Pharaohs and gold
They
discovered it since ancient times and made artistic masterpieces from it
The Pharaohs were the first to
reach the extraction of gold, through exploration work in the Eastern Desert,
the Red Sea and Nubia, and they excelled in making it, so we find that their
gold had a strong presence, they are the ones who discovered it, made it, wore
it and carved it, but they did not worship it.
The pharaohs had
discovered gold since ancient times.
The ancient Egyptians discovered about 125 mines in the eastern desert,
the Red Sea region, and Nubia, which means the land of gold in the ancient
Egyptian language. Pharaonic Egypt was rich in gold, and one of the rulers of
the Near East said to King Amenhotep III," I send me a quantity of gold
because Gold in your country is like dirt.
The director of the Bibliotheca
Alexandrina Museum of Antiquities confirmed that the golden papyrus in the
Turin Museum in Italy from the reign of King City I of the Nineteenth Dynasty
refers to the gold mines scattered in the Eastern Desert, and the successive
archaeological discoveries reflect the ancient Egyptians' enjoyment of
tremendous experience in the field of gold exploration and extraction from
quartz veins. As well as their great experience in the field of manufacturing
it, they used fire and porcelain jungle to smelt it.
"Gold industry"
The director of the Bibliotheca
Alexandrina Museum of Antiquities continued: The scenes on the walls of the
ancient Egyptian tombs indicate that the ancient Egyptians introduced fire to
the manufacture of gold. Its edges are made of porcelain that does not burn,
then gold is poured after melting it into molds to make jewelry, and the
primary techniques used in making gold in the early stages of the ancient
Egyptians were not dependent on fire, but were based on transforming shapes and
changing them by hammer, anvil and pressure tools. The fingertips of the
dwarves are behind the accuracy of the artefacts, and the pharaohs made many
things out of gold.
Examples of the ingenuity of the
pharaohs in the gold industry
There is a golden dome within the
tomb of Queen Hetepheres, the mother of King Khufu and the wife of King
Senefru, and the mask of King Tutankhamun, which weighs about 11 kilograms, and
his coffin, which weighs about 110.5 kilograms of pure gold, and the Pharaohs
wore a lot of gold in his precious jewelry.
Gold was used in the beautiful
sculptures of the pharaohs, and it was allocated to senior statesmen, and the
pharaohs buried gold with them, and the pharaohs did not worship gold and
sanctify the golden color that was symbolic of the color of the sun's rays, and
the gold industry was associated with the ancient Egyptians with the doctrine
of immortality, because its color does not change over time, Gold industry was
one of the most important Egyptian crafts, and gold was associated with funeral
rites and beliefs.
In the Pharaonic civilization,
gold occupies great importance in social life and the rituals of death and life.
Ancient Egypt was famous for its
mines, from which gold was extracted in abundance, gold artifacts and pharaonic
ornaments, and there are important pieces of the ornaments of the pharaohs that
came from Tanis (the maintenance of stone), such as the golden mask of King
Susans I of the Twenty-first Dynasty, and many groups of gold vessels, as well
as the golden crown of Princess Sat Hathor Yunt, as well as the bracelets of
Queen Hetepheres of the Fourth Dynasty, and bracelets from the reign of King
Jir from the First Dynasty.
