The oldest battery is better known by its name. Ancient electric battery. So what is it
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, mobile 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 mankind 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 dark time They didn’t light candles for days, they didn’t have oil lamps, and they 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 a copper tube inside - a rolled up 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. In this case, the liquid will act as an acidic electrolyte. Consequently, a potential difference will arise between copper and iron and an electric current will appear. All that's left to do is connect the current-carrying wires to the vessel and short-circuit 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. Just a little. But if you take several tens or hundreds of such vessels and connect them in series, then the result can be 100 volts, 200, or even 380. Of course, we weren’t talking about 3-phase alternating current, but the DC voltage could be basically, anyone.
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 is about 500 years older than the Egyptian pyramids. 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 this case, the rule works: you see what you want to see.
The battery is defended by the fact that ancient wall paintings were done in enclosed spaces into which sunlight did not reach. 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 coated with a thin layer of silver were very often used. 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 objects to perfection in a similar way. kitchen utensils. 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 using this device for a short period of time and then throwing it away is too much of 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 what was 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 find 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 whether this design was used for purposes related to electricity - there is no clear and precise answer. 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
It turns out that archeology is not so useless and boring. Ancient civilizations continue to amaze modern scientists by destroying the myth they created about prehistoric savages living in caves. Many archaeological finds confirm the fact that it is high time to rewrite history, that many “modern” discoveries were known in ancient times, and humanity once again has to reinvent the wheel.
Just take an interest in the inventions of the Sumerian civilization, which lived almost 6,000 years ago in the south of modern Iraq. This people seemingly appeared out of nowhere and immediately built a powerful state, which also disappeared for unknown reasons.
On at the moment the following inventions of this mysterious civilization are known: a wheel that allows you to create carts and establish trade relations, writing (cuneiform), creating glass, blowing glass products, bronze smelting, pottery, knowledge in the field of medicine (knowledge of bacteria, surgery, herbal treatment), schools of scribes, jewelry making, bureaucracy, knowledge in the field of geometry, mathematics, which were subsequently adopted in the Egyptian and Greek civilizations, the hexagonal computing system, knowledge of the helical shape of DNA, and many other inventions. Well, the most interesting thing is that the Sumerians used electricity!
Today, an amazing find confirming this fact is located in the National Museum of Iraq and is called the “Baghdad Battery”. It was discovered by the German archaeologist Wilhelm Koening in 1936 in Kujut Rabu near Baghdad.
The battery is a small clay vessel (15 cm), closed with an asphalt (resin) plug into which an iron rod was inserted.
The top of the rod was coated with a layer of metal similar to lead. Inside the vessel there was a copper cylinder with a diameter of 25 mm and a height of 9 cm. The bottom of the copper cylinder was covered with a layer of resin 3 mm thick. Scientists suggest that to generate electricity, the “battery” was filled with grape juice (or vinegar), which is a good electrolyte. Experiments were repeatedly carried out on battery analogues, and it was possible to obtain voltages of up to two volts!
Interestingly, the experience with the “Baghdad battery” was even used in one of the episodes of the popular program “Mythbusters”. Scientists suggest that such a battery was used by the Sumerians to apply a thin layer of gold to statues, because. According to experts, only the galvanic coating method can perform such jewelry work. And this guess was confirmed by the experiment of Egyptologist Andre Eggelbrecht. He used wine vinegar as an electrolyte: for two and a half weeks the vessel produced a current of 5 milliamps and a voltage of 0.5 volts.
When the clay vessels were connected in series into a longer chain, the voltage increased. Eggelbrecht then made a copy of the silver figurine of Osiris, dipped it in a gold salt solution, and connected 10 Sumerian batteries to the galvanic bath. A few hours later the figurine was covered with gold. This experiment forced many skeptics to reconsider their views on this artifact.
However, it is still much more interesting to learn not how the ancients used electricity, but how they obtained this knowledge? How did the Sumerians know about methods of producing electricity, about its properties, about how to increase current and voltage?
It is curious that the Sumerians were not the only civilizations whose mysteries modern scientists are still struggling with. Take, for example, the Egyptian pyramids, structures that modern man cannot build with the enormous available technical base. It is assumed that for painting walls and carving images in absolutely dark rooms pyramids, some kind of electric lamps were used, because no traces of flames from torches or oil lamps were found on the walls.
In addition, an interesting find was discovered by Reinhard Habeck in the twentieth century. In the temple of the goddess Hathor (IV-I centuries BC), the researcher found images of pear-shaped objects reminiscent of incandescent lamps, in which the filament was depicted in the form of a snake (wavy line), and “cables” were also drawn nearby, “ cords” leading to the cube on which the air god Shu sat. Previously, these images were attributed to ritual symbolism, but after the discovery of the “Sumerian battery”, it was assumed that the “pears” were a kind of image of an incandescent lamp.
It is obvious that with each new discovery by archaeologists, the mysterious secrets of antiquity are revealed to man, and the amazing capabilities of previous civilizations are revealed.
Modern man only needs to free his mind from arrogance and pride, and understand that we have something to learn from the ancients. By expanding our perception of the world, we can learn and understand much more.
For example, why did such powerful civilizations suddenly begin to degrade and soon disappear? Who, how and why built the Egyptian pyramids? How do scientists make discoveries in various fields of knowledge? The answers to these and many other questions already exist! And you can find them in the books of modern writer Anastasia Novykh, whose books have become world bestsellers in a short time. These books can be downloaded absolutely free from our website by clicking on the quote below, or by going to the appropriate section of the site.
Read more about this in the books of Anastasia Novykh
(click on the quote to download the entire book for free):– Sorry, I would like to return a little to our conversation before the meditation. You said that all scientific knowledge is given to the world by Shambhala. I didn’t quite understand something, how are they given? – Nikolai Andreevich said with a note of arrogance in his voice. – I still believed that man is a sufficiently intelligent being to think of everything on his own, including scientific discoveries.
- Well, how can I tell you, by and large, a person will certainly someday become a perfect being... But as long as the animal nature dominates in his mind, he cannot even come up with an elementary chair unless he is told how to make it.
- So how is it?
- Yes, usually. People are so smart now because they use the knowledge of their ancestors. How did their ancestors know about this, have you ever wondered? Even in the most ancient legends The Sumerian civilization, written on clay tablets, mentions that it was “people from the sky” who told them how to organize their lives, how to build houses, fish, grow vegetable food for themselves, and the like. And before that, people lived like any herd of animals... Take the modern world, for example. How do scientists make discoveries?
– Working hard on this topic.
– Of course, from the outside it looks exactly like this. But the very moment of discovery, the moment of insight?
Nikolai Andreevich shrugged...
- Anastasia NOVIKH "Sensei I"
If modern city disconnect from the power supply for at least an hour, then a situation will inevitably arise in it, to indicate which the most with a soft word there will be a collapse. And this is inevitable, to such an extent electricity has entered into daily life. The question inevitably arises: how did our ancestors manage without this type of energy for thousands of years? Were they completely devoid of her potential? Researchers do not have a clear answer to this question.
A discovery made on the outskirts of Baghdad
It is generally accepted that humanity became acquainted with electric current only in the second half of the 18th century, and this happened thanks to two irrepressible Italians who devoted their lives to the study of physical phenomena - Luigi Galvani and his successor Alexander Volta. It is thanks to these people that today electric trains run along the rails, the lights come on in our houses, and our neighbors’ hammer drills begin to rumble at a late hour.
However, this unquestionable truth was shaken by a discovery made in 1936 by the Austrian archaeologist Wilhelm Koening in the vicinity of Baghdad and called the Baghdad battery. History is silent about whether the researcher dug into the ground himself, or simply bought an artifact from local “black archaeologists.” The latter even seems more likely, since otherwise some other interesting things could have been discovered, but the world only learned about one unique find.
Thanks to Wilhelm Koening, humanity acquired an amazing artifact that looked like an ancient sand-colored one, the height of which did not exceed fifteen centimeters, and the age, apparently, was equal to two thousand years. The neck of the find was sealed with a resin stopper, above which the remains of a metal rod protruding from it could be seen, behind for a long time almost completely destroyed by corrosion.
After removing the resin plug and looking inside, the researchers found a thin copper sheet rolled into a tube. Its length was nine centimeters and its diameter was twenty-five millimeters. It was through this that a metal rod was passed, the lower end not reaching the bottom, but the upper end going out. But the strangest thing was that this entire structure was held in the air, securely insulated with resin that covered the bottom of the vessel and clogged the neck.
How could this thing work?
Now a question for everyone who has faithfully attended physics classes: what is it like? Wilhelm Koening found the answer to this, because he was not one of the truants - this is to generate electricity, or, more simply, a Baghdad battery!
As crazy as this idea may seem, it was difficult to dispute. It is enough to carry out a simple experiment. It is necessary to fill the vessel with electrolyte, which may well be grape or lemon juice, as well as vinegar, well known in antiquity.
Since the solution will completely cover the metal rod and copper tube that are not in contact with each other, a potential difference will arise between them and an electric current will certainly appear. We refer all doubters to the physics textbook for the eighth grade.
The current really flows, but what next?
After this, the ancient electrician only had to make sure that the Baghdad battery was connected by wires to some suitable energy consumer - say, a floor lamp made of papyrus leaves. However, it could have been a simple street lamp.
Anticipating the objections of skeptics that for any lighting fixture we need at least one light bulb, let’s present the arguments of the supporters of this, at first glance, fantastic idea, and find out whether people who lived long before our era could have created an incandescent lamp, without which the ancient Baghdad battery would have lost all meaning?
What might a light bulb made in Ancient Egypt look like?
It turns out, and this is not excluded, at least they should not have had any problems with glass, because, according to science, it was invented five thousand years ago by the ancient Egyptians. It is known that long before the appearance of the pyramids, on the banks of the Nile, by heating a mixture of sand, soda ash and lime to high temperatures, they began to obtain a glassy mass. Despite the fact that at first its transparency left much to be desired, over time, and there was enough of it before our era, the process was improved, and as a result they began to obtain glass close to its modern appearance.
The situation is more complicated with an incandescent filament, but even here the optimists do not give up. As their main argument, they cite a mysterious drawing discovered on the wall of an Egyptian tomb (a photo from it is given in our article). On it, the ancient artist depicted an object very similar to a modern lamp, inside of which something resembling this very thread is clearly visible. The image of the cord connected to the lamp makes the drawing even more convincing.
If not a lamp, then what?
To the objections of skeptics, optimists respond: “We agree, the picture may not depict a light bulb at all, but a certain fruit grown by the ancient Michurin people, but then how can we explain why there were no traces of soot from or torches on the ceilings of the rooms where the craftsmen painted the walls? After all, there were no windows in the pyramids, and sunlight did not penetrate them, and it is impossible to work in complete darkness."
This means that there was some kind of light source unknown to us. However, even if the ancients did not have any light bulbs, this does not mean at all that the Baghdad battery, the description of which is given above, could not be used for some other purpose.
Another interesting hypothesis
In ancient Iran, on whose territory the sensational discovery was made, copper utensils coated with a thin layer of silver or gold were often used. From this, it benefited from an aesthetic point of view and became more environmentally friendly, since noble metals tend to kill microbes. But such a coating can only be applied using the electrolytic method. Only it gives the product a perfect look.
The German Egyptologist Arne Eggebrecht undertook to prove this hypothesis. Having made ten vessels, exactly the same as the Baghdad battery, and filling them with a salt solution of gold, in a few hours he managed to cover a copper figurine of Osiris, specially intended for the experiment, with an even layer of the noble metal.
Skeptics' Arguments
However, in fairness, it is necessary to listen to the arguments of the other side - those who consider the electrification of the Ancient World to be an invention of idle dreamers. They have mainly three weighty arguments in their arsenal.
First of all, they quite reasonably note that if the Baghdad battery were really a galvanic cell, then it would be necessary to periodically add electrolyte to it, and the design in which the neck was filled with resin did not allow this. Thus, the battery became a disposable device, which in itself is unlikely.
In addition, skeptics point out that if the Baghdad battery is really a device for generating electricity, then among the finds of archaeologists there inevitably should have been all sorts of accompanying attributes, such as wires, conductors, and so on. In reality, nothing of the kind could be found.
And finally, the strongest argument can be considered the indication that until now in the monuments of ancient writing there was no mention of the use of any electrical appliances, which would be inevitable with their mass use. There are also no images of them. The only exception is the ancient Egyptian drawing, which was described above, but it does not have an unambiguous interpretation.
So what is it?
So for what purpose was the Baghdad battery created? Opponents of the electrical theory explain the purpose of this intriguing artifact in an extremely matter-of-fact manner. In their opinion, it served only as a storage place for ancient papyrus or parchment scrolls.
In their statement, they rely on the fact that in ancient times it was indeed customary to store scrolls in clay or ceramic vessels similar to this one, however, without sealing the neck with resin and without wrapping them around metal rods. The purpose is copper tube they are not able to explain at all. The fate of the scroll itself, which was allegedly kept inside, is also unclear. It couldn’t have rotted so badly that it left no traces behind.
An artifact that did not want to reveal its secret
Alas, the secrets of the Baghdad battery remain unsolved to this day. As a result of experiments, it was possible to establish that a device of such a design is indeed capable of generating a current of one and a half volts, but this does not at all prove that Wilhelm Koening’s discovery was used in this way. There are very few supporters of the electrical theory, because it contradicts the official data of science, and anyone who encroaches on them risks being branded an ignoramus and a charlatan.
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.
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Baghdad battery. Electricity existed 2000 years ago!
10 Archaeological Finds That Could Rewrite History
ANCIENT TECHNOLOGIES RE-OPENED #IF
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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 approximately three millimeters thick.
Purpose
Wilhelm Koenig suggested that the Baghdad battery (more precisely, a “galvanic” cell), filled with acid or alkali, could create electrical voltage 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 saline solution gold, in a few hours the scientist covered the figurine with an even layer of gold.
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, the current flowed even when the electrodes were not placed in living environment, and 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 the 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 (in different sources data does not match). 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 connect the right components in the right way to produce 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 the “Dark Ages” are to blame for everything, depriving Europeans historical memory? and the “age of electricity” came not in the times of Faraday and Yablochkov, but in the pre-Christian era? " Electric lighting there was still 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 new era, 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 the early Middle Ages, a lamp was discovered in England 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 history.
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 famous people Those who were direct or indirect witnesses to the operation of these lamps were also: 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 a clay pot. Cover it first with copper sulfate and then with wet sawdust. Next, you should put a zinc plate on top,
amalgamated 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
system artificial lighting, 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 big balls installed 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 the lamp under the influence 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 in the light of ordinary lamps, filled, for example, with 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 the artisans of 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 Parthian kingdom.
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 quite complex system knowledge about electricity in the ancient world.
The Greeks knew that pain could be removed by applying electric eel, and hold until the inflamed limb goes 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 couple of such electric stingrays 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 strange phenomenon, they couldn’t figure out why this was happening and probably thought it was just 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. Expert on the history of metallurgy from the department scientific research British Museum Dr. Paul Craddock suggested that a bunch of several ancient galvanic cells were placed inside a metal statue, and believers, when touching the idol, 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 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 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
