens under prolonged hammering, but can be brought back to its initial ductility by heating with no change in shape. Many ancient objects were manufactured through alternate cycles of hammering and cooking, with a final hammering to obtain the necessary hardness.

The simplest way to make a copper bowl consisted og placing a thin copper disc on a wooden block hollowed out to fit the profile of the required object. This method dates back to the pre-dynastic periods of Babylonia and Egypt. A second technique was known as raising. A copper disc the same diameter as the finished pot, was laid over the horn of an anvil and hammered into the desired shape.

Though copper knives have been found, the metal’s softness made it at best marginally useful. Ancient man also made copper arrowheads and copper spear points. But the best use of copper was for utilitarian household items such as bowls, pots, cups and similar objects. Being metal, if it was dropped, it might dent, but it would not shatter like a fired clay pot.

Ancient Copper Coin

OTHER USES

There were other popular uses of copper beside weapons and pots. Another giant step for mankind occurred when commerce moved from barter to a currency based system. The very earliest “coins” were simple lumps or disks of metal. Romans in the 6th through the 3rd centuries BC used copper lumps as money. At first, just the copper itself was valued, but eventually the concept of a uniform coinage supplanted it. Ancient copper coins have been found all over the world. The use of copper in coinage was widespread in ancient times and continues to this day.

Modern Copper Coinage

Copper was also widely used to make jewelry of all types. Ancient artwork depicts women wearing copper bracelets, rings, necklaces, and earrings. Highly polished copper was also used as a somewhat inefficient mirror. “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.” (1Cor. 13.12)

MAKING THE GOOD EVEN BETTER

Two advances in metalworking enhanced the decorative use of copper, enameling and the verdigris finish. Enameling is done by applying fine glass powder to a metal and then heating it in a kiln to a temperature sufficient to melt the glass. We know that glass was widely used in the ancient world. The first attempts at enameling probably consisted of dripping molten glass onto a piece of copper. When the results proved unsatisfactory, some genius decided to grind the glass and re-melt it in order to fuse it to the copper substrate.

Verdigris, copper with a greenish tarnish was extremely popular throughout both the ancient Greeks and Roman world. Originally the copper was deliberately tarnished so that it could be scrapped off and used as a colorant. The green color in eye shadow came from copper oxide or Malachite, copper carbonate. Pottery glazes also relied upon powdered copper oxide. For a turquoise they added wood ash, for a green they mixed in powdered lead.

As modern as they sound, items such as wall plaques, sundials, and other outdoor decorations with a verdigris finish were favored in the ancient garden…perhaps because of its green color. This tarnish effect can be achieved by long term exposure to sea spray, which produces a copper-chloride patina. The same effect can be produced faster by suspending the item within a covered pot above boiling vinegar. Vinegar, readily available in the ancient world, is a dilute form of acetic acid. This process yields a verdigris patina of copper-acetate.

In modern times, the verdigris finish is most commonly produced with spray paint.

Next time we’ll return to our series on Foods of the First Century and look at Fruits and Nuts.

Until then, we wish you Peace and Blessings.

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THE WISE MEN'S FIRST GIFT: GOLD – THE KING OF METALS

Molten Gold Flowing into a Mold

Hello My Friend and Welcome.

Today’s post serves two purposes. First, we’ve included it among our study of Christmas because Gold is one of the traditional gifts brought to Jesus by the Wise Men. Secondly, Gold is the logical stepping off point for a series of posts dealing with, for lack of a better word, metallurgy.

Metals were used to create the tools and implements of every culture and civilization. Archeologists even have their famous Three Ages: The Stone age, The Bronze Age, and The Iron Age. But there’s more to metals in the ancient world than just bronze and iron, lots more. There is also copper, tin, brass and, the King of Metals, gold, which seemed like the best place to begin.

Gold is arguably the first metal discovered by man since in its natural state it typically appears as nuggets or grains. In earliest times, a primitive man probably stooped to get a drink of water, noticed something shiny among the sand and pebbles at the bottom of the creek, and picked it up. Unlike most other metals that exist in combination with other elements and must be mined, processed, and purified, gold usually comes in its pure state and ready for use, making it ideal for pre-industrial societies.

The chemical symbol for gold is Au (from Latin for gold, aurum which originally meant, appropriately enough, shining dawn.) Gold is dense, soft and shiny. It is one of only two colored metal elements, the other being copper. Gold is extremely malleable and ductile. In ancient times gold was shaped by pounding. A single ounce can be beaten into a 300 square foot piece of gold leaf.

Gold has been valued by all civilizations since the beginning of recorded history.  It is the first, and most frequently mentioned metal in the Bible, appearing as early as Genesis 2:11. The Hebrews had six different terms for gold ranging from the metal itself to its varied uses. Because gold has always been rare, and maintains its luster without tarnishing, it became a material associated with highest integrity and purity.

Gold was, and is, considered the only metal suitable for contact with the Divine. When Moses constructed the Tabernacle in the desert, he naturally had gold beaten into plates for use as lining and overlays as well as threads in the priestly garments. (Exodus 25, 30, 37 and 39) Likewise, the Ark of the Covenant utilized gold in the same manner. Today, you’ll find that most chalices, plates and other communion vessels are still made of, or at least lined with, gold.

Roughly five hundred years after the Israelite’s sojourn in the desert, when Solomon built the First Temple in Jerusalem, or the house of the Lord as the Bible calls it, he relied extensively upon gold for its décor. His father, David, had set aside gold and other objects for the project. (1Kings 6:1-7:51) After he finished building the Lord’s house Solomon constructed one for himself (1Kings 9:1) that was equally lavish.

He had an ivory throne and overlaid it with gold. We’re also told that, “All King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; none were of silver, it was not considered as anything in the days of Solomon.”

Babylonian Pendant

Through the centuries the nation of Israel was under constant threat from various neighboring kingdoms. The fact that they had used so much gold in the construction of the Temple had to be a contributing factor. Faced with the choice of vanquishing a nation of dirt poor farmers, or plundering a city literally dripping with gold, most despots would go for the gold. It was, of course, the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar who eventually destroyed the Temple and plundered its valuables. (2Kings 25:13-17)

Approximately fifty years later Cyrus the Great of Persia allowed the people to return home. Solomon’s Temple, which lay in ruins, was rebuilt. They raised funds by collecting gold from the leaders and the people. Nehemiah 7:70-73 mentions a total of 41,000 drams of gold being donated. The term dram is identified by Strong as H1871, and translates dram as drachma.

Golden Sarcophagus of Tutankhamen

The research I’ve done indicates drachmas were typically minted in silver and gold drachmas were rarely struck. Archeologists have found what is known as an Attic Drachma dating to the approximate time when Nehemiah governed Israel. However, these coins are also silver. It leads to the conclusion that the Biblical text was referring the value of the donations measured as gold rather than the actual coins they received. For example, someone who has forty quarters could legitimately say they had ten dollars.

From Nehemiah we make another leap forward about 500 years to Herod the Great. Herod was not a Jew, but an Idumean. Idumea was conquered during the Maccabean period and over time the people eventually converted to Judaism. The residents of Judea and Galilee who considered themselves to be the only real Jews in the region, viewed Idumeans somewhat like the way they viewed Samaritans.

In attempt to curry favor with his Jewish subjects, Herod rebuilt and expanded the existing Temple. The result was the Second Temple which existed at the time of Christ…the one the Romans destroyed in 70 AD. Again Herod used impressive amounts of gold in its construction. Built of white marble, covered with heavy plates of gold in front and rising high above its cloistered courts, the temple, compared by Josephus to a snow-covered mountain, was a conspicuous and dazzling object from every side. From the Mount of Olives Jesus and his disciples could have looked across the valley seeing the glory of the Beautiful Gate and the golden entrance to the Holy Place.

Jesus, of course, prophesied the Temple’s destruction saying, “…not one stone shall be left standing atop another.” After Titus’ army conquered Jerusalem, the Romans set the Temple afire. Its gold overlays and trimmings melted and seeped into seams between the huge blocks that formed the Temple’s exterior walls. This meant the Romans were forced to dismantle the structure in order to  retrieve the gold.

Golden Jewelry Recovered in Ruins of Pompeii

In the year 313 Constantine issued the Edict of Milan making Christianity a legal religion in the Roman Empire. Now, instead of hiding and conducting their liturgies in secret, believers could worship openly. As Christianity grew to become the dominant religion of the Empire, the faithful responded by constructing churches and basilicas. One of these, the Hagia Sophia, was built by the Emperor Justinian in the royal city of Constantinople. It was a patriarchal seat and, after the division of the Church into Eastern and Western branches, it became the center of Orthodox Christianity. The Hagia Sophia is the embodiment of Byzantine architecture and had the distinction of being the largest cathedral in the world for 1,000 years. As the photo shows, its designers followed ancient traditions and made extensive use of gold in its galleries, naves and ceiling. Ikons are also a longstanding form of religious expression in the Eastern Church. They all incorporate the nimbus, or halo, behind and around the holy figures. In the original and most authentic form, these halos are created by applying gold leaf to the board on which the painting is done.

Interior of the Hagai Sophia

In addition to resisting tarnish and corrosion, gold also resists individual acids. It is insoluble in nitric acid, which dissolves silver and other base metals. This has long been used to confirm the presence of gold in items, and is the origin of the term acid test. Like all metals, gold is recyclable and, because of its high value, even small pieces of jewelry are often sold to reclaim the gold they contain.

It’s fun to imagine a piece of the precious metal being formed into…say an Egyptian ankh. A century later it is captured when Rome overthrows Antony and Cleopatra and is taken back to Rome where it becomes a lady’s necklace. Centuries after that, barbarians besiege Rome and are bought off with gold collected from the residents of the city. A warrior receives the necklace as his share of the plunder and carries it back to Europe where he sells it. The necklace is melted to become a brooch for a princess. Hundreds of years later, the royal house falls and the crown jewels are seized by the Cossacks. In Russia the brooch goes into the furnace along with other miscellaneous pieces and is formed into an ingot that sits in a national treasury until it is transferred to Karl Gustavovich Fabergé to be made into an Imperial Easter Egg. During the Nazi invasion the egg is stolen and hidden in a secret vault in Switzerland until it returns to its place of origin when bought by a Middle Eastern oil billionaire.

Want to have some fun with the kids? On your next car trip instead of counting out of state license plates or Mail Pouch signs on a barn, why not devise your own golden tale?

Next time, we’ll solve the riddle of why Christmas comes on December 25^th. I guarantee it is not what you’ve been told.

Until then, we wish you Peace and Blessings