04.01.2017 0 5540
It’s unlikely that anyone would dare call an ordinary electric battery a “miracle.” Today these “miracles” are sold in any store or kiosk. But what can you say about a battery whose age is... 2000 thousand years?!
This mysterious discovery was made in 1938 near Baghdad, among the ruins of the ancient Parthian settlement of Khujut-Rabu. Later the authorship of the find was attributed to the German archaeologist Wilhelm König, who then worked as the director of the Baghdad Museum, but it is still unclear whether Koenig himself dug it up, or simply discovered this mysterious item in the museum’s storerooms. Be that as it may, it was Koenig who first examined the unusual find.
It was a yellow clay flask slightly larger than a fist (approx. 13 cm in height). Its neck was filled with bitumen, and an iron rod with traces of corrosion was passed through the layer of bitumen. Inside, the rod was surrounded by a copper cylinder about 5 inches high and 1.5 inches in diameter. Its edges are soldered with a tin-lead alloy. Everything was done very simply, artlessly and painfully reminiscent of... primitive electric battery!
In any case, Koenig did not find any other explanation. According to his calculations, this battery, filled with acid or alkali, could produce electricity with voltage up to 1 V. But why might the ancients need electricity? After all, as we know, the electric battery (“voltaic column”) was invented in 1800 by the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (1745-1827).
This invention was one of those that radically changed the life of mankind. However, it doesn’t seem like the “Baghdad battery” had any impact on the lives of the people of the Ancient World.
In search of an answer, Koenig went through many exhibits of the Baghdad Museum of Antiquities. His attention was drawn to silver-plated copper vases found among the ruins of Sumerian cities in southern Iraq and dating back to at least 2500 BC. The thin layer of silver on the patina-covered vases appears to have been applied... using the electrolytic method.
As is known, using electrolytic deposition it is possible to apply a coating of one metal (for example, gold or silver) to the surface of another metal (for example, silver or copper). This method (galvanostegy) was developed in 1838 by the German electrical engineer B.S. Jacobi, who worked in Russia. However, it turns out that the inhabitants of Ancient Mesopotamia used it several thousand years ago!
When and by whom was the “Baghdad battery” created? The village of Khujut Rabu, where it was found, dates back to the Parthian era (248 BC - 226 AD). Excellent warriors, the Parthians have not proven themselves in the area scientific discoveries and inventions. Therefore, it was more logical to assume that they borrowed battery technology from some more advanced civilization.
Maybe they learned how to make these batteries back in the era of the Neo-Babylonian (626-539 BC) or Old Babylonian (2003-1595 BC) kingdoms? Or maybe this tradition is even more ancient and originates from the Sumerians? This great civilization gave humanity writing and the wheel. Perhaps the Sumerians were the first to invent electric batteries, and from them this skill was passed down to the Parthians?
If this is true, then this technology was lost in subsequent centuries, and no more “batteries” were created for the next 1800 years.
In 1940, Koenig published an article devoted to this intriguing mystery. But the Second was already in full swing World War, and against this background, the discovery of the German scientist went unnoticed. The mystery of the “Baghdad battery” was returned to only after the war.
In 1947, the American physicist Willard Gray, working at the High Voltage Laboratory in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, became interested in Koenig's article and made an exact copy of the “battery.” He used copper sulfate as an electrolyte. To Gray's surprise (and satisfaction!), the battery actually produced an electric current of about 2 volts.
Gray's experiment caused waves scientific interest to the mysterious device found by Koenig. Not all scientists unequivocally perceived it as an electric battery. There were other opinions. But even those who agreed with the conclusions of Koenig and Gray could not answer many questions: who made the battery and when? What was it used for? Is this an isolated invention, or were these devices well known in Mesopotamia? If so, when did this tradition begin and how widespread was it?
The debate continues to this day. Unfortunately, no one has yet managed to find another example of the “Baghdad battery,” so Koenig’s find remains the only one of its kind, and this forces scientists to refrain from making any general conclusions.
There are, however, several similar finds made in other areas globe, in particular in Egypt, but they cannot be interpreted as clearly as the Baghdad one. And the “Baghdad battery” itself has not received full recognition in scientific circles.
Most researchers attribute the battery to the Parthian era, but no one is in a hurry to recognize the priority of the Parthians in the field of invention of electricity: as mentioned above, the world does not know any scientific achievements of this people.
Meanwhile, Dr. John Simpson, a member of the Ancient Oriental Department at the British Museum, has a different opinion: the pot from which the “Baghdad battery” is made is not Parthian, but Sasanian (Iranian).
In the history of the Middle East, the Sasanian period (225-640 AD) marks the end of the ancient and the beginning of the medieval era, characterized by more high level scientific and technological development.
However, not a single element of the “Baghdad battery” is high-tech. This device uses only the most common materials, good known to people for centuries, and its production was within the capabilities of many peoples of that era.
Another thing is surprising: who and how guessed to combine these very elements and in exactly this way? Was the result of this invention obvious to its creator in advance? Then we have to admit that the ancients already possessed some amount of knowledge about electricity, perhaps gleaned from observations of natural phenomena.
But how widely was this knowledge disseminated? Or is the “Baghdad battery” still a result? random experiment? There is nothing unusual about this: many inventions were made long before scientists understood the basic principles of this or that phenomenon.
The Chinese invented the compass much earlier than the theory of the Earth's magnetic field was created. It is often not necessary for a person to understand why a particular device works—it is enough for him that it works.
Behind last years experimenters made and tested many exact copies of the “Baghdad battery”, using copper sulfate, vinegar, etc. as an electrolyte. In any case, the “battery” provided a current with a voltage of 0.8 to 2 volts.
It's obvious that serial connection Such batteries could theoretically produce a much higher voltage, but there is no evidence that other similar batteries existed in nature, and that ancient electrical engineers used wires (although ordinary wire was undoubtedly known to them).
This means that the entire hypothesis is still up in the air. In addition, even ten “Baghdad batteries,” when connected together, could hardly produce a sufficiently powerful current.
One of the experiments with copies of the "Baghdad battery"
How could the inhabitants of ancient Mesopotamia use electricity?
Koenig’s opinion that the “Baghdad battery” was used for electrolytic gilding or silvering of metals is shared by most researchers today. This hypothesis is attractive because it is based on profit, the “mother” of many inventions.
In 1978, the German scientist Dr. Arne Eggebrecht made several copies of the “Baghdad battery” using as an electrolyte something that was certainly available to the inhabitants of Mesopotamia in ancient times: freshly squeezed grape juice. Using this battery, he managed to gild a small silver figurine. True, the coating was very thin: 0.0001 mm. But, be that as it may, the experiment was a success!
Eggebrecht believed that many of the gold antiquities held in museums today may actually be electrolytically gilded silver. However, his opinion is not shared by other researchers. This is the main drawback of the “electrolytic” hypothesis - scientists do not have at their disposal ancient items gold-plated or silver-plated by electrolytic methods! All known examples are plated with gold or silver using the two conventional methods described above.
However, electricity could be used in ancient times in completely different areas. For example, in medicine. Thus, in one ancient Greek medical treatise, it is recommended to apply an electric stingray to the soles of the feet as a painkiller.
The Chinese at that time had already mastered the art of acupuncture, and today they use acupuncture in combination with electric current. But maybe this tradition originates in antiquity? However, the tiny voltage provided by the Baghdad battery was unlikely to be an effective painkiller. Much more powerful drugs were well known in the ancient world.
An interesting hypothesis was expressed by Dr. Paul Craddock, an employee of the British Museum, a specialist in the field of ancient metallurgy. In his opinion, electric batteries could be used by priests in temples. A group of batteries connected in parallel was hidden inside a metal statue or idol.
Anyone who touched the statue received a weak but quite sensitive electric shock. Even if the current was not strong enough to cause a shock, the fingers might well feel a strange, warm tingling sensation. For a person uninitiated into the secret, in any case, this was evidence magical power emanating from the idol. She inspired him with awe before the deity, before religion, before the priests...
The fact that this is quite possible is evidenced by the experience of Egypt: all the best inventions of Heron of Alexandria (1st century AD) - automatically swinging doors, a signal horn, a water vending machine - were adopted by the Egyptian priests, who hoped with their help strengthen your authority.
If the idol with the Baghdad battery pack hidden in it is ever found, it will provide decisive evidence in favor of Craddock's hypothesis. For now, unfortunately, this is only one of the versions. A mysterious 2,000-year-old battery continues to remain a mystery to researchers.
Periods, which, following its discoverer - the German archaeologist Wilhelm König, director of the National Museum of Iraq - is sometimes regarded as ancient galvanic cells, created 2000 years before the birth of Alessandro Volta.
Nowadays, the Baghdad battery is located in the National Museum of Iraq.
Encyclopedic YouTube
1 / 3
Baghdad battery. Electricity existed 2000 years ago!
10 Archaeological Finds That Could Rewrite History
ANCIENT TECHNOLOGIES RE-OPENED #IF
Subtitles
Description
Wilhelm Koenig in his book “In Paradise Lost” gives the following description of the Baghdad battery:
... the upper end of the rod protruded about a centimeter above the cylinder and was covered with a thin, light yellow, but completely oxidized layer of metal, similar in appearance to lead. The lower end of the iron rod did not reach the bottom of the cylinder, on which there was a layer of asphalt about three millimeters thick.
Purpose
Wilhelm Koenig suggested that a Baghdad battery (more precisely, a “galvanic” cell), filled with acid or alkali, could create an electrical voltage of one volt. Koenig reviewed the exhibits of the National Museum of Iraq. He was surprised by silver-plated copper vases dating back to 2500 BC. e. As Koenig suggested, the silver on the vases was applied using the electrolytic method.
Koenig's version that the find was a battery was confirmed by Professor J.B. Perchinski from the University of North Carolina. He created an exact copy of the “battery” and filled it with five percent wine vinegar. A voltage of 0.5 volts was recorded.
The German Egyptologist Arne Eggebrecht used experience to prove that galvanization was known more than 2000 years ago. He used a figurine of Osiris to confirm this. Using 10 vessels similar to the Baghdad battery and a salt solution of gold, the scientist coated the figurine in a few hours even layer gold.
Human civilization gained its first knowledge of electric current and voltage in the second half of the 18th century. The founder of this field was the Italian physicist and physiologist Luigi Galvani (1737-1798). His work was corrected and developed by the Italian physicist Alexander Volta (1745-1827). He practically became the inventor of the electric battery. It is a source of electrical energy and produces direct current. Thanks to him, electric train engines spin, light bulbs and flashlights light up, computers work, Cell phones, electric drills and vacuum cleaners.
Electric current began its victorious march across the planet in the 19th century. Nowadays, life without him is unthinkable. Even a power outage of just an hour and a half can completely paralyze the life of any of us. This is the situation today. Electricity entered everyday life completely and irrevocably. We can't even start a car if it doesn't have a battery.
Looking at all these achievements of scientific and technological progress, you can’t help but wonder how humanity existed for thousands of years without electric current and voltage. What did people do in the evenings without TV and light? After all, there were no traces of incandescent light bulbs. The streets were illuminated by gas lamps, and candles burned in the houses. Try living by candlelight these days. Although a person gets used to everything, and very quickly.
As surprising as it may sound, today there is a theory that in ancient times people successfully used peculiar electrical elements and did not light candles at night, did not have oil lamps, but whiled away the evenings by the light of lamps. They also used these lamps to illuminate spacious temples, caves, tombs and other rooms where sunlight did not reach. A similar statement was born in the 30s of the 20th century. And the reason was an amazing find, called Baghdad battery.
Humanity owes this discovery to the Austrian archaeologist Wilhelm Koening. It was discovered by him in 1936 on the outskirts of Baghdad. It is not known for sure whether the Austrian carried out archaeological excavations, or received this valuable item from one of the local residents. Most likely, there were no excavations, since in this case the archaeologist could have found many more interesting things. However, the scientific world only knows about this amazing artifact, which is of unique value.
So what is the Baghdad battery? This is an ancient vessel of light yellow color. Its height is only 15 cm. Its age is estimated at 2000 years. The neck was filled with resin, from which the tip of an iron rod protruded. Almost all of it was “eaten up” by corrosion, which is not surprising considering its age.
When the neck was freed from the resin plug, they found copper tube- rolled copper sheet. Its diameter was 25 mm, and its length barely reached 9 cm. It was through this tube that the iron rod passed. He did not reach the bottom of the vessel. There was still a couple of centimeters of free space. The very bottom was covered with mountain resin. That is, everything is small metal structure hung in the air. It was held in this position by the resin that covered the neck.
Judging by the ceramics, the vessel belonged to the period of the Sassanid dynasty. This is the period from 224 to 651 years. That is, the mysterious artifact was not even 2000 years old, as was initially determined. But what was this whole structure intended for? Wilhelm Koening did not have a clear answer here. After much thought, an almost incredible thought occurred to him. This device could be nothing more than an ancient battery for generating electric current.
Yes indeed. If you pour the same lemon, grape juice or vinegar into the vessel, it will completely surround both the copper cylinder and the iron rod. The liquid in this case will act as an acidic electrolyte. Consequently, a potential difference will arise between copper and iron and an electric current will appear. The only thing left to do is connect the current-carrying wires to the vessel and short them to some electrical consumer. This could be a lighting lamp.
Subsequently, other researchers measured the voltage that this small structure can produce. The voltmeter showed a value of 1.1 volts. Very little. But if you take several tens or hundreds of such vessels and connect them in series, then as a result you can get 100 volts, 200, and even 380. Of course, about 3-phase alternating current there was no conversation, but the voltage direct current could, in principle, be anything.
But could ancient people have created incandescent lamps? At least there were no problems with the glass. According to official science, it appeared in Ancient Egypt at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. e. That is this material older than the Egyptian pyramids by about 500 years. People began to mix sand, soda ash, lime, and heat this mixture to very high temperatures. high temperatures and obtain a glassy mass. At first it was not very transparent, but the process progressed and improved, and gradually the glass acquired the appearance that is familiar to modern people.
As for the filament, which is supposed to emit light, here you can look at an ancient drawing created by an unknown Egyptian master. A long-dead artist brought to us from the darkness of centuries a peculiar object, very reminiscent in shape of a modern light bulb. There is some kind of thick long strip running inside. It is quite possible that it is she who emits light. It’s just that what kind of material this is is unknown.
Mysterious Egyptian wall painting
So was the Baghdad battery a source of electricity? Judging by the ancient drawing, a definite answer cannot be given. Many researchers are inclined to see on it not a lamp at all, but some kind of large vegetable grown by hardworking farmers. IN in this case The rule works: you see what you want to see.
The battery is defended by the fact that ancient wall paintings were made in indoors, into which sunlight did not fall in any way. However, there are no traces of ingrained soot from torches and oil lamps on the ceilings and vaults. But the masters did not work in the dark. They naturally had a light source. It didn’t smoke or emit black smoke, but the lighting was perfect.
The Baghdad battery could have been used for other purposes. In ancient Iran, copper utensils covered with thin layer silver Silver has healing properties. It kills harmful microbes, and from a purely aesthetic point of view, the same cup or vessel looks much more impressive if it is covered with a noble metal.
A uniform thin layer of silver or gold can be applied to the surface using the electrolytic method. In this case, the product looks perfect. It is quite possible that ancient masters brought kitchen utensils to perfection in a similar way. But supporters of this theory also have opponents.
These people claim that the Baghdad battery has nothing in common with a voltaic cell. The first argument sounds quite weighty. How was electrolyte added to a completely sealed battery? The neck of the vessel is filled with resin. And use this device a short period of time and then throwing it away is too great a luxury.
The second argument: where is the related equipment. If such devices were used en masse, then some wires and conductors should have been preserved to ensure the operation of the batteries. There is no trace of any of this.
Third argument: no drawings or records of the use of electrical elements were found. There is only one Egyptian drawing, which was mentioned above. If the Baghdad battery had been used everywhere, then massive deposits of these batteries would have been found long ago, and chronicles would have mentioned them quite often. There is no trace of any of this. After the first battery, 20 similar artifacts were discovered, but that was all.
So what was the purpose of this mysterious find? Proponents of the non-electrical theory argue that this artifact was a place for storing a papyrus or parchment scroll. In the old days, sacred manuscripts were packed in precisely such vessels. However, their necks were not sealed with a resin stopper, and the scrolls were not wound on a metal rod. In all other respects, the vessels were absolutely identical to those found. But where did the scroll with the notes go then? Rotted, leaving behind only slightly acidic organic components.
Today, the mystery of the mysterious Iranian discovery has not been solved. It has been experimentally proven that a battery designed in this way is capable of delivering a voltage of 1.5 volts. She is not capable of more. But was it used? this design for purposes related to electricity - there is no clear and precise answer here. We apparently won’t get it for a long time, since the version of the electrification of the Ancient World contradicts official science. This is equivalent to the fact that at one time the church rejected the history of mankind before the creation of the world, which, as we know, occurred in 5508 BC. e.
The article was written by ridar-shakin
Evidence of the existence of electricity is preserved in wall paintings and papyri of Ancient Egypt. While these claims are largely devoid of actual evidence, there is one artifact that scientists believe is an example of a source of electricity. Its existence is indisputable, which means that this small, nondescript jug can change the opinion already established in science.
An object that can be called a 2000-year-old electric battery was found in 1936 by workers leveling the ground for a new railway in the Kujut Rabu area, southeast of Baghdad. It turned out that the battery was located in an underground tomb from the Parthian period (247 BC - 228 AD). The find was an oval jug made of bright yellow clay, 13 cm high, with a rolled sheet of copper, an iron rod and several pieces of bitumen inside. The upper and lower edges of the copper cylinder were sealed with bitumen. The presence of bitumen seals suggests that the vessel once contained liquid. This is also confirmed by traces of corrosion on the copper, which apparently appeared as a result of the action of an acid, presumably vinegar or wine. Similar artifacts were found near the cities of Seleucia (where a papyrus scroll was found in a similar jug) and Ctesiphon (where rolled sheets of bronze were found in a vessel).
In 1938, the German archaeologist Wilhelm Koenig, who later headed the laboratory of the Baghdad Museum, discovered a strange object or several objects in the basement of the museum (the data does not match in different sources). After a thorough analysis, he came to the conclusion that the artifact is very similar to a galvanic cell, that is, it is a prototype of a modern electric battery. Koenig soon published an article in which he claimed that it was an ancient battery that was used to electroplate (transfer a thin layer of gold or silver from one surface to another) gold onto silver objects. He also suggested that multiple batteries could be linked together to increase power. It is generally accepted that the first known electric battery, the Voltaic column, was invented by Italian physicist Alessandro Volta only in 1800, while the Baghdad battery dates back to 250 BC. e. - 640 AD e. So, if this was a primitive battery, where did the ancient Parthians get their knowledge of its design and how it worked? An engineer at the Main Laboratory of High Voltage Electricity in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Willard F. M. Gray, having become acquainted with Koenig's article, decided to create and test an exact copy of the ancient battery. By filling a clay jug with grape juice, vinegar or copper sulfate solution, he obtained a voltage of 1.5–2 V.
In 1978, Egyptologist Dr. Arne Eggebrecht, then director of the Romer-Pelisaes Museum in Hildesheim (Germany), created an exact replica of the Baghdad battery by filling a vessel with grape juice. The device produced a voltage of 0.87 V, sufficient to gild a silver statue with a layer approximately 10 4 mm thick. Referring to the results of the experiment, Eggebrecht said that many ancient museum exhibits that are now considered gold are actually made of gilded silver. In 1999, students at Smith College (Massachusetts), under the guidance of professor of mathematics and history of science Dr. Marjorie Seneschal, made several exact copies of the Baghdad artifact. They filled one of the jugs with vinegar, and it produced a voltage of 1.1 V. This experiment suggests that the Baghdad battery could produce a small current, but what was it used for? The most popular theory is the version proposed by Koenig. According to his version, several such elements were connected together and the generated electricity was enough to galvanize metals. Koenig discovered a Sumerian copper vase from 2500 BC. e., coated with silver. According to him, the coating was applied using a device similar to that found at Kujut Rabu, but there is no evidence of the existence of batteries in Sumer. Koenig argued that artisans in modern Iraq still use primitive electrical technology to coat copper jewelry with a thin layer of silver, as this method has been passed down from generation to generation since the time of the Parthian Kingdom. It must be said that modern gilding techniques are somewhat different from ancient technologies: a layer of gold or silver is applied to the area of the decoration.
Another theory is that the electricity generated by the battery was used in medicine. In the works of ancient Greek and Roman authors they found a lot of evidence of the existence of quite complex system knowledge about electricity in the ancient world. The Greeks knew that pain could be removed by applying an electric eel and holding it until the inflamed limb went numb. The gnus, or electric stingray, which has an organ near its eyes that produces an electric current with a force of 50 A and a voltage of 50 to 200 V, was used as a weapon: it was used to suppress small fish swimming by. The Roman writer Claudian describes the story of how a fish was caught on a bronze hook and it struck the fisherman with an electric shock that passed through the water and the line. There is also information about the treatment of a number of diseases, from headaches to gout, by applying a pair of such electric slopes to the patient’s temples. It is known that the healers of Ancient Babylon used electric stingrays for local anesthesia. In addition, the ancient Greeks discovered the static properties of electricity: by rubbing amber (in Greek “electron”) with a piece of fur, they discovered that the fur then attracted feathers, specks of dust and straws. However, although the Greeks paid attention to such a strange phenomenon, they could not figure out why this was happening and probably considered it simply something surprising. However, the claim that an electric battery was used to relieve pain has many opponents.
The main drawback of the medical theory is the very low voltage of the battery, which hardly allowed it to effectively influence the patient’s body, except for mild pain, although several such batteries connected together could produce a more powerful electrical discharge. Agreeing largely with the version about the medical purpose of the Baghdad battery, Paul Keyser from the Canadian University of Alberta proposed a new hypothesis. His idea was prompted by bronze and iron needles discovered during excavations in Seleucia, near Babylon, next to devices resembling batteries. According to his version, the essence of which was published in an article in 1993, these needles could be used for a kind of electroacupuncture - a treatment method already known in China at that time. Some researchers are inclined to believe in the ritual purpose of the Baghdad battery. Dr Paul Craddock, an expert on the history of metallurgy from the British Museum's Department of Scientific Research, suggested that a bunch of several ancient galvanic cells were placed inside a metal statue, and when believers touched the idol, they received a small shock, similar to the effect of static electricity. This probably happened when they gave the wrong answer to a question asked by the priest. This amazing tingling effect was apparently taken by the believers as proof that the priest had magical power, is the chosen one, so his temple was visited more than others. Unfortunately, until such statues are found, the ritual use of galvanic cells remains just another curious theory. Tests of copies of the Baghdad battery have been carried out repeatedly, but skeptics claim that today there is no evidence that it ever functioned as an electric battery, and note that the Parthians, the ancient creators of this device, were spoken of as great warriors, but nothing is said in the sources about their scientific achievements. And the fact that none of the surviving historical documents from that period mention the use of electricity confirms their skepticism. There are no electrolytically gilded statues, wires, cables or more complex examples of ancient batteries among the archaeological finds of the Parthian period. Some researchers dispute the results of experiments with battery replicas, arguing that it is impossible to recreate the same conditions. In particular, Dr. Arne Eggebrecht's experiments were carried out over fire. According to Dr. Bettina Schmitz, an employee of the Romer-Pelizaes Museum (where Eggebrecht conducted his experiments with a replica of the battery in 1978), no photographs or reports of Eggebrecht's experiments have survived.
At the same time, skeptics offer an alternative explanation for the electric battery theory. In their opinion, the jugs were vessels for storing sacred scrolls made of materials of organic origin - parchment or papyrus, on which certain ritual texts were written. When they decomposed, organic acids were released, which explains the presence of traces of corrosion on the copper cylinder, and the bitumen seal found near the Baghdad battery was not part of a galvanic cell, but an airtight lid that allowed the contents of the jug to be stored for a long time.
It is also not indisputable that the Baghdad battery, or rather several interconnected ones, is similar to modern electrical devices. Still, it cannot be denied that the device could perform the function electrical element. It is quite possible that the creator of this item did not fully understand the principles of what he was using, as in the case of ancient Greek amber. And this case is not isolated. Many discoveries, such as gunpowder and medicinal properties herbs were made before their benefits could be determined. However, even if it is proven that the Baghdad artifact is an ancient electric battery, doubts will remain that the ancient people 2000 years ago really understood the phenomenon of electricity. Was the Baghdad battery the only find of this kind, and its creators the only representatives ancient world who discovered (perhaps accidentally) electricity? Obviously, it is necessary to look for new written or archaeological data confirming its uniqueness. Unfortunately, in 2003, during the Iraq War, the Baghdad Battery, along with thousands of other valuable artifacts, was stolen from the National Museum. Today her whereabouts are unknown.
I, and maybe you too, immediately remembered this one interesting topic and here is such an ancient object. Today this amazing archaeological find is located in the National Museum of Iraq, and is a clay vessel the size of a man's fist.
According to modern history The electric battery was invented in 1800 by Alassandro Volta. The scientist noticed that when two dissimilar metal probes were placed into the tissue of a frog, a weak electric current appeared. Moreover, current also flowed when the electrodes were placed not in a living environment, but in some chemical solutions. Actually, this is where work on electricity began. However, the discovery of the Baghdad battery suggests that Volta did not invent the electric battery.
The object, which is called the 2000-year-old electric battery (Baghdad Battery), in 1936. was found by workers leveling land for a new railway in the Kujut Rabu area, southeast of Baghdad. It turned out that the battery was located in an underground tomb from the Parthian period (247 BC - 228 AD).
Let's find out the details...
The find was an oval jug made of bright yellow clay, 13 cm high, with a rolled sheet of copper, an iron rod and several pieces of bitumen inside. The upper and lower edges of the copper cylinder were sealed with bitumen. The presence of bitumen seals suggests that the vessel once contained liquid. This is also confirmed by traces of corrosion on the copper, which apparently appeared as a result of the action of an acid, presumably vinegar or wine. Similar artifacts were found near the cities of Seleucia (where a papyrus scroll was found in a similar jug) and Ctesiphon (where rolled sheets of bronze were found in a vessel).
In 1938 German archaeologist Wilhelm Koenig, who later headed the laboratory of the Baghdad Museum, discovered a strange object or several objects in the basement of the museum (the data does not match in different sources). After a thorough analysis, he came to the conclusion that the artifact is very similar to a galvanic cell, that is, it is a prototype of a modern electric battery. Koenig soon published an article in which he claimed that it was an ancient battery that was used to electroplate (transfer a thin layer of gold or silver from one surface to another) gold onto copper and silver objects. He also suggested that multiple batteries could be linked together to increase power.
Kujut-Rabu, where the artifact was found, is the site of an ancient settlement of the Parthians, who were excellent warriors, but were not particularly developed, so there was an assumption that the Baghdad batteries could belong to other peoples. Apart from its functions, the bank does not stand out in anything special; it was made from materials common to that time and using conventional technologies. Therefore, it is difficult to imagine that anyone could in the right way connect the right components to generate electricity. Most likely, the Baghdad bank is an accidental result of someone's efforts. An engineer at the Main Laboratory of High Voltage Electricity in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Willard F. M. Gray, having become acquainted with Koenig's article, decided to create and test an exact copy of the ancient battery. Filling a clay jug with grape juice, vinegar or copper sulfate solution, he obtained a voltage of 1.5-2V.
In 1999 students at Smith College (Massachusetts), under the guidance of professor of mathematics and history of science Dr. Marjorie Seneschal, made several exact copies of the Baghdad artifact. They filled one of the jugs with vinegar, and it produced a voltage of 1.1V. This experiment suggests that the Baghdad battery could produce a small current, but what was it used for? It is generally accepted that the first known electric battery, the Voltaic column, was invented by the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta only in 1800, while the Baghdad battery dates back to 250. BC. – 640g. AD So, if this was a primitive battery, where did the ancient Parthians get their knowledge of its design and how it worked? Let's say the Parthians - the eternal rivals of the Romans in the east, whose culture we know relatively little - could generate electric current by the most primitive means. But for what? Indeed, in Parthia, as in ancient Rome, – we know that for sure! – they did not use electric lamps, did not equip carts with electric motors, and did not build power lines.
Why not? What if it's all our fault" dark ages", depriving Europeans of historical memory? and the “age of electricity” came not in the times of Faraday and Yablochkov, but in the pre-Christian era? “Electric lighting was available back in ancient Egypt“say Peter Krassa and Reinhard Habeck, who dedicated their book to proving this idea. Their main argument is a relief from the temple of the goddess Hathor in Dendera, created in 50 BC, during the time of Queen Cleopatra. This relief shows an Egyptian priest holding in his hands an oblong object resembling the bulb of an electric lamp, with a snake writhing inside the bulb; her head is turned to the sky.
For Crassa and Habek everything is clear, this relief is a technical drawing; the strange object is a lamp, and the snake allegorically represents a filament. With the help of such lamps, the Egyptians illuminated dark corridors and rooms. This is, for example, why there is no soot on the walls of the rooms where artists worked, which would have remained if they had used oil lamps. It's all about energy!
Look how beautiful it looks: while in the pharaoh's palace, you watch as Queen Cleopatra leads her friend Julius Caesar through a dark underground tunnel, in which bright electric lamps suddenly flash.
Caesar is amazed and even a little scared. And Cleopatra, with an intonation of slight disdain, explains: “You, the enlightened Romans, do not yet know this, but we have known this since ancient times!”
"Incredible!" - you might think. However, on the Internet you can find statements like these.
They knew about mysterious bright inextinguishable light sources back in the ancient times. Plutarch wrote about a lamp that burned at the entrance to the temple of Jupiter-Ammon for several centuries. About the same bright
the source of light that burned in the head of the statue of Hera in the city of Herapolis (Syria) was written by the Greek satyr Lucian (120-180 AD). Pausanias (2nd century AD) spoke about an amazing golden lamp in the temple of Minerva,
burning unquenchably for a century.
In his writings, he described the same lamp that was located in the temple of Isis (Egypt) St. Augustine (364-450 AD), which neither water nor wind could extinguish. The same lamp worked properly in Edessa during
reign of Justinian of Byzantium (VI century AD). The inscription on this lamp indicated that it had been burning for 500 years!
IN early Middle Ages In England, a lamp was discovered that had been burning since the 3rd century AD. Near Rome in 1401, Pollanta's lantern was discovered, which burned in the tomb of his son for as long as this
incredible, for 2000 years! In 1550, on the island of Nesida, in the Gulf of Naples, during the opening of a well-preserved marble tomb, a brightly burning lamp was discovered, lit before the beginning of our
era. On the famous Appian Way during the papacy of Paul III, a tomb was opened with the buried daughter of Cicero Tulliola. In this tomb, among the many that had gone out, another eternal lamp also shone on
for 1600 years.
But even if we discard the evidence of these ancient sources as not very reliable, we can remember that the book “Oedipus Egypticus”, published in 1652 in Rome by the Jesuit Kircher, also talks about
a real lighting lamp found in the underground of Memphis.
Among the famous people who were direct or indirect witnesses to the operation of these lamps were: Clement of Alexandria, Paracelsus, Pliny, Solinus, and Albertus Magnus. Interestingly, upon opening
the crypt of the founder of the order, H. Rosicrucian, 120 years after his death, it was illuminated by a lamp hanging from the ceiling.
Modern researcher Andrew Thomas, who has studied the East for many years and has visited India several times, writes: “During my stay in India, I became acquainted with an ancient document,
kept in the library of Ujjain - “Adastya Samhita”. Incredibly, there I found instructions on how to make an electric battery!
It looks like this: “... place a well-cleaned copper plate in clay pot. Cover it first with copper sulfate and then with wet sawdust. Next, you should put a zinc plate on top,
amalgated with mercury. The contact of these plates will give energy which is known as Mitra-Varuna.
This energy splits water into Pranavaya and Udanavaya - oxygen and hydrogen. A battery made from hundreds of these pots provides a very active and efficient force.” Today we call Mitra-Varuna the anode and
cathode. It is known that in ancient india They also knew about electrical conductivity.
E. Thomas also talks about one godforsaken settlement located in the jungle near Mount Wilhelm in New Guinea. Almost completely isolated from modern civilization, this village has
an artificial lighting system that is in no way inferior to modern urban ones. Random hunters who were lucky enough to visit this village say that they were simply stunned when they saw many small moons burning brightly throughout the night.
These artificial lanterns were large balls mounted on poles. When the sun set, these lamps began to shine with a light similar to neon lamps.
Funny hypotheses, but there is still not a volt of truth in them. The power of the “Baghdad battery” is very small. Even if in ancient times rooms were illuminated with one-watt bulbs, what kind of power would that be, a glare of light, and not a ray of light in a dark kingdom! – we would have to put together forty “Baghdad batteries”. Such a structure weighs tens of kilograms. “To illuminate all Egyptian buildings, 116 million batteries with a total weight of 233,600 tons would be needed,” physicist Frank Dernenburg meticulously calculated. There is no particular faith in these figures either, but the meaning is clear: galvanic elements of antiquity should be encountered by scientists at every step. But that's not true!
The electricians were also surprised. Even today there is no incandescent lamp as gigantic as the one depicted in this relief. And it’s good that it’s not. Such colossi are dangerous: after all, the force of destruction of a lamp under the influence of atmospheric pressure increases as its volume increases. Egyptologists interpret this relief completely differently than lovers of sensations, masters of confusing centuries and discoveries. The relief is full of symbolism. The very hieroglyphic way of writing encouraged the Egyptians to see something else behind the images - what is implied. Reality and its image did not coincide. The elements of Egyptian reliefs were, rather, words and phrases that had to be understood.
So, according to experts, the relief in Dendera depicts the heavenly barge of the sun god Ra. According to Egyptian beliefs, the sun dies every day in the evening and is resurrected at dawn. Here he is symbolized by a snake, which, as was believed in the land of the pharaohs, is reborn every time it sheds its skin. The most controversial element of the image is the notorious “flask”. Even Egyptologists don't know how to interpret it. Perhaps it means "horizon". As for the environment in which the relief was created, the workers probably carved it under the light of ordinary lamps, charged, for example, olive oil. In the Valley of the Kings, archaeologists came across images that show workers with similar lamps, how they are given wicks and how the workers return them in the evening. Why then are there no traces of soot on the walls and ceilings? But this is your lie! They are. Archaeologists have found similar spots more than once.
We even had to restore some of the overly smoky tombs. But if the “Baghdad batteries” were not used to illuminate homes and tombs, what were they needed for? Let us recall the hypothesis of the German archaeologist Koenig, who believed that the electricity generated by the battery of Baghdad cans should have been sufficient to carry out the galvanization of metals. Koenig discovered a Sumerian copper vase 2500g. BC, covered with silver. According to him, the coating was applied using a device similar to that found at Kujut Rabu, but there is no evidence of the existence of batteries in Sumer. Koenig argued that artisans in modern Iraq still use primitive electrical technology to coat copper jewelry with a thin layer of silver, a method that has been passed down from generation to generation since the Parthian Empire.
In 1978 Egyptologist Arne Eggebrecht (at that time director of the Romer-Pelisaes Museum in Hildesheim) tried to experimentally test König's hypothesis. Using ten vessels similar to the Baghdad battery and a salt solution of gold, in a few hours the scientist covered the figurine of Osiris with an even layer of gold. Obviously, the ancient masters were also capable of such a technical trick. After all, for application galvanic coatings You need a low current and low voltage. Referring to the results of the experiment, Eggebrecht said that many ancient museum exhibits that are now considered gold are actually made of gilded silver. Skeptical archaeologists note that the very demonstration of the possibility of using the find as a source of electric current does not prove that it was actually used that way. In addition, a layer of asphalt completely covers the copper cylinder, which eliminates the possibility of connecting wires from the outside.
Asphalt is also well suited for sealing vessels to preserve the contents, however, for galvanic cells of this type, sealing is not only unnecessary, but also counterproductive, since it prevents the ability to add or replace the electrolyte. Another theory is that the electricity generated by the battery was used in medicine. In the works of ancient Greek and Roman authors, they found a lot of evidence of the existence of a rather complex system of knowledge about electricity in the ancient world.
The Greeks knew that pain could be removed by applying an electric eel and holding it until the inflamed limb went numb. The gnus, or electric stingray, which has an organ near its eyes that produces an electric current with a force of 50A and a voltage of 50 to 200V, was used as a weapon: it was used to suppress small fish swimming by. The Roman writer Claudian describes the story of how a fish was caught on a bronze hook and it struck the fisherman with an electric shock that passed through the water and the line. There is also information about the treatment of a number of diseases, from headaches to gout, by applying a pair of such electric slopes to the patient’s temples. It is known that the healers of Ancient Babylon used electric stingrays for local anesthesia. In addition, the ancient Greeks discovered the static properties of electricity: by rubbing amber (in Greek “electron”) with a piece of fur, they discovered that the fur then attracted feathers, specks of dust and straws. However, although the Greeks paid attention to such a strange phenomenon, they could not figure out why this was happening and probably considered it simply something surprising.
However, the claim that an electric battery was used to relieve pain has many opponents. The main drawback of the medical theory is the very low voltage of the battery, which hardly allowed it to effectively influence the patient’s body, except for mild pain, although several such batteries connected together could produce a more powerful electrical discharge. Agreeing largely with the version about the medical purpose of the Baghdad battery, Paul Keyser from the Canadian University of Alberta proposed a new hypothesis. His idea was prompted by bronze and iron needles discovered during excavations in Seleucia, near Babylon, next to devices resembling batteries. According to his version, the essence of which was published in an article in 1993, these needles could be used for a kind of electroacupuncture - a treatment method already known in China at that time.
Some researchers are inclined to believe in the ritual purpose of the Baghdad battery. Dr Paul Craddock, an expert on the history of metallurgy from the British Museum's Department of Scientific Research, suggested that a bunch of several ancient galvanic cells were placed inside a metal statue, and when believers touched the idol, they received a small shock, similar to the effect of static electricity. This probably happened when they gave the wrong answer to a question asked by the priest. This amazing tingling effect was apparently perceived by believers as proof that the priest had magical powers and was the chosen one, which is why his temple was visited more than others.
Unfortunately, until such statues are found, the ritual use of galvanic cells remains just another curious theory. Tests of copies of the Baghdad battery have been carried out repeatedly, but skeptics claim that today there is no evidence that it ever functioned as an electric battery, and note that the Parthians, the ancient creators of this device, were spoken of as great warriors, but the sources say nothing about their scientific achievements. And the fact that none of the surviving historical documents from that period mention the use of electricity confirms their skepticism.
There are no electrolytically gilded statues among the archaeological finds of the Parthian period (all of them are gilded by the well-known amalgamation process), nor wires, cables or more complex examples of ancient batteries. Some researchers dispute the results of experiments with battery replicas, arguing that it is impossible to recreate the same conditions. In particular, Dr. Arne Eggebrecht's experiments were carried out over fire. According to Dr. Bettina Schmitz, an employee of the Romer Pelizaes Museum (where Eggebrecht conducted his experiments with a copy of the battery in 1978), no photographs or reports of Eggebrecht’s experiments have survived.
At the same time, skeptics offer an alternative explanation for the electric battery theory. It is known that archaeologists have found similar “batteries” in which a copper rod was placed inside a copper cylinder; such devices clearly cannot generate current. You need a rod made of another metal. According to skeptics, the jugs were vessels for storing sacred scrolls made of materials of organic origin - parchment or papyrus, on which certain ritual texts were written. When they decomposed, organic acids were released, which explains the presence of traces of corrosion on the copper cylinder, and the bitumen seal found near the Baghdad battery was not part of a galvanic cell, but an airtight lid that allowed the contents of the jug to be stored for a long time. Note that the “Baghdad battery” is almost identical to the found vessels from nearby Seleucia with a known function - they were used to store scrolls. And yet it cannot be denied that the device could perform the function of an electrical element. It is quite possible that the creator of this item did not fully understand the principles of what he was using, as in the case of ancient Greek amber. And this case is not isolated. Many discoveries, such as gunpowder and the medicinal properties of herbs, were made before their benefits could be determined.
However, even if it is proven that the Baghdad artifact is an ancient electric battery, doubts will remain that the ancient people 2000 years ago really understood the phenomenon of electricity. Was the Baghdad battery the only find of its kind, and its creators the only representatives of the ancient world to discover (perhaps accidentally) electricity? Obviously, it is necessary to look for new written or archaeological data confirming its uniqueness. Unfortunately, in 2003 During the Iraq War, the Baghdad Battery, along with thousands of other valuable artifacts, was stolen from the National Museum. Today her whereabouts are unknown
