but in the other above mentioned uses as well. Though more common,
yet silver does not have the same degree of durability as gold. All other
metals are considered -merely money tokens based on the worth of gold
and silver, a true statement and reflection on Beruni's time as well as in
the present.
In nature, silver specimens in sheets, wires and crystals occur in
calcite ores, often associated with copper, iron and other alloys as the
rare sulphide called argentite. However, pure silver ore (in Arabic
known as ficidaJi, also termed al-lujayn, al-sarif, ahscuvalaj, and algharb) can be found as a free metal currently.
The Lesser Metals
Copper, for example, in Arabic is termed as nuhas, al-qatr or
al-mass, and in the Syriac nahasa. The ore and its salts are known since
ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. It is likewise mentioned in the Holy
Qur'an. Copper and bronze are also described in the Book of Moses,
the Pentateuch; the Book of Joshua (Yashu'); and the Book of Job
(Ayyub) around the mid-second millennia B.C. In mid-1 Oth century
B.C. in the Book of Kings, it is reported that King Solomon (Sulayman)
derived some of his glory from successful copper-mining operations
executed around the areas of Aqabah and the Negev desert near the
northern tip of the Red Sea in Arabah.
Following the same chronological order, the champion of war,
Goliath of Gath had superior armaments made of bronze. And during
the Greco-Roman period, the two metals that received a very special
attention and publicity were copper and bronze. They were often used
as weapons and armaments of war, inexpensive ornamentations, coinages, and tools of various types and shapes.
In crystal forms, copper specimens are found as the chalcocite
(which is impure copper sulphide), and in alloys combined with either
gold, silver or iron ores. The author of al-Jamahir exposes some of the
charlatan alchemists and blacksmiths who tried in vain to transmit and
transform cheap metals like copper and lead, into gold and silver.
Iron ore specimens can be smelted in great blast furnaces. They
turn into molten liquid forms to be moulded in the form of bars or
pigs. They can be also converted into cast or wrought iron and steel.
In ancient Egypt, iron works and all kinds of tools, weaponry and
chariots replaced stone and bronze in the every-day life's activity and
manufacture. Just before B.C. 1400, a new era dawned in the emerging
of the so-called "the Iron Age". It brought drastic and remarkable
changes in industry and man's equipment worldwide. With it the
Hittites in Asia Minor and Northern Syria held superiority in war, using
developed iron armaments. Before B.C. 1100, iron works and tools
