Recovery of the Greek Shipwreck With Orichalcum Cargo Begins in Sicily

Recovery operations on the ancient Greek shipwreck “Gela II,” dating back to the 5th century BC, have officially commenced near the port of Gela, Sicily. The wreck is where in 2015 and 2017, rare orichalcum metal said to be from the legendary Atlantis was recovered. Due to this, details of the shipwreck have been keen sought by both Atlantis enthusiasts and the archaeological world.

The project, led by the Superintendence of the Sea of the Sicilian Region, involves the collaboration of specialized companies Atlantis and Cosiam, with a budget of €500,000 under the Pact for the South 2014-2020.

The project aims to uncover crucial historical artifacts from the seabed, adding to Gela’s rich maritime heritage. The sunken vessel has been dismantled and the timbers brough from the depths to the land, where they will undergo preservation.

“The sea of Gela has returned finds crucial for the reconstruction of its history,” said Francesco Paolo Scarpinato, Sicilian regional councilor for Cultural Heritage, according to a press release.

A marine archaeologist working at the Gela II site. (Soprintendenza del Mare)

Previous discoveries in the area include Corinthian helmets and orichalcum ingots, now displayed at the Archaeological Museum of Gela.

Some of the orichalcum ingots and the two Corinthian helmets previously found near the 2,600-year-old shipwreck off the coast of Sicily. (Superintendency of the Sea, Sicily)

Discovery of the Ship with Precious and Mythical Cargo

In 2015, a team of marine archaeologists recovered several dozen ingots scattered across the sea floor near the 2,600-year-old shipwreck off the coast of Sicily. The ingots were made from orichalcum, a rare cast metal which ancient Greek philosopher Plato wrote was from the legendary city of Atlantis. 

According to Inquisitr, a total of 39 ingots (metal cast into rectangular blocks) were found close to a shipwreck in 2015. In 2017, Seeker reported another cache of the same metal was found. There were 47 more ingots discovered, for a total of 86 metal pieces found to date.

Plato said only gold was a more precious substance than orichalcum. Here are two of the ingots discovered in 2017. (Sebastiano Tusa/ Superintendency of the Sea, Sicily)

The shipwreck itself was found in 1988 lying in shallow waters about 300 meters (1,000ft) off the coast of Gela in Sicily. Gela was a rich city at the time of the shipwreck, and it had many workshops that produced fine objects. Researchers believe the orichalcum pieces were destined for those workshops when the ship sank.

Sebastiano Tusa, Sicily’s superintendent of the Sea Office, noted that the precious ingots were probably being brought to Sicily from Greece or Asia Minor.

Tusa said that the discovery of orichalcum ingots, long considered a mysterious metal, is significant as “nothing similar has ever been found.” He added, “We knew orichalcum from ancient texts and a few ornamental objects.”

According to a Daily Telegraph report at the time of the recovery, the ingots were analyzed and found to be made of about 75-80 per cent copper, 14-20 per cent zinc and a scattering of nickel, lead and iron.

Metal From Plato’s Mythical Island

The name orichalucum derives from the Greek word oreikhalkos, meaning literally “mountain copper” or “copper mountain”. According to Plato’s 5th century BC Critias dialogue, orichalucum was considered second only to gold in value, and was found and mined in many parts of the legendary Atlantis in ancient times.

Plato wrote that the three outer walls of the Temple to Poseidon and Cleito on Atlantis were clad respectively with brass, tin, and the third, which encompassed the whole citadel, “flashed with the red light of orichalcum”.

The interior walls, pillars and floors of the temple were completely covered in orichalcum, and the roof was variegated with gold, silver, and orichalcum. In the center of the temple stood a pillar of orichalcum, on which the laws of Poseidon and records of the first son princes of Poseidon were inscribed. (Crit. 116–119)

For centuries, experts have hotly debated the metal’s composition and origin. According to the ancient Greeks, orichalcum was invented by Cadmus, a Greek-Phoenician mythological character. Cadmus was the founder and first king of Thebes, the acropolis of which was originally named Cadmeia in his honor.

Cadmus, the Greek mythological figure who is said to have created orichalcum (Louvre Museum/Public Domain)

Use of Orichalcum

Orichalcum has variously been held to be a gold-copper alloy, a copper-tin, or copper-zinc brass, or a metal no longer known. However, in Vergil’s  Aeneid it was mentioned that the breastplate of Turnus was “stiff with gold and white orachalc” and it has been theorized that it is an alloy of gold and silver, though it is not known for certain what orichalcum was.

The breast plate of Turnus was said to be made with gold and white ‘orachalc’ ‘The Fight between Aeneas and King Turnus’ by Giacomo del Po, Italy, Naples, 1652-1726. (Los Angeles County Museum of Art/Public Domain)

Orichalcum is also mentioned in the ‘Antiquities of the Jews’ (1st century AD) – Book VIII, sect. 88 by Josephus, who stated that the vessels in the Temple of Solomon were made of orichalcum (or a bronze that was like gold in beauty).

Today, some scholars suggest that orichalcum is a brass-like alloy, which was made in antiquity the process of cementation, which was achieved through the reaction of zinc ore, charcoal and copper metal in a crucible.

Top image: A marine archaeologist working at the Gela II site off Sicily.                 Source: Soprintendenza del Mare

By Joanna Gillan