Corpus Fontium Historiae Fodinarum: Difference between revisions

| 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

|-

|-

| 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.|| Diodorus 3.12, fire setting and division of labour

| Diodorus 3.13, less detailed on the grinding of the gold

|-

|-

| 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

| 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. || The washing table is similar to those found at Wadi Allaqi, though here the dust seems to be washed directly on its stone surface.

|-

|-

| "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.

| Metal tools are rare at mining sites

|}

<br>

'''Comments:''' Agatharchides’ account of the Eastern Desert of Egypt has been copied by Strabo (16.4.5–20, but Strabo had actually copied the information from Artemidorus of Ephesus), Diodorus (3.12–14) and Photius (59–66).<ref>Burstein 1989: 22.</ref> Burstein states that although Photius is the least well-known writer he gives the most accurate copy of Agatharchidus’ work. Diodorus’ copies are often more prosaic than factual. Strabo’s version does not mention gold mines; he only refers briefly to the topaz mines and appeared to be more interested in the various population groups living in and close to the desert (Strabo, 16.4.5–20).