Exploring the site of a shipwreck of the 6th century BC, archaeologists have found ingots of a brass alloy, the composition of which is different from other known ancient samples. Scientists suggest that this is the orichalcum, which was previously known only from the works of ancient authors.
Literally translated, the name orichalcum (ὀρείχαλκος) means "mountain copper". The most famous mention of orichalcum is contained in the Platonic dialogue "Critias" (IV century BC), in the description of Atlantis: "Much was imported to them from the subject countries, but most of what was needed for life was provided by the island itself, above all any types of fossils hard and fusible metals, including what is now known only by name, but then existed in practice: native orichalcum, extracted from the bowels of the earth in various places on the island and was second only to gold in value”(translation by S. S. Averintsev). It goes on to say that orichalcum, “orichalcum that emitted a fiery glow,” covered the walls of the Acropolis of Atlantis, and was used to decorate the ceilings, walls, floors and columns of the Temple of Kleito and Poseidon, the main shrine of the island. The laws of Atlantis were written on an orichalcum stele inside the temple.
Other authors have also written about orichalcum. In the work "Shield of Hercules", which is attributed to Hesiod, but in fact was written not earlier than the VI century BC. e., the leggings of Hercules, presented to him by Hephaestus, were made of orichalcum. In the Homeric hymn to Aphrodite, the ora, who met the sea goddess born of foam, put earrings made of orichalcum and gold into her ears. Pausanias, in his Description of Hellas, says that the story of the sacraments instituted in Lerna by Philammon was written in verse on a heart made of orichalcum. In the book of Flavius Philostratus (170-250 AD) "Life of Apollonius of Tyana" it is said that the Indians use coins made of orichalcum. It is assumed that the orichalcum was mentioned by Josephus in the Antiquities of the Jews (VIII, 3, 7), when he describes the utensils of the Temple of Solomon, made of copper by Hiram,"Which with its beautiful luster resembled gold" (ἐκ χαλκοῦ τὴν αὐγὴν ὁμοίου χρυσῷ καὶ τὸ κάλλος).
Strabo mentions the receipt of an orichalcum in the real world in Geography, when he talks about the city of Andira, located in Troas. “Near Andir there is a stone which, when burned, turns into iron and then, when it is melted in a furnace with the addition of some kind of earth, gives off zinc [ψευδάργυρος letters. "False silver"], which, when copper is added, turns into a so-called mixture, called by some "mountain copper" "(translation by GA Stratanovsky). This description can be interpreted as obtaining brass by fusing copper with zinc ore (sphalerite or smithsonite). The treatise "On miraculous rumors" (Περὶ θαυμάσιων ἀκουσμάτων), attributed to Aristotle in the Middle Ages, also reported that orichalcum was smelted from copper with the addition of a special earth from the shores of the Black Sea, which was called calmia. Sometimes it is assumedthat the Greek word ὀρείχαλκος had the Akkadian expression "mountain copper" as the primary source, and the production of brass from zinc ore and copper was known as far back as Mesopotamia in the 8th century BC. e.
In empire-era Rome, the Greek word orichalcum was misinterpreted and transformed into the Latin aurichalcum "gold copper". This term began to be called brass. It is also sometimes used to denote the mineral of copper pyrite, or chalcopyrite (CuFeS2), which has a golden yellow color. Orichalcum is mentioned as a precious metal in Plautus's comedy "The Boastful Warrior", and the breastplate of Turnus in Virgil's "Aeneid" is made of gold and orichalcum. Already in Cicero, orichalcum is mentioned as a cheap metal: “If a person selling gold thinks that he is selling brass (orichalcum), then should an honest person indicate to him that it is gold, or can he buy for a denarius what is worth a thousand denarii ? " ("On duties" III, 23, 92, translation by V. O. Gorenshtein). Pliny the Elder calls orichalcum the ore from which copper was mined,and he considers it the best of the copper ores, but reports that by the time of writing his book, the deposits of orichalcum have already been exhausted.
Later, the interpreters of ancient authors could not come to a common opinion. They were well aware of the tradition of calling cheap brass orichalcum (in the same sense the word ορείχαλκος is used in modern Greek). However, mentions of orichalcum as a very valuable metal, primarily by Plato, made one think that something else could be hidden under this word. Doubt was also sowed by the fact that Plato calls orichalcum not an alloy, but an independent metal extracted from the earth. Therefore, some even assumed that under this word previously hid not brass, but platinum. A version was also put forward that Greek seafarers reached South America, and they called an alloy used in the Chavin culture of 9% copper, 76% gold and 15% silver, used in the Chavin culture.
In 2014, traces of a shipwreck that took place in the first half of the 6th century BC were discovered in the sea three hundred meters off the coast of Sicily, near the town of Gela. The ship went to the city, then bearing the Greek name Gela (Γέλα) from Greece or from Asia Minor. Underwater archaeologists have raised 39 metal ingots in particular.
Ingots from a sunken ship after cleaning
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The found metal was subjected to X-ray fluorescence analysis and found that the alloy contains 75-80% copper, 15-20% zinc and trace amounts of nickel, lead and iron. Then the archaeologist Sebastiano Tusa, head of the department of marine archeology of Sicily, and came up with the assumption that it was the alloy of such a composition in the archaic period of Greek history was called orichalcum. In this case, the main hypothesis about the nutlet, according to which it was brass, turns out to be true.
Gela was a Greek colony founded around 688 - 689 BC. e. immigrants from Crete and Rhodes. A century after its inception, it has become a thriving city, the most influential on the island. Gela even had her own colony - Akragas (modern Agrigento, which we already had to talk about). Only after the immigrants from Gela - Gelon, and then his brother Hieron - began to rule in Syracuse and resettled part of the inhabitants of Gela there, the importance of the city fell and Syracuse became the most important city of Sicily. And in the VI century BC. e. Gela was rich, there was active construction and luxury goods were manufactured. For these purposes, apparently, metal in ingots was transported to the city by ship.
Searches on the seabed continue. In the last season, underwater archaeologists found another 47 copper-zinc alloy ingots, bringing the total to 86. An amphora from Massilia (present-day Marseille) and two Corinthian helmets in excellent condition were also found.