The history of adherence of “gold” to worship. Why were the pharaohs sanctified and used by Christians in churches?

Gold has value in ancient times », a phrase that may shock you,

In past centuries, gold was treated like any mineral extracted from the ground. As for its low profitable value in ancient civilizations, it is due to the abundance of bright metal, like most minerals, but after the sons of world civilizations were kidnapped with its lustre and elegance, it became a position that the mineral reserves. Legendary.

If you ask the experts, “When was the initial discovery of gold?”, You will not find a more accurate current answer than it being a substance that was found during the Stone or Bronze Age, which is the era of the emergence of alloys, metallurgy, and the beginning of mixing metals. It is also likely that the first appearance of the material near rivers in Asia Minor.

The beginnings of the appearance of the shiny substance

Returning to the first civilizations and cultures, in ancient Egypt, Africa, Rome and Greece, you find gold is a substance that sticks to the artefacts of their artistic hands, specifically Egypt, so that King Toshara, emperor of the Mitanni kingdom of the Hurrians in northern Syria (his daughter married the Pharaonic king Amenhotep III and then Akhenaten), described gold in Egypt, in 2600 BC, “the material available to the extent that exceeded the rates of garbage,” according to “Eternal Egypt”.

The best proof of Egypt’s richness in gold, according to the international “artsy” website, which specializes in discovered and artistic archaeological pieces, the density of mining sites for the extraction of gold, which was revealed by the archaeological map of Turin – presently the Italian Museum of Turin – and dates back to the era of King Ramses II, such as the Fawakhir mine and the chain of gold mines between Luxor, the Red Sea, and about a thousand other mines, so here is the history of the mineral between civilizations and religions, and the reason behind the increase in its pricing value without the rest of the minerals over the years.

Pharaonic civilization and the glorification of gold

At the forefront of the civilizations, which gave gold its current attraction, is the Pharaonic civilization. Behind the ancient Egyptian civilization’s attachment to metal, gold was available in Egypt, so the Egyptians introduced it with miniature archaeological statues and used gold in inscriptions on the walls. The gold coins are still settled in tombs, which have not yet been discovered. The mummified bodies accompany Egyptian and international museums.

The Pharaohs focused on red gold, which is an electrom alloy, during which gold is mixed with 20% of silver. They used it in the manufacture of statues and art, and gold artefacts. They also completely moved away from “gold refining” due to their lack of need for further purification. From here, the ancient Egyptians became attached to gold. After using it with statues, it quickly moved to the arts of jewellery making, decorative tools, and clothes for men and women.

The site states that the pharaohs’ specialists in the manufacture of gold coins began to launch their creativity with brilliant pieces in the pre-dynastic period (the fourth millennium BC), even before they reached the language of writing, with time gold became part of their worship, which raised its value. It became its colour. Red is a symbol for the sun, meaning the god Ra, and the statue of Ra was made of gold.

From here, there were many images of gold industries, and the upper coffin covers for kings and nobles were made of the material. Each coffin was engraved and studded with precious stones. The material for making the coffin varied between wood or stone. For senior politicians using gold or silver to reflect the blessings of God Ra on their immortal bodies and souls. According to their beliefs.

The “ancient” did not neglect to cover the deceased’s face with funeral masks made of gold, which are face covers wrapped in linen. The manufacture of the mask and its raw materials differed according to the stature of the owner of the face and his position in the state. The use of gold in masks was limited to the wealthy and the upper class. These masks began the history of their use before the era of Families.

Among the most prominent examples of gold masks, the mask of the Pharaonic king of the 18th Dynasty, Tutankhamun, and the weight of his mask, which covers his face inside the historical coffin, is about 11 thousand kilograms of pure gold.

The pharaohs continued to use gold to express their attachment to their gods and their kings. Still, the idea of ​​using gold did not leak into daily life, whether in the form of coins or metal material in circulation among craftsmen, but rather a sign of “spiritual strength.”

Despite the density of the Pharaonic gold monuments, between the political and personal belongings of the graves, the rates of the ancient’s use of gold did not top the list of “the most popular civilizations that use gold.” The volume of their use is about a ton of gold annually, compared to the Roman civilization 1400 tons per year, which shows that civilization Roman fondness for gold to degrees greater than the pharaohs.

Inca civilization and ‘lost gold.’

The ancient empire built by the peoples of the American Indians in South America was known for its gold, and its history was linked to gold industries. A legend sticks to the people and bears the name of “the lost gold of the Incas.”

This myth surrounded by stories of death and mystery, where the people of the Incas claim that the metal material and gold artefacts had disappeared in the depths of the “Lianganatis” mountain range, away from the eyes of the Spanish invaders when they tried to steal their gold items, in a period when peoples realized the importance of gold and its profit-making value.

However, some artefacts remained from the remnants of the ancient civilization to express the Inca culture and the extent of their attachment to gold in their worship, and a mask of a human face was found, and from the upper parts crumpled sun rays.

The mask expresses the Inca sun god “Inti”, which is currently on display in the National Museum in Quito’s Ecuadorian capital. Thus the Inca peoples are considered among the oldest civilizations that paid attention to gold and affixed it to its worship and the means of decoration and beauty to it.

Civilization has been interested in building temples to worship their sun god. Among the most prominent of their gold-laden temples is Coricansha in Cuzco, the empire’s capital, and it includes golden statues of the elements of nature. The Incas were busy making jewellery and masks from a metallic material while performing their religious rituals.

The Roman era and the waste of gold

The Romans did not indulge in golden art but exploited gold in accessories and statues and wasted them without using them in a way that would last as a legacy of their empire.

Women were beautified with earrings and goldsmiths daily, and they consumed tons of gold annually in vain until the Alexandrians began to introduce gold in glass industries for aesthetic purposes.

The glassmakers in Alexandria were credited with leaving a Roman trace away from coinage and the Roman methods of beautification, during the time of the Roman Empire’s control of Alexandria, by placing golden slices between the glass, and art bears the name of “golden glass sandwich.”

Gold in the Western Church

Gold was associated with Western Christian art, specifically in the late Middle Ages. Its flash of interest appeared through paintings of Christian symbols and figures, inlaid with gold, as the substance was associated with God and glories in the sky.

From here, Christians decorated churches with gold and used it to make crosses, candlesticks, cups, and the Ark of the Covenant, which appears in the tools of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, and churches around the world.

The Christians’ belief in the importance of using gold goes back to the New Testament, when three men, known as “the Magi,” came to celebrate the birth of the child Jesus, in a manger in Bethlehem, bringing gold, frankincense and myrrh, so gold indicates joy.

And in the Book of Revelation, which the Apostle John wrote, 24 elders wore crowns of gold, as he saw and recorded John’s travel in the Holy Bible, so he wrote: “And around the throne, there were twenty-four thrones, and I saw on the throne twenty-four elders sitting clothed in white garments with gold crowns on their heads.”

In these words, an indication of the value of gold and its connection to the saints, so the golden halo became a form that accompanies the heads of the saints with icons and church domes. Among the most famous paintings combined with gold leaf is the painting of the artist Dutio de Bonensena. The Virgin stands in the middle of the painting, carrying Christ the Child in her arms, surrounded by a group of pious men and women.

Gold entered into the mosaic art of churches (small squares of stone or marble arranged next to each other, forming a painting at the end). The domes of churches are decorated with gold mosaics, and the best example reflects the golden mosaic, the walls and the ceilings of the Zeno Church in Santa Braside, Rome, founded in the twelfth century. The substance – among its reddish-yellow colour – continued to be used until the early Renaissance.

And the artistic idea passed to the Orthodox Church in Egypt, and the gold colour inscriptions and golden halos around the heads of the saints are still usually used, so it resembles the real gold paint used in Christian arts in Western churches.

Motivated by the link between religion and its centralization in Europe with governance, at that time, the kings were influenced by gold, and they introduced the material to make clothes, and the first to wear a golden dress was Queen Margaret II, Queen of Denmark, and soon the gold was attached to clothes afterwards.

Civilizations continued, and their link with gold gradually strengthened, from richness and eternity to beauty, and it follows the previous “Islamic and Japanese” civilizations.