"Lead is the ancestor of all metals. For gold is not a metal, gold is light. Lead requires only four periods of two hundred years each, to pass in succession from the state of lead, to the state of red arsenic, from red arsenic to tin, from tin to silver. Are not these facts?"
~ Victor Hugo, Hunchback of Notre Dame, 1831 AD
Gold-making or chrysopoeia in the West is mentioned in the first or second century AD. At the same time, gold-faking is a growing concern, with recipes for counterfeiting gold or silver to fool even experts.
This power is not always used for evil, as it takes forays into gold-plating or ornamentation and affordable jewelry. In ancient China, however, making fake gold gets the death penalty by 144 BCE. Alchemists explain their attempts to make real gold by making fake gold first.
Gold leaf and gold foil are popular, from gilding statues to home decor. Recipes for gold coloring on such items as ornaments, paper and metals such as copper are plentiful through the ages.
"Take mercury and make it solid with the body of magnēsia, or with the body of Italian stibnite, or with unburnt sulphur, or with moon foam, or with roasted lime, or with alum from Melos, or with orpiment, or according to your knowledge. When it [i.e. mercury] turns white, put it on copper, and you will have ‘shadowless’ copper. [When the mercury turns] yellow, put it on silver and you will have gold; on gold, and it will be solid gold coral."
~ Pseudo Democritus (1st century AD)
Gold leaf is recorded in Egypt c. 2800 BCE. The exceptional strength and flexibility of gold is appreciated by Egyptian craftsmen, pioneers of goldbeating and gilding. The crafter uses a circular stone to hammer gold into the thinnest sheets possible.
From early gleanings, alchemical writings about gold-making are intentionally obscure and mention mysterious ingredients and arcane processes. Some symbols or references are known only to the alchemist, or the inner circle of alchemy.
Above, in the Chrysopoeia of Cleopatra the Alchemist, the ouroboros or snake-dragon surrounds the Ancient Greek script reading ἕν τὸ πᾶν ("the all is one"). The symbols and drawings are alleged to contain the secrets of gold or silver making.
Also from Pseudo-Democritus:
"Process pyrite until it becomes incombustible, losing its blackness: process it with vinegar and brine, or pure urine, or seawater, or honey and vinegar, or according to your knowledge; roast it until it becomes like incombustible gold-dust. And if it becomes so, mix with it unburnt sulfur, or yellow alum, or Attic ochre, or according to your knowledge. Put it on silver in order to have gold and on gold in order to have gold shell. For nature masters nature."
In ancient Rome, mercury (quicksilver) is mixed with small gold pieces and applied to a substrate. Heating the object causes the mercury to evaporate, leaving a lovely and fragile gold plating.
Mercury fumes are invisible, an insidious source of mercury poisoning, as mercury is also known to evaporate at room temperature. Anyone working with mercury is subject to toxic effects such as mood swings, confusion, shaking, seizures and death.
According to 20th century writer André-Jean Festugière:
"Greco-Egyptian alchemy was born from the meeting of a fact and a doctrine. The fact is the traditional practice in Egypt of the arts of goldsmithing. The doctrine is a mixture of Greek philosophy, borrowed especially from Plato and Aristotle, and mystical reveries."
Festugière is also known for translating works attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, the legendary figure of Hermeticism. Hermes is a Greco-Egyptian fusion of the Greek Hermes (Roman Mercury) and Egyptian god Thoth. The practice of Hermeticism continues today.
Ancient alchemy uses a diverse array of methodologies and perspectives. Each alchemist, driven by personal motivations and beliefs, approaches the pursuit of transmuting base metals to gold in a distinct manner.
Zosimos of Panopolis, a Gnostic mystic c 300 AD, is credited with the oldest known alchemical writings. He collects earlier Hellenistic texts on alchemy, which later influence medieval alchemists, particularly during the Golden Age of Islam.
In "The True Book of Sophe," Zosimos demonstrates obscurity of subject matter in poetically worded explorations of techniques involving lead and transmutation of metals into gold.
As the sun is, so to speak, a flower of the fire and (simultaneously) the heavenly sun, the right eye of the world, so copper when it blooms—that is when it takes the color of gold, through purification—becomes a terrestrial sun, which is king of the earth, as the sun is king of heaven.
While today metals like gold and tin and lead as seen as elements, early alchemists posit these metals are compounds, produced underground through the combination of simpler substances. These are a wet substance, mercury, and a dry one, sulfur.
A prominent alchemist of the Islamic Golden Age is Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (721 - 815 AD). According to his philosophy, sulfur represents the fundamental mineral, while mercury stands for the essential metal, from which all other substances originate.
By manipulating properties of a substance, it's theoretically possible to transform it using the enigmatic Philosopher's Stone or lapis philosophorium. The idea of the Philosopher's Stone persists in Islam until 9th century AD, while western philosophy still clings to the concept.
" ... It is known that the things that are about to be said to you, doubling, tinctures, all operations and whatever else lead into one meaning and one work. Apprehend the mystery, child, of the widow’s drug."
Pseudo-Democrites c. 1st century AD
In a document representing the activities and gold-making desires of Egyptian Goddess Isis and her son Horus, written c. 1st century, alchemy is called hiera techne or the holy technique. The writer (as Isis) states:
After a certain passing of the kairoi (time) and the necessary movement of the heavenly sphere, it happened that one of the angels who dwelt in the first firmament saw me from above and came towards me desiring to unite with me sexually. He was in a great hurry for this to happen, but I did not submit to him. I resisted, for I wished to ask him about the preparation of gold and silver.
Further:
When I put my question, he said he did not wish to answer me since it was such a great mystery, but said he would return next day and with him would be a greater angel, Amnaël, who would be able to answer me and solve my problem.
And he told me about his sign and that he would bear on his head, and take it and show me, a ceramic vessel full of shining water. He [the other angel] wanted to tell me the truth.
Along these lines, Zosimos says:
"The ancient and divine writings say the angels became enamoured of women; and, descending, taught them all the works of nature. From them, therefore, is the first tradition, chema, concerning these arts; for they called this book chema and hence the science of chemistry takes its name."
During the Renaissance, Sir Francis Bacon explains how to make gold. His method involves melting silver along with mercury and niter:
" ... For the Materiall, take Silver, which is the Metall that in Nature Symbolizeth most with Gold; Put in also, with the Silver, a Tenth Part of Quick-silver, and Twelfth Part of Nitre, by weight."
In his Art of Distillation, physician John French (1616 - 1657) includes a section on the nature of gold and silver. He explains a process by which the four elements combine to create sperm with God's blessing, then enter the earth to produce a vapor.
Depending on the path it takes, this miraculous vapor can transform the earth into various metals including silver, tin, copper, or gold. It's as good a theory as any. During his lifetime, French sees the emergence of chemistry from alchemy and advocates its use in medicine.
Alchemical books are often published with wide margins around the text, for notes of the practitioner. The books are not answers. They are guides. Readers enter a dialogue with the author, making corrections or arguing about interpretations.
“Reading was a huge part of alchemical practice”, says historian James Voelkel.
The lack of commonality in methods among practitioners is not surprising, considering the inefficacy of gold-making techniques they employ. Through history, no two alchemists have identical approaches, goals or philosophical outlooks on the nature of metals.
Arabist Paul Kraus (1904 - 1944) compiles a vast range of Islamic writings on alchemy and science. Reams of texts remain untranslated from their original Arabic. In his exploration of alchemical principles, Kraus is intrigued by the properties of lead and gold.
Drawing on research and analysis, Kraus proposes lead's characteristics stand in direct opposition to those of gold. This juxtaposition displays the possibility of transmuting one substance into its exact opposite.
Alchemists use complex language and symbols to protect their knowledge and reputation. The study of ancient alchemy shows a mix of ambition, secrecy, and desire for recognition. The mysterious texts reflect human ingenuity and ambition in this esoteric field.
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