Since the dawn of civilization, gold has held a special place in human culture and is one of the first metals that humans have worked with. The oldest evidence of its processing, found in Egypt, dates back to the fifth millennium BC. In the past, it was highly esteemed, more for its symbolic than its material value.
Today, its durability, beauty, and exceptional natural properties are cited as reasons for its value. Gold is one of the rarest metals in the Earth’s crust, but it is easily recognizable in nature because it occurs in its pure form. It is mostly found in quartz veins, but also mixed with other metals, most commonly silver, copper, iron, or lead. It can often be found in river sediments in the form of grains, flakes, or nuggets.
It stands out among all other metals in terms of its chemical and physical properties. It is not dissolved by any alkali or acid, does not oxidize, and is practically unchanged over time. It can be exceptionally well shaped and manipulated. crafting and shaping. A gram of gold, the size of a pea, can be stretched into a wire 2 km long or rolled into foil thinner than a hundredth of a millimeter. It is relatively soft, so it is commonly used as an alloy, often with silver.
The most striking, and perhaps most valued property of gold, is its brilliant yellow color that gives the impression of light emanating from its depths. Therefore, in ancient cultures, names for gold were associated with light and the Sun. The Chinese pictogram for gold, “kin,” originally meant “something that shines underground.” The Hebrew name for gold is “zahab,” which means “illuminated by the Sun.” The Latin name for gold, “aurum,” means “the shine of dawn.” In alchemy, the symbol for gold is a circle with a dot, which simultaneously represents the Sun and the Spirit, or God.
Due to its association with light and the Sun, gold has always symbolized the celestial nature, representing a kind of crystallization of the Spirit in the visible world. This understanding of gold is best confirmed by medieval alchemy. Alchemical teachings. According to alchemists, everything in nature, including metals, is composed of four elements (fire, water, air, and earth) which are found in perfect, harmonious balance in gold. Therefore, for alchemists, gold represented the pinnacle of the process of perfecting metals, which occurs within the depths of the Earth under the influence of the Sun and the planets, making it capable of harnessing spiritual power.
As currency, gold began to be used relatively late and to a limited extent. The first money was gold coins made from electrum, a natural alloy of gold and silver, found in Lydia in Asia Minor around 650 BC. In China, gold coins have been used since the 6th century BC, and the oldest gold coin, called Ying yuan, was square in shape.
Greek gold coins are considered the most beautiful specimens of gold currency. Almost all Greek cities minted them as a symbol of independence, power, and prestige. Great attention was given to the artistic design of the coins. One of the most important gold coin minters of that time was Alexander the Great. On the front side was a depiction of Athena, and on the back side was the goddess of victory, Nike.
Due to the belief in its spiritual origin, in all traditional cultures, gold was used to emphasize divine origin, immortality, dignity, or spiritual elevation. Statues, paintings, books, clothing, and utensils made or decorated with gold gained a note of dedication and connection to the spirit.
For example, Apollo, the Greek god of sunlight, was depicted dressed in gold and armed with gold; his tunic, buckles, lyre, bow, quiver, and shoes were always made of gold. The golden sickle with which the Druids cut branches symbolized the Sun and the Moon; gold representing the Sun and the sickle representing the Moon. The golden apples from the Hesperides and the golden peaches from Chinese mythology were symbols of immortality. The Germanic goddess Iduna possessed a golden apple that granted the gods eternal youth. The halo surrounding the heads of ancient heroes and gods, and later Christian saints, was a radiant circle of golden light.
As a symbol of spiritual perfection, gold has been associated with the highest civilizational and philosophical values. For Indians, as well as for many other nations, the earthly history of humanity begins with the golden age in which man fully expressed his spiritual nature. Similarly, the Greeks called the noblest human race from the beginning of time the golden generation. In the Bible, heavenly Jerusalem, as a symbol of the heavenly state of humanity, is described as a “city of pure gold, like pure glass”. The most important temple of the Inca Empire, the Temple of the Sun God, was called the “Golden House”, just like the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs who were considered sons of the Sun God and his representatives on Earth. Solomon’s temple, the religious center of Judaism, according to legend, was covered in gold inside and out. In the sanctuary itself was the golden ark of the covenant, which housed the stone tablets with the Ten Commandments.
These historical examples provide part of the answer to why gold is the “king” among metals. However, The story of gold is just one line of a great symbolic saga of nature in which both jewel and water, pearl and tree, and all other elements that man shares his destiny with, found their dignity and value in the pursuit of perfection.