Gold

From TinWiki.org

Gold is a metal.

Many ancient and modern cultures used gold to make statues, religious relics, jewelry and even masks for the dead.

1 History
2 Uses
3 Money
4 Alchemy
5 Also On tinWiki
6 ATS Discussion Threads
7 External Links

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History

Tutankhamen's funerary mask

Have you ever wondered why we've never had a 'gold age'? There has been a Bronze Age, which began roughly around 3000BC and an Iron Age which developed at about 1300BC. These ages are mostly recognized for their usage of these metals, be it for weapons, tools, chariots and the like. But what about gold?

The most highly esteemed metal on the planet yet there's an apparent gap in its own history. As we can see from King Tutankhamen's (1341-1323BC) funerary mask, the Egyptians were extremely skilled in producing fantastic pieces of gold work. We can also see from the date of his death that gold must have been widely used and worked with seeing as we're barely touching into the Iron Age. This gives us an approximate 1500 year gap back to the Bronze Age, but it gets really interesting when you discover that gold was used as a monetary value as far back as 3100BC in ancient Egypt. To buy some gold with silver, you needed 2 and 1 half pieces of silver for 1 gold. So this shows that gold must have been known many years prior to bronze and possibly was mankind's very first experience of metal.

King Tushratta, of the Mitanni, said that there was more gold than dirt in Egypt.

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Uses

Gold has many uses, from the well known art of the jeweler to components on board the space shuttle. It is used in computers, mobile phones, medicine, dentistry, and even in glass ware. Gold is so easy to work with that you can hammer it so thin that it becomes transparent. It does not tarnish, is not toxic and is safe to ingest. Such practice was common with the rich during the medieval period. It would be used as decoration in food and drinks, upon which it would be ingested.

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Money

Gold wasn't actually used as money until about 700BC to which we owe today's modern financial systems. Since then, many wars have been fought; greed has been deeply established in our minds. Everything used to be bought and sold with gold. Until we decided to use other materials to represent gold's value. The value of these materials relies completely on consenting adults agreeing to an exchange. The strength of this value is controlled by the governments and not by the gold held. This was not always the case though and it wasn't until the twentieth century when gold was taken away from the value of money. Banks can now print money to demand, rather than having to go dig some gold up to ensure they could afford to print more money.

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Alchemy

It has been suggested by many that gold was a strong influence in the practices of anyone working in the field of alchemy. The reason being is that alchemists were said to be able to turn other base metals into gold. One of the main ingredients in this process was scrapings from the 'Philosopher's Stone'. This stone was the first step towards immortality. The second step was the transmutation of base metals into gold. The third and final step was the drinking of the elixir of life. The symbol for gold in alchemy is a circle with a dot in its centre. This symbol was also used by the Egyptians and astrologers to represent the sun. Alchemy is also a deeply spiritual, rather than religious, practice.

This could be considered a link as to why we have given gold such high value. Did early man and alchemy believe that gold was the earthly physical form of their God, the Sun? Was this God the immortal life alchemists were trying to mimic? But what was the Philosopher's Stone?

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