In the ancient world

H. Hodges, Technology in the Ancient World, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1970. 

Before the invention of the Bessemer process for steelmaking in 1856, only the cementation and cmcible processes were of any industrial importance. Although both of the latter processes had been known in the ancient world, thek practice seems to have been abandoned in Europe before the Middle Ages. The cementation process was revived in Belgium around 1600, whereas the cmcible process was rediscovered in the British Isles in 1740. 

The ready reduction of Sn02 by glowing coals accounts for the knowledge of Sn and its alloys in the ancient world. Modem technology uses a reverberatory furnace at 1200-1300°. The main chemical problem in reducing Sn02 comes... 

G. Majno, The Healing Hand—Man and Wound in the Ancient World, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1975, pp. 43M5. 

Keyser, Paul T. Alchemy in the ancient world from science to magic. Illinois Classical Studies 15 (1990) 353-378. 

Contents Shamanism the oldest magical tradition — Magic in the ancient world —... 

Soda (composed of sodium carbonate) was acquired in antiquity either in the form of natron, or, when prepared, as soda ash. Natron is a natural mixture of sodium bicarbonate, sodium carbonate, lesser amounts of common salt, and sodium sulfate, and some organic matter. It occurs in a few places in the world, such as in dry lakebeds in desert regions, in Egypt and Siberia, for example. From these few sources, natron was traded and transported to many others in the ancient world, where it was used (von Lipmann 1937 Lucas 1932). 

Madder, also known as Turkey red, is a scarlet dye extracted from perennial herbaceous plants of the order Rubiacea, of which there are about 35 species (Chenciner 2001 Farnsworth 1951). A well-known plant from this order is Rubia tinctorum, found naturally in Palestine and Egypt, abundant in Asia and Europe, and extensively cultivated in the ancient world, was widely used for production of the dye since remote antiquity. The use of madder for dyeing seems to have originated in the Middle East it was identified in many textiles found in Egyptian tombs and in woolen fabrics from the Judean Desert in Palestine. It was also used by the ancient Persians, Greeks, and Romans. Madder from other varieties of Rubiacea plants were used by the Incas in ancient Peru (Schaefer 1941 Fieser 1930). 

We have evidence that batteries were not unknown in the ancient world. The Parthians were a race living in the Mediterranean about 2000 years ago, from ca 300 bc until ad 224, when they were wiped out by the Romans. They are mentioned in the Bible, e.g. see The Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 2. 

Antimony - the atomic number is 51 and the chemical symbol is Sb. The name derives from the Greek, anti + monos for not alone or not one because it was found in many compounds. The chemical symbol, Sb, comes from the original name, stibium, which is derived from the Greek stibi for mark , since it was used for blackening eyebrows and eyelashes. The name was changed from stibium to antimonium to antimony. The minerals stibnite (Sb2S3) and stibine (SbHj) are two of more than one hundred mineral species, which were known in the ancient world. 

Alexander the Great founds the city of Alexandria, Egypt, the greatest city of knowledge and learning in the ancient world. 

After the Phoenicians began to navigate the western Mediterranean, they brought tin from Etruria, Spain, the mouths of the Loire, the Char-ente, and the rivers of Brittany, and from Cornwall and the Scilly Islands to supply the demand for bronze in the ancient world (268). 

Why should anyone believe in uprote hyle at all - or, for that matter, in any scheme of elements that underlies the many substances we find in the world Why not simply conclude that rock is rock, wood is wood Metal, flesh, bone, grass. .. there were plenty of distinct substances in the ancient world. Why not accept them at face value, rather than as manifestations of something else ... 

Ever since the end of the 18th Century, when Klaproth analyzed some ancient glasses, chemists in increasing numbers have been fascinated by the things that chemical analysis can tell about ancient history, ancient ways of life, including the technical processes and the chemical substances used by the ancients, and patterns of trade in the ancient world. 

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