Corpus Fontium Historiae Fodinarum: Difference between revisions
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|<small>Eastern Desert of Egypt</small>
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'''Description-Interpretation:''' Diodorus is one of two classical writers to quote Agatharchidus of Cnidos’ (mid-second century BC writer) description of an underground gold mine in the Eastern Desert of Egypt.
12. ''At the extremity of Egypt and in the contiguous territory of both Arabia and Ethiopia, there lies a region which contains many large gold mines, where the gold is secured in great quantities with much suffering and at great expense.. For the earth is naturally black and contains seams and veins of a marble that is unusually white and in brilliancy surpasses everything else which shines brightly by its nature, and here the overseers of the labour in the mines recover the gold with the aid of a multitude of workers.'' '''Photius 59–62, similar description of the geology. ''' ''For the kings of Egypt gather together and condemn to the mining of the gold such as have been found guilty of some crime and captives of war.'' '''Photius 59–61, does not refer to a ‘king’ or any royalty.''' ''As well as those who have been accused unjustly and thrown into prison because of their anger. Not only such persons but occasionally all their relatives as well, by this means not only inflicting punishment upon those found guilty but also securing at the same time great revenues from their labours. Those who have been condemned in this way – and they are a great multitude and are all bound in chains – work at their task unceasingly both by day and night, enjoying no respite and being carefully cut off from any means of escape. Guards of foreign soldiers who speak a language different from theirs stand watch over them, so that not a man, either by conversation or by some contact of a friendly nature, is able to corrupt one of his keepers. '' '''Photius does not mention any type of guards. ''' ''The gold-bearing earth, which is hardest, they first burn with a hot fire. When they have crumbled it in this way they continue the working of it by hand; and the soft rock which can yield to moderate effort is crushed with a sledge by myriads of unfortunate wretches. The entire operations are in the charge of a skilled worker who distinguishes the stone and points it out to the labourers. Those who are assigned to this unfortunate task, the physically strongest, break the quartz rock with iron hammers, applying no skill to the task, but only force, and cutting tunnels through the stone, not in a straight line but wherever the seam of gleaming rock may lead. These men, working in darkness as they do because of the bending and winding of the passages, carry lamps bound on their foreheads. As much of the time they change the position of their bodies to follow the particular character of the stone, they throw the blocks, as they cut them out, on the ground; and at this task they labour without ceasing beneath the sternness and blows of an overseer. '' '''Photius 61, fire setting and division of labour; Photius 61, fire setting and division of labour; specialists, hard labour, sub-surface mining, querns; Photius 61, the brutality of the overseer is copied nearly word for word.'''
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14. ''In the last steps the skilled workmen receive the stone which has been ground to powder and take it off for its complete and final working; for they rub the marble which has been worked down upon a broad board which is slightly inclined, pouring water over it all the while; whereupon the earthy matter in it, melted away by the action of the water, runs down the inclined board, while that which contains the gold remains on the wood because of its weight.'' '''Photius 64–65, the only occurrence of this technical term, not mentioned by the other authors. More details on the process of washing gold. ''' ''And repeating this a number of times, they first of all rub it gently with their hands, and then lightly pressing it with sponges of loose texture they remove in this way whatever is porous and earthly, until there remains only the pure gold dust. Then at last other skilled workmen take what has been recovered and put it by fixed measure and weight into earthen jars, mixing with it a lump of lead proportionate to the mass, lumps of salt and a little tin, and adding thereto barley bran;'' ''thereupon they put on it a close-fitting lid, and smearing it over carefully with mud they bake it in a kiln for five successive days and as many nights; and at the end of this period, when they have let the jars cool off, of the other matter they find no remains in the jars, but the gold they recover in pure form, there being but little waste. This working of the gold, as it is carried on at the farthermost borders of Egypt, is effected through all the extensive labours here described; for Nature herself, in my opinion, makes it clear that whereas the production of gold is laborious, the guarding of it is difficult, the zest for it very great, and that its use is half-way between pleasure and pain. '' '''Photius 65–66, Diodorus follows Agatharchidus closely; Photius 66, is more prosaic and detailed in his description of the hardship of mining in general.'''
'''Comments:''' This description has been used by many modern scholars when discussing mining in Egypt during the classical period. It must be kept in mind that this reference dates back to the Ptolemaic era and can only be used to explain mining up to a certain extent. The labourers who appeared to be forced into working at the mine were ''condemnati'', criminals and prisoners of war. They were guarded by soldiers who were not indigenous to the country and who were purposefully chosen for their lack of understanding of the language of the workers. This, it can be argued, must have been based on the assumption that all miners will try to escape by starting friendships with the soldiers, or that the latter could be bribed, so hoped to halt that activity by placing people in a supervisory role with whom they could not communicate. ‘Guards of foreign soldiers who speak a language different from theirs stand watch over them, so that not a man, either by conversation or by some contact of a friendly nature, is able to corrupt one of his keepers’. Photius’ description, which is considered to be closer to Agatharchidus’ writings, does not mention any type of guard. Could this mean that Diodorus has noticed this setup for miners in his own time, almost one century later?
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38. ''In this section, Diodorus describes the use of slaves as mine labour and their wretched working conditions. ‘For no respite or pause is granted them in their labours but are compelled by the blows of overseers. Indeed death in their eyes is more to be desired than life’. He finishes this paragraph by saying that the Iberian mines were not newly discovered ores but had already been mined by the Carthaginians, who used their revenues to finance wars with the Romans, Silicians and Libyans.''
'''Comments:''' Gold, silver and copper are natural alloys but do not automatically occur in gold mines. Diodorus describes skilled and unskilled workers (36). The first reference to non-indigenous people who came to the region to mine the deposits is to Romans who conquered the region for its precious mineral. There are also references to other unskilled workers but who they were is unclear. Maybe they were the local population who did not have experience but came to work there when the Romans arrived and because local job opportunity was non-existent. Diodorus could also have been referring to slaves (38). Diodorus makes it clear that the Romans were well organised but were driven by greed – an unpleasant observation that he makes not for first time (46.1–4). Other classical writers such as Strabo (4.6.7) and Pliny the Elder (''Naturalis Historia'' XXXIII.21 and ''Naturalis Historia'' XXXVII.74) also suggest in their descriptions of mining districts in the Empire that the Romans had a high demand for gold. Whether this implies a hidden reproach or just an observation on the writers’ part is open to interpretation but it does explain the Romans’ intense way of working. For more on the Archimedean or Egyptian screw, as referred to in the text, see Bienkowski, who describes a screw kept at the Museum of Liverpool (37).
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'''Description-Interpretation:''' ''Hephaestus'' was the discoverer of every manner of working iron, copper, gold, silver, and everything that required fire for working. He is also acclaimed for having discovered other uses for fire which he gave to humans. Skilled workers therefore called their fire ''Hephaestus'' and offered him prayers and sacrifices.
'''Comments:''' Only classical writers clearly reference a deity associated with gold, and more precisely with the refining of this precious metal. Here he is mentioned by name, though Pliny (''Naturalis Historia'' XXXIII. 4.12) only refers to him as the ‘god of handicraft’. There is not much known on gods associated with mining as it seems that the miners worshipped their own house gods. Min and Pan are two names for the same god and are linked with miners and travelers in the Eastern Desert of Egypt. A shrine or temple dedicated to him has not yet been found. The name of Min is known from a stele on which he is depicted as an ithyphallic deity, as well as from a few inscriptions in the Eastern Desert.
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'''Comments:''' Jones translates it as chaff-free, while Hamilton and Falconer use the word ‘straw’. Diodorus (3.14) describes the use of lead, salt and tin, and barley bran to purify the gold dust. Panning river sediments is one of the oldest techniques used to collect secondary gold; it is in these deposits that nuggets are usually found. When gold requires melting it comes from primary deposits found imbedded in the vein.
Strabo describes both the primary (veins) and secondary deposits (sediments, alluvial gold, and eroding, outcropping veins). This description shows that mining was already well established in the region when the Romans took possession of the gold mines during the imperial period. The technique described for the collection, cleaning and refining of gold particles is still very much the same as used in the modern mining industry. Today, however, there are less secondary deposits, apart from newly discovered sites that were not accessible to the Romans, such as in Ireland and the New World many centuries later.
===Strabo===
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'''Comments:''' Jones translates it as chaff-free, while Hamilton and Falconer use the word ‘straw’. Diodorus (3.14) describes the use of lead, salt and tin, and barley bran to purify the gold dust. Panning river sediments is one of the oldest techniques used to collect secondary gold; it is in these deposits that nuggets are usually found. When gold requires melting it comes from primary deposits found imbedded in the vein.
Strabo describes both the primary (veins) and secondary deposits (sediments, alluvial gold, and eroding, outcropping veins). This description shows that mining was already well established in the region when the Romans took possession of the gold mines during the imperial period. The technique described for the collection, cleaning and refining of gold particles is still very much the same as used in the modern mining industry. Today, however, there are less secondary deposits, apart from newly discovered sites that were not accessible to the Romans, such as in Ireland and the New World many centuries later.
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