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World Gold Council
Discover gold's global impact on culture, art and science. Facts, myths and magic.
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The ancient world (pre 400 AD) > World Gold Council, all about gold
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The ancient world (pre 400 AD)In the quest for gold by various ancient civilizations, prisoners of war were sent to work the mines, as were slaves and criminals, all during a time when gold had no value as 'money,' but was just considered a desirable commodity in itself. 
Detail from a panel on a gold plated shrine from the tomb of Tutankhamun. Cairo Museum Enlarge >> EgyptAs anyone who has seen or heard about the incredible treasures of Tutankhamen probably knows, Ancient Egypt left a rich legacy of gold. Hieroglyphs stretching back to 2600 BC describe gold, which was considered by the ancient Egyptians to be a divine and indestructible metal, and was associated with the brilliance of the sun. Ancient Egyptians even believed the skin of their gods was golden. By 1500 BC, the immense gold-bearing regions of Nubia had made Egypt a wealthy nation, and gold became the recognised standard medium of exchange for international trade. The oldest known treasure map (which today sits in the Turin Museum) also dates back to the gold of Ancient Egypt – around 1320 BC. However, it wasn’t until 1200 BC that the Egyptians mastered the art of beating gold into leaf to extend its use, as well as joining it with other metals to create alloys, which allowed for improved hardness and colour variations. It was also around this time that Egyptians started to cast gold using the lost-wax technique, which is still at the heart of jewellery making today. 
Golden Greek funerary mask c1600-c1500 BC 'The Mask of of Agamemnon' as it is known. © The Print Collector / Heritage-Images / Imagestate GreeceGold was just as central to ancient Greece as ancient Egypt, but in a way that seems more familiar to us today – as a primarily financial commodity. By 550 BC, the Greeks had started mining for gold throughout the Mediterranean and Middle East regions, and for a long time thought it was made from a particularly dense combination of water and sunlight. In 344 BC, Alexander the Great crossed the Hellespont with 40,000 men, beginning one of the most extraordinary campaigns in military history. Included in the spoils of war were vast quantities of gold from the Persian Empire. It wouldn’t be the last time that gold would be at the centre of bloody international conflicts. According to Greek mythology, Agamemnon was king of Mycenae and the leader of the Greek expedition to Troy. He is believed to have lived around 1550 BC. This gold funerary mask, excavated at Mycenae by the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann in 1876, is reputed to be his. By 325 BC, the Greeks had mined in areas from Gibraltar to Asia Minor and Egypt, and would soon begin to practice alchemy – the quest to turn base metals into gold. Considering that gold is an element, the alchemists were of course never successful, but their efforts are clear evidence of gold’s ongoing mystique and desirability.
Ancient Greek temple pendant, c630-620
BC. The pendant reflects the wealth of Rhodes
and the skill of eastern Greek goldsmiths in the 7th century
BC. Located in the Louvre, Paris. © The Print Collector /
Heritage-Images / Imagestate RomeThe next great civilization to prize and value gold were the Romans. They, or at least their slaves and prisoners of war, mined gold extensively throughout the empire, developing the technology of mining to new levels of sophistication. For example, they would divert streams of water in order to mine hydraulically, and even pioneered 'roasting', the technique of separating gold from rock. In 202 BC, during the second Punic War with Carthage, the Romans won access to the gold mining region of Spain, allowing them to recover gold through stream gravels and hard-rock mining. But it wasn’t until 50 BC that the widely used Aureus gold coin was issued – eight years after Julius Caesar brought back enough gold from a victory in Gaul to give 200 coins to each of his soldiers, and repay all of Rome’s debts. 
Gold
plaques from the Oxus treasure, Achaemenid Persian, 5th-4th
century BC. © The Print Collector / Heritage-Images / Imagestate Persian treasuresGold plaques from the Oxus treasure, Achaemenid Persian, 5th-4th century BC. Man wearing Median costume; he has an akinakes (short sword) of a type depicted on reliefs at the Persian centre of Persepolis and represented in the Oxus treasure by a fine gold scabbard. The hooded man is sometimes identified as a priest because he carries a bundle of sticks known as a barsom. These were originally grasses that were distributed during religious ceremonies. The Oxus treasure is the most important collection of silver and gold to have survived from the Achaemenid period. This is one of the finest examples of a group of about fifty thin gold plaques which may have been votive objects left as a pious act in a temple or shrine near the Oxus River at Takht-i Kuwad, Tadjikistan. © The Print Collector / Heritage-Images / Imagestate |
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