Orichalcum is a very unusual metal, which the
ancient Greeks claim to be found only in Atlantis, the sunken legendary city.
It is basically composed of copper and zinc that result in brass with a very
shiny finish that looks very much like gold.
A full load of 39 ingots of orichalcum has been recovered off
the south coast of Sicily from a ship that
sunk in the sixth century BC just before entering the harbor of Gela Greece
or Asia Minor and it is likely that it was caught in a storm – the main danger
for ships sailing the Mediterranean .
The precious orichalcum was long considered to
be a mysterious metal and is known from ancient texts but only few objects have
survived. Plato mentioned orichalcum
as a legendary metal, second only to gold in value, that was mined in Atlantis
and used there to cover not only the inside walls of the Temple of Poseidon,
but also its floors and columns. According to another theory, it would be invented
by Cadmus, a Greek mythological
founder of Thebes
Recent analysis have revealed that orichalcum
is an alloy that closely resembles brass and was obtained through the reaction
of zinc ore, charcoal and copper in a crucible. Examining the 39 ingots, they
turned out to contain 75-80 percent of copper, 15-20 percent of zinc and small
percentages of nickel, lead and iron. This theory is, however, being refuted by
a professor from Rio de Janeiro stating that they are an alloy of copper, zinc
and lead, believing that orichalcum has its roots in the Peruvian Andes from a
civilization that lived there from 1200 to 200 BC – maybe a little too far away
from home to be true?
Well, there is still so much we do not know,
from Atlantis
to (in this case) the Peruvian Andes. These ingots may simply be added to that
list, but the find by itself is quite exciting in any case!
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