Gold as one of the most ancient metals

Gold as one of the most ancient metals

15.01.2021

It is generally believed that gold was the first of the seven metals known to mankind since the Stone Age, thanks to its distribution in its original state. The special properties of gold, such as gravity, shine, non-oxidizing, malleability, and ductility, explain why it has been used since ancient times, primarily for the manufacture of jewelry and, to a certain extent, for weapons.

Golden artifacts for various purposes were found by archeologists in the cultural layers relating to the 4th and even 5th millennium BC, which is the Neolithic Period. In the 3rd and 2nd millenniums BC gold was already widespread in Egypt, Mesopotamia, India and China. Since the ancient times it was known as precious metal to the people of American and European continents. During the Middle Kingdom of Egypt the development of Nubian gold mines began (Nubia, or Ethiopia of antiquity). That is how appeared the ancient Egyptian name of gold - Nebu.

In Mesopotamia the mining of gold on a large scale was already conducted in the 2nd millennium BC. In Egyptian Hellenistic literature and among alchemists the symbol of gold was a circle with a point at its center, which was the same as the symbol of the sun. Sometimes in Greek alchemical literature it is found the symbol in the form of a circle with an image of a ray associated with it.

Gold as the most precious metal has long served as the world's equivalent in trade, and therefore methods of making the gold-like alloys based on copper arose. These methods became widespread, and served as the foundation for the emergence of alchemy. The main goal of alchemists was to find ways to transform (transmute) base metals into gold and silver. European alchemists, following the footsteps of the Arabians, developed the theory of "perfect" or even "superperfect" gold, the addition of which to a base metal transforms the latter into gold.

In alchemical literature there are many names for gold, usually encrypted as Aurum, Zaras, Tricor, Salt, Sun, Secur, Senior, etc.

Some of them have an Arabic origin, for instance al-bahag (joy), hiti (cat litter), ras (head, principle), su'a (ray), diya (light), alam (peace).

The Latin name for gold Aurum (ancient Ausom) means “yellow”. This word correlates well with the Roman Aaurora or Ausosa (morning dawn, eastern country, east).

Such a variety of names for gold demonstrates the widespread awareness of it among the various ancient peoples and tribes, as well as the crossing of different tribal names.