Gold – An historical introduction

Publisher Summary From ancient times to the present day, gold has been valued by man. Man valued gold for its lustrous color and its resistance to tarnishing, and so it was used for special decorative ornaments and jewellery. The veneration reserved for gold by the ancients has led to its use for many centuries for religious artefacts. Egypt was the principal gold-producing country in ancient times. Herodotus refers to several great gold-mining centers in Asia Minor and Strabo mentions gold mining in many different places. Pliny gives many details of ancient placer mining, which was extensive. To the medieval alchemists, gold has been regarded as a metal of perfection. They identified it with the sun by virtue of its bright yellow color and it was given the symbol of a circle with a dot in the center. Through the centuries gold-making has been alternately encouraged, and banned by monarchs and the church.