In 1936, during a routine operation by the Iraqi State Railways Department, operators found a tomb containing numerous treasures from ancient times. These date from 248 BC to 225 AD and are thought to include a rather strange series of terracotta pots. An archaeologist determined that it was an electric battery.

The explanation could be much simpler.

Battery 2000 years ago. The ‘Baghdad battery’, or ‘Baghdad pile’ as the ship has since been known, was not a monolith, but there were more of its kind. It is a terracotta vase containing a copper cylinder, iron rod and clay lid. It is not very large, with a diameter of about four centimeters and a height of about 14 centimeters. Due to traces of corrosion of metallic materials, Wilhelm Köning (German archaeologist in charge of the Antiquities Authority in Baghdad) came up with the idea that it was a battery that could generate electricity.

And yes it worked. To prove his theory, the archaeologist placed an electrolyte (a substance that can act as a conductor of electricity and can be liquid calcium, sodium, or magnesium) inside and emit dim light when connected to a lamp. It seemed obvious: It was a battery, but it was 2,000 years old. At the time, this electrolyte was likely to be grape juice or another acid with similar properties.

Turned historical thought upside down. Frankly, this revolutionized our beliefs about the technological capability of ancient civilizations. How is it possible for us to attribute the invention of the battery to Alessandro Volta, when the Parthians already had batteries centuries ago? Don’t think of this ‘battery’ as the batteries we have now that can power devices. Köning allegedly said that it was used to galvanize objects.

Representation of the Baghdad battery. Ironie created by CC BY-SA 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons.

Galvanizing process. In this way, by using the electrolysis properties of the acid in conjunction with the copper cavity, ancient civilizations were able to construct gold objects that were not actually gold. The procedure will be carried out through a very simple galvanization. Currently, we can coat one metal with another through an electrochemical process. With this, you can protect the inner metal with a thin layer of another outer metal that has better resistance to oxidation, for example, but you can also use gold leaf to cover objects made of another metal. After World War II, an American engineer named Willard Gray produced a replica of this statue and claimed that using copper sulphate he produced a power of between one and two volts and succeeded in galvanizing a silver statuette. It turned golden within two hours. The experiment was repeated by Arne Eggebrecht (former director of the Roemer Museum) in the late seventies and the same results were obtained.

Discussion has arrived. While this all sounded amazing, there were a lot of unknowns (and some that turned out to be lies). Dr. Bettina Schmitz (researcher at the same museum, Roemer) stated the following about galvanization in an interview with the BBC:

“There is no documentation of the experiments carried out here in 1978. These were not even documented with photographs, which is a shame. I searched the archives and spoke to everyone who participated in these experiments in 1978, but to no avail.”

The galvanization that Köning advocated for the objects of the period was also carried out using a technique called ‘mercury gilding’. Gold or silver is added to the mercury base applied to the object, heated to vaporize the mercury, leaving only the precious metal layer on the object. In fact, Schmitz wasn’t the only one to refute all of this, and in 2012, Iraqi archaeologist Elizabeth Stone claimed that she didn’t know any archaeologists who believed it was a battery.

You don’t really know where you come from. It is telling that a colleague of Eggebrecth’s could not find evidence of what the museum director had allegedly tested not so long ago. Since there are no ancient records of such an important object, there are also problems with dating. Some archaeologists claim that it belongs to the Parthians (248 BC – 225 AD), while other archaeologists point out that such vessels were built in the style of the Sasanian Empire (between 250 BC and 650 AD). There is a difference of 900 years between them, it is very long. In fact, records also disagree on its location: some say it was found during the aforementioned railroad excavation, others claim it was in the basement of the museum when Köning found it.

What if it was just a pot? What is clear is that there are so many versions and, in fact, so many possible uses. The galvanization theory still holds, but in the same interview with the BBC, Dr. Paul Craddock (an expert on Near Eastern metallurgy at the British Museum) notes that although the object is unique in that nothing similar has been found, it has a possible use in magical rituals. For example, it can be used to perform temple tricks using this acid as an electrolyte:

“It could be attached to a statue of a god, and then the priest would ask you questions. If you answered incorrectly, you would touch the statue and feel a small shock, like a tingling sensation. If you answered correctly, the priest would ask you questions. If you answered correctly, the priest would disconnect the battery and the battery wouldn’t come, it would discharge, so the person would touch the statue, the priest and becomes convinced of the power of religion.”

He logically but also somewhat sarcastically states: “It’s a shame we couldn’t find any cables, so our interpretation may be completely wrong.“In fact, due to the similarity between the Baghdad pile and other similar pieces found on the banks of the Tigris River, there are other theories claiming that the so-called pile was simply a container for storing papyrus rolls containing sacred texts. The cylinder was used for preservation.”

In addition to the above, the absence of positive and negative terminals would make it difficult to use it as a battery due to the inability to connect these wires, and also the electrolyte would have to be changed frequently, since the acids of that time did not last long. It would be a bit complicated since it was covered with something similar to asphalt.

If we squeeze a lemon we get the same thing. Since they are more similar to the idea that the Egyptian pyramids were built by aliens, we have discarded all theories that argue that they are objects from outside our time, or even from another world (like “ancient astronauts”). realistic. But what is clear is that thanks to these metal components and electrolysis, they can perfectly produce electricity.

But this is the same as using a potato as a battery or 2,106 lemon halves connected together to produce 1,275 volts. We must continue to investigate the Baghdad battery, but unfortunately they disappeared during the invasion of Iraq. The National Museum in Baghdad was looted, and while there are those who claim that they were stolen, there are also those who claim that they were rescued by workers at the museum.

What is clear is that it is one of the myths of antiquity that always arouses great curiosity, no matter what it is used for.

Image | Bing Image Builder

in Xataka | This digital replica of Antikythera, the world’s oldest computer, claims to have figured out how it works