Corpus Fontium Historiae Fodinarum: Difference between revisions
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| rowspan="2" | 59–61. Near the Erythraean Sea, the Nile, although it makes numerous meanders and bends, at that point turns sharply and makes a great deviation from the eastward course of its bends, and extends from the sea far inland so that the land between the waters – the salt and the drinkable – is compressed like a mass of clay. At this point at the aforementioned sea [Erythraean or Red Sea], there are found some of the so-called ‘noble rocks’, which contain abundant mineral deposits. In colour they are jet black but contain such great outcrops of quartz that everything else pales by comparison with them for brilliance. As for those who have been overwhelmed by extreme misfortune, these people the tyrannical government condemns to the bitterest slavery of the gold mines. Some suffer together with their wives and children and some apart from them. || Diodorus 3.12, similar description of the geology
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| rowspan="4" | They [the miners] pursue their tasks in the mountains where the gold is found. They light wood fires on the stone outcrops, which are jagged and extremely hard, and crumble them with the heat. They break the fractured rock into little pieces with iron sledges. A technician, who sorts the ore, is in charge of the other workers. Whenever he points out veins to the miners, the whole task is then carried out by the miners, who are constrained by their misfortunes, in accordance with the following division of labour. Those who are the strongest and young smash the quartz-bearing rock with iron hammers, striking their blows not with skill but brute force. They also cut many galleries through the rock, not in a straight line, but in some places right above the gold-bearing ore and sometimes falling below, and again, turning to the left and sometimes twisting back and intersecting like the roots of trees. They excavate wearing lamps fastened to their foreheads, following a sort of white vein. They often force their bodies to conform (to the shape of the gallery) as they throw on the ground the pieces of rock, not according to their own decision and ability but under the supervision of an overseer, who never upbraids without also striking a blow.
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▲| They [the miners] pursue their tasks in the mountains where the gold is found. They light wood fires on the stone outcrops, which are jagged and extremely hard, and crumble them with the heat. They break the fractured rock into little pieces with iron sledges. A technician, who sorts the ore, is in charge of the other workers. Whenever he points out veins to the miners, the whole task is then carried out by the miners, who are constrained by their misfortunes, in accordance with the following division of labour. Those who are the strongest and young smash the quartz-bearing rock with iron hammers, striking their blows not with skill but brute force. They also cut many galleries through the rock, not in a straight line, but in some places right above the gold-bearing ore and sometimes falling below, and again, turning to the left and sometimes twisting back and intersecting like the roots of trees. They excavate wearing lamps fastened to their foreheads, following a sort of white vein. They often force their bodies to conform (to the shape of the gallery) as they throw on the ground the pieces of rock, not according to their own decision and ability but under the supervision of an overseer, who never upbraids without also striking a blow. || "Diodorus 3.12, fire setting and division of labour
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| rowspan="3" | 62–63. Young boys, who go down in to the galleries excavated by these men, gather up laboriously the piles of rock thrown down the floor and carry it outside the entrance. From them the older men and many of the sick take the rock. These men bring it to men called ‘pounders’. They are men less than 30 years old and more vigorous in appearance. After receiving the fragments of rock, they pound them vigorously with iron pestles; and having worked the stone until no piece is larger than a vetch seed, they distribute them immediately to other workers. The next task, however, is that of women who have been led off in captivity with their husbands or parents. For several mills stand one after the other in a line and into these they cast the crushed rock. Three women, standing opposite one another at each handle and so scantily dressed that only their private parts are concealed, do the grinding; and they grind until the portion of rick given them has been reduced to the consistency of flour. All those subject to the harsh lot just described consider death more desirable than life. ||
▲| || "Diodorus 3.12, specialists
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| 64–65. From these women, men called selangei receive the crushed ore. These men are technicians, capable of completing the king’s business. Their work is as follows: ||
▲| || Diodorus 3.12, hard manual labour and tools used in a similar description
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| rowspan="2" | They throw the crushed quartz onto a flat board which has been polished smooth but is not level, having instead a slight incline. Then, while pouring on water, they rub the ore with their hands, at first gently, then more vigorously, whence, I think, the earthy part is dissolved and flows away in accordance with the slope of the table, but the heavy and solid part remains unmoved on the wood. After having repeatedly washed the rock with water, the selangeus picks it up with light and very porous sponges. When these are applied lightly to the quartz and worked briefly, the light and loose pieces become entangled in the interstices of the sponge. He takes these up and throws them away, but leaves behind on the board the heavy, glittering pieces he has separated out, since, because of the heaviness of their nature, they are difficult to move. ||
▲| || Diodorus 3.12, same description of the brutality of the overseer
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▲| 62–63. Young boys, who go down in to the galleries excavated by these men, gather up laboriously the piles of rock thrown down the floor and carry it outside the entrance. From them the older men and many of the sick take the rock. These men bring it to men called ‘pounders’. They are men less than 30 years old and more vigorous in appearance. After receiving the fragments of rock, they pound them vigorously with iron pestles; and having worked the stone until no piece is larger than a vetch seed, they distribute them immediately to other workers. The next task, however, is that of women who have been led off in captivity with their husbands or parents. For several mills stand one after the other in a line and into these they cast the crushed rock. Three women, standing opposite one another at each handle and so scantily dressed that only their private parts are concealed, do the grinding; and they grind until the portion of rick given them has been reduced to the consistency of flour. All those subject to the harsh lot just described consider death more desirable than life. || "Diodorus 3.13, same description of division of work but with more details on their miserable existence
▲| || Diodorus 3.13, less detailed on the grinding of the gold
▲| || This technique was probably for using saddle- shaped querns (found at Wadi Bakariya and Wadi Daghbag)
▲| 64–65. From these women, men called selangei receive the crushed ore. These men are technicians, capable of completing the king’s business. Their work is as follows: || "Diodorus 3.14, describes them as ‘skilled workers’ but explains it differently
▲| They throw the crushed quartz onto a flat board which has been polished smooth but is not level, having instead a slight incline. Then, while pouring on water, they rub the ore with their hands, at first gently, then more vigorously, whence, I think, the earthy part is dissolved and flows away in accordance with the slope of the table, but the heavy and solid part remains unmoved on the wood. After having repeatedly washed the rock with water, the selangeus picks it up with light and very porous sponges. When these are applied lightly to the quartz and worked briefly, the light and loose pieces become entangled in the interstices of the sponge. He takes these up and throws them away, but leaves behind on the board the heavy, glittering pieces he has separated out, since, because of the heaviness of their nature, they are difficult to move. || "The washing table is similar to those found at Wadi Allaqi, though here the dust seems to be washed directly on its stone surface.
▲| || Selangei is a technical term for a gold washer.
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| "65–66. After thus completely separating out the gold nuggets, the selangeus turns them over to the smelters. These take up the ore by set amount and weight and place it in a pottery vessel. Then, after adding in accordance with a fixed proportion a lump of lead, grains of salt and a little tin and barley bran, they put on a close-fitting lid, seal it all around and smelt it continuously in a kiln for five days and an equal number of nights. On the next day, after cooling the smelted ore slightly, they pour it into a vessel and find that of what was put in with the gold nothing remains, but of the gold there is a solid mass, albeit slightly reduced in size because of the dust.
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| rowspan="2" | The death of numerous men in the mines brings our exposition to the conclusion already stated, namely that, as its nature clearly demonstrates, the origin of gold is laborious, its preservation is uncertain, it is most zealously sought after, and its use lies between pleasure and plain. Further, the manner in which it is mined is extremely ancient. For the nature of the mines was discovered by the first rulers of the region, but their working was suspended when the Aithiopians, by whom people also say that the Memnoneia were built, invaded Egypt in force and garrisoned its cities for many years, and (again) during the supremacy of the Medes and Persians. Even in our time bronze chisels are found in the gold mines excavated by those rulers because the use of iron was not yet known at that time. Human bones in unbelievable numbers are also found since, as was likely to have happened, many cave-ins occurred in the unstable galleries with their brittle walls, given the great extent of the excavations and their reaching in their deepest sections the sea itself. ||
▲| " || "Diodorus 3.14, has quoted the firing process almost word for word
▲| The death of numerous men in the mines brings our exposition to the conclusion already stated, namely that, as its nature clearly demonstrates, the origin of gold is laborious, its preservation is uncertain, it is most zealously sought after, and its use lies between pleasure and plain. Further, the manner in which it is mined is extremely ancient. For the nature of the mines was discovered by the first rulers of the region, but their working was suspended when the Aithiopians, by whom people also say that the Memnoneia were built, invaded Egypt in force and garrisoned its cities for many years, and (again) during the supremacy of the Medes and Persians. Even in our time bronze chisels are found in the gold mines excavated by those rulers because the use of iron was not yet known at that time. Human bones in unbelievable numbers are also found since, as was likely to have happened, many cave-ins occurred in the unstable galleries with their brittle walls, given the great extent of the excavations and their reaching in their deepest sections the sea itself. || "Diodorus 3.14, only briefly describes the hardships of mining
| || "Metal tools are rare at mining sites▼
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