In 1936, the German researcher Wilhelm Koenig, who worked at the Archaeological Museum of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, came across a strange object.
It was found among the ruins of an ancient Parthian settlement near Baghdad. (The Parthians ruled here, in the territory ancient Mesopotamia, in 250 BC - 224 AD)
It was a nondescript clay vase, about 15 cm high. It contained a cylinder made of sheet copper with a rusted iron rod inserted into it.
All these parts were filled with resin, which glued them together - there were asphalt deposits in that area.
Koenig examined the strange object and suddenly realized what had fallen into his hands. It was the remains of an electric battery! Therefore, the Parthians were already using electricity- almost two thousand years before the discoveries of Luigi Galvani (1737-1798) and Alessandro Volta (1745-1827). But these scientists are considered the inventors of the electric battery. Koenig's conclusion seemed incredible.
And then Egyptologist Arne Eggebrecht got down to business. He made exactly the same “vase”, rod, cylinder. I filled the “vase” with wine vinegar and connected a measuring device to it. The sensor recorded a voltage of 0.5 V.
Eggebrecht suggested why the Parthians might need electric current. His collection included a small silver figurine of the Egyptian god Osiris, created around 400 BC. It is covered with an unusually thin layer of gilding. Eggebrecht has long tried to understand how ancient master managed to evenly cover the figurine with gold.
The scientist took a silver copy of the figurine and immersed it in a salt solution of gold. He then connected 10 batteries, or clay “vases,” in series and connected this power source to the solution. In just a few hours, the figurine was covered with a thin layer of gold.
And yet questions remain. How did the Parthians discover electric current? After all, without measuring instruments a voltage of 0.5 V cannot be detected. Even the tiny battery we insert into a flashlight produces three times the voltage.
18 centuries later, Galvani made his discovery by pure chance. He noticed that if plates of different metals were applied to a frog’s leg, its muscles would involuntarily contract from an electric shock.
Perhaps the ancients also accidentally discovered electricity? How did they understand that wires need to be connected to the battery? How did you guess that with the help of current you can precipitate gold contained in a solution? I wonder if other countries knew about this discovery? After all, batteries have probably been used for centuries. Alas, we know nothing about this.
The Baghdad Battery is a mysterious Mesopotamian artifact from the Parthian and Sasanian periods, which, following Wilhelm König - director National Museum Iraq - sometimes regarded as ancient galvanic cells, created 2000 years before the birth of Alessandro Volta.According to modern history The electric battery was invented in 1800 by Alexander 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 first “battery,” discovered by Koenig near Baghdad in June 1936 (some sources say that in 1938), was a 13-centimeter vessel, the neck of which was filled with bitumen, and an iron rod with traces of corrosion was passed through it. Inside the vessel was a copper cylinder containing an iron rod inside.
Nowadays, the Baghdad battery is located in the National Museum of Iraq and is a clay vessel the size of a man's fist. 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 the rod did not reach the bottom of the cylinder, on which there was a layer of asphalt about three millimeters thick."
Wilhelm Koenig suggested that the Baghdad battery, filled with acid or alkali, could create an electric current of one volt. Koenig reviewed the exhibits of the Baghdad Museum of Antiquities. He was surprised by silver-plated copper vases dating back to 2500 BC. e. As Koenig suggested, the silver on the vases was deposited using the electrolytic method.
Koenig's version that the find is 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.
German Egyptologist Arne Eggebrecht proves through experience that galvanization was known more than 2000 years ago. To confirm this, he used a figurine of Osiris. Using 10 vessels similar to the Baghdad battery and a salt solution of gold, in a few hours the scientist confirmed his guess - the figurine was covered with an even layer of gold.
In 1947, American physicist Willard F. Gray made an exact replica of the Baghdad battery using copper sulfate as an electrolyte. The battery produced an electric current with a voltage of about 2 volts. Afterwards, many similar experiments were carried out, but the voltage turned out to be approximately the same: from 0.8 volts to 2 volts. In the program “MythBusters” the same result was obtained - galvanization occurred, although it was ineffective. To achieve sufficient voltage for galvanization, it was necessary to connect 10 vessels in series. There was also a theory put forward that the battery might have been used for medical purposes.
"Electric lighting was still available 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. A snake wriggles inside the flask. Her head is turned to the sky.
The strange object is a lamp, and the snake allegorizes the 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.
According to Egyptologists, 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".
Erich von Däniken continues: “The concept that I present here is still based on shaky foundations. Although we have working batteries and separate wires, we also need insulators to manipulate electricity. These insulators are available in various variations. Egyptologists call them “djed pillars.” Only initiates could handle them. They were discovered already under the very ancient pyramid- Djoser.
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 stored 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, a zinc plate amalgamated with mercury should be placed on top. 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 anode and cathode. It is known that in ancient india They also knew about electrical conductivity.
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. The Greek satyr Lucian (120-180 AD) wrote about the same bright source of light that burned in the head of the statue of Hera in the city of Herapolis (Syria). Pausanias (2nd century AD) spoke about an amazing golden lamp in the temple of Minerva, which burned unquenchably for a century.
On the other hand, skeptical archaeologists note that the very demonstration of the possibility of using a find as a source of electric current does not prove that it was actually used that way. In addition, the asphalt layer completely covers the copper cylinder, which eliminates the possibility of connecting wires from the outside.
No associated electrical equipment was found that could use "batteries", not even current conductors were found. There are also no known examples of this time plated with gold using electricity, all of which were gilded by the well-known process of amalgamation. In addition, the Baghdad battery is almost identical to the found vessels from nearby Seleucia with known function, they were used to store scrolls.
On the other hand, one should not underestimate one's ancestors. Everything is forgotten. And some of the peak achievements of a particular culture, amazing secrets, are lost after several centuries. Wars, fires, and the destruction of written monuments only increase oblivion. And now, when archaeologists find an unusual artifact, they do not know how to explain its appearance. It becomes an unsolvable riddle, a phrase from a book that has long been burned.
History textbooks may not be true: humanity may have begun to study electricity much earlier than is generally believed. The existence of the thousand-year-old Baghdad Battery suggests that Volta did not invent the electric battery. Today it is generally accepted that it was the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta who invented the electric battery in 1800. He discovered that when two dissimilar metal probes are placed in a chemical solution, electrons flow between them. This began the work of other scientists on electricity, and this gave a huge impetus to the development of science. But Baghdad battery shifts the date several thousand years earlier.
Components of the Baghdad Battery
People tried to study electricity long before Voltas, about which records were preserved in papyri and wall paintings of Ancient Egypt. However, this is indirect evidence, and few people believed it until in 1938 the German archaeologist Wilhelm Koenig described the so-called Baghdad Jar (also called the Baghdad Battery). This clay vessel with electricity was found in 1936 in the place of Kujut Rabu outside Baghdad, when workers were leveling the ground under railway.
Koenig's merit was that he saw in an oval jug made of bright yellow clay 13 cm high typical design batteries, which by that time were widely used. The vessel had everything needed to store energy: a rolled sheet of copper around the perimeter, an iron rod in the center and several pieces of bitumen inside. The latter sealed the upper and lower edges of the copper cylinder. This tight connection suggests that the jug once contained liquid. This hypothesis is confirmed by traces of corrosion on copper. This also gives clues about the type of liquid - vinegar or wine. These natural substances contain acid - necessary condition for any battery.
Baghdad battery in sectionWhy batteries if there are no electrical appliances?
Soon, artifacts similar to the Baghdad jar were found near the cities of Seleucia and Ctesiphon. This gave precise knowledge that already several thousand years ago people used electricity. However, why did they need electricity, because they did not have light bulbs, televisions, refrigerators and other electrical appliances?
The exact answer to this question is still unknown, but scientists have some guesses on this matter. For example, Koenig in his articles believed that these power sources were used for galvanizing jewelry. This technological process used today everywhere: copper plating of wires, gilding of copper and silver jewelry, chrome on steel parts and the like. Its peculiarity is that under the influence of electric current it is possible to apply a thin and durable coating of one material to another.
This version has the right to life, because it has been tested in practice. Willard Gray, an engineer at the main high-voltage electricity laboratory in the American city of Pittsfield, created an exact copy of an ancient battery using drawings from Koenig’s article. He filled a clay jug alternately with grape juice and vinegar and obtained a voltage at the metal terminals of about 1.5 V. This is exactly what any standard AA battery gives today.
Design of the Baghdad BankBatteries for magic and healing
In addition to the hypothesis about the ancients using batteries for galvanization, there are two more: electrotherapy and magic.
The ancients believed that if you apply an electric current to a sore spot, then it will become numb and stop hurting. There are records of this in the works of ancient Greek and Roman physicians. The Greeks, for example, often used for these purposes electric eel, which was applied to the inflamed limb and held until the inflamed limb became numb.
Size of the Baghdad Battery compared to a hand Electricity could also be used to strengthen the religious sphere of citizens’ lives. The priests, for example, collected several Baghdad jars into one powerful battery and attached the leads to a metal statue of the god. Everyone who touched her thought they had received contact with a higher being. Although in fact it was just a weak discharge of current.
The priest further strengthened his faith in his connection with the deity by the fact that he could calmly touch the statue and not receive shocks of electricity. To do this, he wore sandals, which he used to stand on the metal floor under the statue. The shoes served as an insulator and did not allow current to pass through. And ordinary believers most often walked barefoot, which is why this trick worked flawlessly.
Not a battery, but a storage chamber
Theories that the ancients could purposefully use energy in chemical sources do not allow us to say with certainty that this actually happened. The reason for this is very low power and the large weight of such batteries, which makes them useless in practice. For example, an apple can make a regular calculator or simple wrist watch. But it’s much more convenient modern sources nutrition.
In addition, the fact that the Baghdad bank was actually a battery is refuted by other finds. For example, a find in the same Seleucia contained a papyrus scroll. And the artifact from Ctesiphon had twisted sheets of bronze inside. Therefore, according to some scientists, such vessels were used to store things, and not to generate electricity.
Their version is confirmed by the fact that the bitumen cover was completely sealed and had no terminals for metal contacts for wires. It also did not have holes for filling electrolyte, but such a power source requires frequent replacement.
According to scientists, sacred scrolls made of materials of organic origin - parchment or papyrus - were stored in such vessels. When they decompose, organic acids are released, which explains the presence of traces of corrosion on the copper cylinder inside the clay vessel.
By the way, if the problem of the ancients was to create a source of electricity, today the main task is their disposal with minimal harm to the environment. And MTS helps Ukrainian users with this. The operator has launched a national program with which they will be able to dispose of batteries correctly. You can learn about where to dispose of used batteries.
I, and maybe you too, immediately remembered this one interesting topic and like this ancient item. 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 in underground tomb 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 place ancient settlement Parthians, who were excellent warriors, but were not particularly developed, so there was an assumption that the Baghdad batteries could belong to other nations. 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? After all, 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 was available 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 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.
Mysterious bright, unquenchable light sources were known back in 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
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 a 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
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 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 light bulbs, what kind of power would that be, a glare of light, and not a ray of light in 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 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 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. Expert on the history of metallurgy from the department scientific research British Museum Dr. Paul Craddock suggested that a bunch of several ancient galvanic elements 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 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 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.
Not among archaeological finds of the Parthian period, no electrolytically gilded statues (all of which are gilded by the well-known process of amalgamation), 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 medicinal properties herbs were made before their benefits could be determined.
However, even if it is proven that the Baghdad artifact is ancient electric battery, there will remain doubts 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
If a modern city is disconnected from the power supply for at least an hour, then a situation will inevitably arise in it, for which the mildest word would be 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.
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 the neighbors’ hammer drill starts 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 one sand color, 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 plug, above which the remains of a metal rod protruding from it could be seen, almost completely destroyed by corrosion over a long time.
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 it 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.
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.
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?
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, heating up to high temperatures a mixture of sand, soda ash and lime began to produce 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 found on the wall. Egyptian tomb(a photo from it is given in our article). On it, the ancient artist depicted an object very similar to modern lamp, inside of which something resembling this very thread is clearly visible. The image of the cord connected to the lamp makes the picture even more convincing.
To the objections of skeptics, optimists respond: “We agree, the picture may not depict a light bulb at all, but some kind of fruit grown by the ancient Michurin people, but then how can we explain why no traces of soot from or torches were found 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.
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.
However, in fairness, it is necessary to listen to the arguments of the other side - those who consider electrification Ancient world 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 an 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 for what purpose was the Baghdad battery created? The purpose of this intriguing artifact opponents electrical theory They explain it 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 assertion they rely on the fact that time immemorial It was indeed customary for scrolls to be stored in clay or ceramic vessels similar to this one, although without sealing the neck with resin or 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.
Alas, the secrets of the Baghdad battery remain unsolved to this day. As a result of the 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.
