During the entire existence of archeology, many ancient artifacts have been discovered. Some of them are made so skillfully that it remains to be amazed at the skills of ancient craftsmen.
The famous Lycurgus Cup belongs to such artifacts. Archaeologists believe that it was created about 1,500 years ago. Do you know what property distinguishes it from other cups?
It is able to change its color depending on what kind of liquid is poured into it. Why was it called the "Lycurgus Cup"? If you look closely at the walls of the artifact, you can see images of the death of the Thracian ruler Lycurgus, who paid for the insult of Dionysus - he was strangled by a vine.
There are several versions of the origin of this cup. According to one of them, the goblet could be made as a symbol of Constantine's victory over Licinius, after which it was passed on from generation to generation.
At the moment, this ancient artifact can be seen within the walls of the British Museum in London. Some researchers believe that in the manufacture of the goblet was used what is now commonly called nanotechnology - the purposeful manipulation of materials at the atomic and molecular level.
But this is just one of the versions. How did you manage to ensure that the glass of the goblet is able to change its color? For a long time this was considered a mystery - until at the end of the last century, the goblet was examined through a microscope.
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The researchers saw that ancient craftsmen impregnated it with particles of silver and gold. And these were not just grains - the real nanoparticles, about 50 nanometers in diameter.
For comparison, take a grain of salt or sugar. A particle with a diameter of 50 nanometers will be about a thousand times smaller. But how did the ancient masters manage to create such small particles?
Archaeologists still have no answer to this question. But the researchers agree that they clearly understood what they were doing and where they should come.
Also, the Lycurgus Cup is able to change its color depending on the angle from which the observer looks at it. Naturally, archaeologists could not endlessly pour various liquids into this ancient artifact in order to find out about all its properties.
And it was decided to create a similar model of the Lycurgus Cup. To do this, the researchers applied particles of gold and silver to the walls of the new goblet.
The resulting goblet also changed its colors - if it was filled with water, then it turned blue, if with oil, it turned bright red. What do you think, through what technologies did the ancient masters manage to achieve such an effect?
Or maybe this cup has an alien origin at all? Write your opinion in the comments.