Orichalcum (or aurichalcum) or orichalc is a metal mentioned in several ancient writings, including the story of

Atlantis Atlantis () is a fictional island mentioned in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and ''Critias'' as part of an allegory on the hubris of nations. In the story, Atlantis is described as a naval empire that ruled all Western parts of the known world ...

in the ''

Critias Critias (; , ''Kritias''; – 403 BC) was an ancient Athenian poet, philosopher and political leader. He is known today for being a student of Socrates, a writer of some regard, and for becoming the leader of the Thirty Tyrants, who ruled Athens ...

'' of

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

. Within the dialogue,

(460–403 BC) says that orichalcum had been considered second only to gold in value and had been found and mined in many parts of Atlantis in ancient times, but that by Critias's own time, orichalcum was known only by name. Orichalcum may have been a

noble metal A noble metal is ordinarily regarded as a metallic chemical element, element that is generally resistant to corrosion and is usually found in nature in its native element, raw form. Gold, platinum, and the other platinum group metals (ruthenium ...

such as

platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

, as it was supposed to be mined, but has been identified as pure copper or certain alloys of

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

, and especially

brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

alloys in the case of antique Roman coins, the latter being of "similar appearance to modern brass" according to scientific research.

Overview

The name is derived from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

, ' (from , ', mountain and , ', copper), literally meaning "mountain copper". The Romans transliterated "orichalcum" as "aurichalcum", which was thought to mean literally "gold copper". It is known from the writings of

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

that the metal which they called orichalcum resembled gold in color but had a much lower value. In

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

's ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan War#Sack of Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome ...

'', the

breastplate A breastplate or chestplate is a device worn over the torso to protect it from injury, as an item of religious significance, or as an item of status. European In medieval weaponry, the breastplate is the front portion of plate armour covering th ...

Turnus Turnus () was the legendary King of the Rutuli in Roman history, and the chief antagonist of the hero Aeneas in Virgil's ''Aeneid''. According to the ''Aeneid'', Turnus is the son of Daunus and the nymph Venilia and is brother of the nymph ...

is described as "stiff with gold and white orichalc". Orichalcum has been vaguely identified by ancient Greek authors to be either a gold–copper

alloy An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which in most cases at least one is a metal, metallic element, although it is also sometimes used for mixtures of elements; herein only metallic alloys are described. Metallic alloys often have prop ...

, a form of pure copper or a copper

ore Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically including metals, concentrated above background levels, and that is economically viable to mine and process. The grade of ore refers to the concentration ...

or various chemicals based on copper, but also copper–

tin Tin is a chemical element; it has symbol Sn () and atomic number 50. A silvery-colored metal, tin is soft enough to be cut with little force, and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, a bar of tin makes a sound, the ...

and copper–

zinc Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...

alloys, or a metal or metallic alloy supposedly no longer known. In later years "orichalcum" was used to describe the

sulfide Sulfide (also sulphide in British English) is an inorganic anion of sulfur with the chemical formula S2− or a compound containing one or more S2− ions. Solutions of sulfide salts are corrosive. ''Sulfide'' also refers to large families o ...

mineral

chalcopyrite Chalcopyrite ( ) is a copper iron sulfide mineral and the most abundant copper ore mineral. It has the chemical formula CuFeS2 and crystallizes in the tetragonal system. It has a brassy to golden yellow color and a Mohs scale, hardness of 3.5 to 4 ...

and also to describe brass. These usages are difficult to reconcile with the claims of Plato's Critias, who states that the metal was "only a name" by his time, while brass and chalcopyrite were very important in the time of Plato, as they still are today.

Joseph Needham Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham (; 9 December 1900 – 24 March 1995) was a British biochemist, historian of science and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science and technology, initia ...

notes that Bishop Richard Watson, an 18th-century professor of chemistry, wrote of an ancient idea that there were "two sorts of brass or orichalcum". Needham also suggests that the Greeks may not have known how orichalcum was made and that they might even have had an imitation of the original.

Ingots found

In 2015, 39 orichalcum ingots were discovered in a sunken vessel on the coast of

Gela Gela (Sicilian and ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the regional autonomy, Autonomous Region of Sicily, Italy; in terms of area and population, it is the largest municipality on the southern coast of Sicily. Gela is part of the Province o ...

in Sicily which have tentatively been dated at 2,100 years old. They were analyzed with

X-ray fluorescence X-ray fluorescence (XRF) is the emission of characteristic "secondary" (or fluorescent) X-rays from a material that has been excited by being bombarded with high-energy X-rays or gamma rays. The phenomenon is widely used for elemental analysis ...

and found to be an alloy consisting of 75–80% copper, 15–20% zinc, and smaller percentages of nickel, lead, and iron. Another cache of 47 ingots was recovered in February 2016 and found to have similar composition as measured with

ICP-OES Inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES), also referred to as inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES), is an analytical technique used for the detection of chemical elements. It is a type of emis ...

and

ICP-MS Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is a type of mass spectrometry that uses an inductively coupled plasma to ionize the sample. It atomizes the sample and creates atomic and small polyatomic ions, which are then detected. It ...

: around 65–80% copper, 15–25% zinc, 4–7% lead, 0.5–1% nickel, and trace amounts of silver,

antimony Antimony is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Sb () and atomic number 51. A lustrous grey metal or metalloid, it is found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite (). Antimony compounds have been known since ancient t ...

arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol As and atomic number 33. It is a metalloid and one of the pnictogens, and therefore shares many properties with its group 15 neighbors phosphorus and antimony. Arsenic is not ...

bismuth Bismuth is a chemical element; it has symbol Bi and atomic number 83. It is a post-transition metal and one of the pnictogens, with chemical properties resembling its lighter group 15 siblings arsenic and antimony. Elemental bismuth occurs nat ...

, and other elements.

In ancient literature

Orichalcum is first mentioned in the

7th century BC The 7th century BC began the first day of 700 BC and ended the last day of 601 BC. The Neo-Assyrian Empire continued to dominate the Near East during this century, exercising formidable power over neighbors like Babylon and Egypt. In the last ...

Hesiod Hesiod ( or ; ''Hēsíodos''; ) was an ancient Greece, Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer.M. L. West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', Oxford University Press (1966), p. 40.Jasper Gr ...

, and in the

Homeric hymn The ''Homeric Hymns'' () are a collection of thirty-three ancient Greek hymns and one epigram. The hymns praise deities of the Greek pantheon and retell mythological stories, often involving a deity's birth, their acceptance among the gods ...

dedicated to

Aphrodite Aphrodite (, ) is an Greek mythology, ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, procreation, and as her syncretism, syncretised Roman counterpart , desire, Sexual intercourse, sex, fertility, prosperity, and ...

, dated to the

630s BC This article concerns the period 639 BC – 630 BC. Events and trends * 639 BC—Interregnum ends and Ancus Marcius becomes the king of Rome. * 637 BC—Sadyattes becomes king of Lydia. * 636 BC—Duke Wen of Jin ascends to power in the Stat ...

. According to the ''

'' of

, the inner wall surrounding the citadel of Atlantis with the Temple of

Poseidon Poseidon (; ) is one of the twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and mythology, presiding over the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 He was the protector of seafarers and the guardian of many Hellenic cit ...

"flashed with the red light of orichalcum". The interior walls, pillars, and floors of the temple were completely covered in orichalcum, and the roof was variegated with gold, silver, and orichalcum. In the center of the temple stood a pillar of orichalcum, on which the laws of Poseidon and records of the first son princes of Poseidon were inscribed.

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

points out that orichalcum had lost currency due to the mines being exhausted.

Pseudo-Aristotle Pseudo-Aristotle is a general cognomen for authors of philosophical or medical treatises who attributed their works to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, or whose work was later attributed to him by others. Such falsely attributed works are known a ...

in ''De mirabilibus auscultationibus'' (62) describes a type of copper that is "very shiny and white, not because there is tin mixed with it, but because some earth is combined and molten with it." This might be a reference to orichalcum obtained during the smelting of copper with the addition of "

cadmia In alchemy, cadmia (Latin for cadmium) is an oxide of zinc (tutty; from ''tutiya'', via Persian, from Sanskrit तुत्थ ''tuttha'') which collects on the sides of furnaces where copper or brass was smelted, and zinc sublimed. The term is ...

", a kind of earth formerly found on the shores of the Black Sea, which is attributed to be

zinc oxide Zinc oxide is an inorganic compound with the Chemical formula, formula . It is a white powder which is insoluble in water. ZnO is used as an additive in numerous materials and products including cosmetics, Zinc metabolism, food supplements, rubbe ...

Numismatics

numismatics Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals, and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also inclu ...

, the term "orichalcum" is used to refer exclusively to a type of

alloy used for minting Roman '' as'', ''

sestertius The ''sestertius'' (: ''sestertii'') or sesterce (: sesterces) was an Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Roman currency, coin. During the Roman Republic it was a small, silver coin issued only on rare occasions. During the Roman Empire it was a large ...

'', ''

dupondius The ''dupondius'' (Latin ''two-pounder'') was a brass coin used during the Roman Republic and Roman Empire valued at 2 '' asses'' (4/5 of a ''sestertius'' or 1/5 of a ''denarius'' during the Republic and 1/2 of a ''sestertius'' or 1/8 of a ''de ...

'', and ''

semis The ''semis'' () was a small Roman bronze coin that was valued at half an '' as''. During the Roman Republic, the ''semis'' was distinguished by an 'S' (indicating ''semis'') or 6 dots (indicating a theoretical weight of 6 '' unciae''). Some ...

'' coins. It is considered more valuable than copper, of which the ''as'' coin was previously made.

References

External links