How Gold Became The Ultimate Symbol Of Wealth | The Power Of Gold (Part 1) | Timeline

Gold is a substance like no other it is beautiful desirable rare and valuable its appeal is almost universal across cultures and across time from the very earliest times gold has played a leading role in the drama of human history Gold gives glory to our gods and inspiration to our artists [Music] it has formed the bedrock of our wealth gold drove the engines of the world's economy for centuries the story of gold is the history of an obsession [Music] so Luca goldmine in South Africa nearly four kilometers below ground the earth does not give up its treasure without a fight Soroka is the deepest mine in the world and they are still digging this far down the heat from the Earth's core would make working impossible without powerful air-conditioning [Music] no other substance in human history has driven people to such extremes and the struggle continues today retrieving the gold is a complex process it takes a hundred and forty thousand kilos of rock and all to produce just one kilo of gold thus melted gold is cast into rough bars every day a tonne of rough gold is delivered by helicopter to Johannesburg's rand refinery security is tight here the gold will be processed to almost complete purity the bars are ninety-nine point eight eight percent pure [Music] each one is worth nearly a hundred and forty thousand dollars in its pure form gold is the most beautiful of the Earth's elements it is related to the Sun in the sense that it reflects the colour of the Sun it comes from the bowels of the earth and it has been forged by the great heat of early times and since early times its otherworldly beauty has captivated people nothing else in the natural world looks and feels quite like gold throughout history people have used gold to make their most precious possessions gold is rare if it were as common as sand or salt it would not be so desirable almost all the gold ever produced still exists if it were put in a single pile it would fit in a space beneath the Eiffel Tower [Music] as a metal gold has some remarkable properties a single ounce can be stretched into a wire 80 kilometers long it can be beaten into gold leaf that is just two millionths of a centimeter thick a little gold can go a long way we don't know was it about Sirius XM m a dilute limit on the predictable key exists that you can play it only applies here especially cold doesn't rust or fade it is chemically inert it can't be harmed by water air or even most acids golden treasure can be buried for a thousand years and still shine as brightly as on the day it was made [Music] it is no surprise that such a remarkable natural substance has been regarded as supernatural because it seems to last forever it is trusted more than anything else to outlive troubled times we believe it will always be valued who s cupula nice illuminate a low/medium world love the acquainted will show the extraordinary la Cucaracha mystic path Mako's constat it is timeless and maybe there is an echo in that in all of us that we don't like to be timeless in some way but gold has the sense of that where it comes across the centuries in its original state [Music] the immortality of gold has given its sacred properties we use it to create images of our gods but gold also appeals to less sacred impulses human greed for gold has destroyed whole civilizations and the search for gold has damaged many parts of our environment forever the story of people and gold is not rich with happy endings the poet and philosopher John Ruskin considered how greed for gold took over men's lives he told the story of a man who carried a bag of gold coins to see a storm blew up and all on board abandon ship the man held his bag of coins and jumped in the gold dragged him to his death Ruskin asked about the drowning man had he the gold or did the gold have him our relationship with gold throws up many contradictions nobody needs gold except for adornment it's basically useless stuff it's too soft to do anything kind of meh you can't build with it or anything like that but useless things make the best kinds of money because if something is useful you don't want to use it to trade you you need it demand for this supposedly useless substance remains as high as ever South Africa alone produces 500 tons a year we use it for jewelry electronics in medicine and art and most of all it still measures and secures much of our wealth [Music] the human obsession for gold has shaped our history our story begins at the birth of civilization to the ancient Egyptians gold came from the Sun it was considered the flesh and bones of the goddess for the people of the Nile the farmers and laborers gold was distant and exclusive it belonged to the gods and their living representatives on earth the Pharaohs [Music] Egyptian craftsmen worked gold into intricate jewel of a and religious objects [Music] the Egyptians ran gold mines in the western desert and in Nubia south of their kingdom which they called the land of gold for the pharaohs and priests who ran Egypt gold advertised power it showed how close the rulers were to the gods supplies of gold in Egypt who are limited craftsmen perfected the art of gilding Latoya Jewett Pokemon selfie proton the Egyptian adora further with the Doyle family for the Somali fedora tip user base Mesa City remember city Egyptians chose gold to accompany them on their most important journey their passage to the afterlife [Music] Gold was indestructible so perfect for immortality everyday objects made of gold were buried in the tomb for use by the occupants in their next life [Music] and pharaohs were buried encased in gold it lasted forever as they believed they would themselves [Music] [Music] on the other side of the world the peoples of ancient America built a series of civilizations [Music] the place gold held in their societies has many echoes with ancient Egypt [Music] people believed gold was sacred and came from the gods [Music] it was considered to contain the power of the Sun the Andes and the jungles of the Amazon were rich sources of gold it was pure and easy to collect but it remained exclusive amongst the Inca we know that only the Inca and the highest Inca nobility were allowed to own and wear gold we also know that all the gold and silver in the vast Empire of the Incas was the property of the Inca himself golde to the ancient Americans also had a lot of religious and symbolic meaning the Inca thought of gold is the reign of the Sun and the Sun was of course a major deity in the vast pantheon of the Incas the material was so beautiful and so brilliant indestructible magnificent color that the ancient Americans thought it must be of divine origin and the Aztecs of Mexico the the word for gold is sealed quit Latin which means translated excrement of the gods so there is this connection to the spiritual world [Music] Gold has a place in nearly all our religions and myths in the Bible God instructs Moses to build a tabernacle covered in gold the only metal that will do justice to his sacred purpose but when Moses saw his people worshiping a golden calf he saw love of gold taking over from love of God in his anger he threw down the Ten Commandments gold is important in the rich mythology of ancient Greece to the Greeks gold belonged to a different world it was the stuff of heaven [Music] much of its mystique came from the fact that while the Greeks had plenty of silver they had very little gold that made it even more exotic gold means what is foreign and what is attractive because it's exotic but it also means what is divine the ancient Greeks believed in a mythical Golden Age ordinary people didn't have to work in this distant past the seas were full of fish and the land gave them all the food they could eat people didn't know what misery was they even made everyday objects from gold with the age of gold past the ancient Greeks associated their own times with less exotic metals they believed they lived in the age of iron in the story of gold myth and reality often merge a real historical figure who is associated with gold can give birth to legends one man whose real life is no more than a shadow has a name that will forever be associated with gold King Midas when offered the gift of a golden touch he found it impossible to refuse but his gift became a curse he turned food drink and even his daughter into gold to get rid of the magic touch Midas had to wash in the river pack Dallas which the legend tells us ran with gold ever after [Music] the river pectoris still flows through modern-day Turkey and it has been a rich source of electrum a natural mixture of gold and silver there was a real Midas the ruler of a kingdom called Phrygia the pack tellus flowed close to his land and brought him riches which made him famous in the ancient world the burial mounds of the kings of Phrygia can still be seen in western Turkey he was a very glamorous and rich King that strike the imagination and that the Greeks found particularly fascinating he came from the east and he had lots of gold and he made offerings to their own Oracle's of Delphi so many of his golden artifacts could be found and viewed in Greece itself and the golden wealth was not confined to the Phrygian Kingdom of Midas his neighbors to the west the Lydians built a powerful Empire [Music] over two and a half thousand years ago the Lydians built their capital Sardis on the banks of the river pectoris it was a busy place well sited on the trade routes of the time with their supplies of precious metals the Lydians here in Sardis came up with one of the most important inventions of the ancient world they use their electrum the mixture of gold and silver from the river to make coins the British Museum in London holds one of the best collections of coins in the world [Music] and the two thousand six hundred year old story of coinage begins with small thick round pieces of electrum made by the Lydians here we have what our so far as we can tell the earliest coins ever produced they were made in the area of Lydia they were produced probably by the Lydian Kings in that area and they were made of electrum we don't know why they used electrum but it may be something to do with the fact that the alloy occurs naturally in the river the river pack tonus which flows through the capital of the Lydian kingdom Sardis [Music] the proof that these were the oldest coins came when archaeologists uncovered a horde of them beneath the ancient city of Ephesus Ephesus was a bustling port at the end of the Royal Road that ran from the east and passed through Sardis the coins with their royal stamp were guaranteed by the kings of Lydia for weight and purity they have been accurately dated to around 635 BC they were a revolution for the ancient world the fact that they were found in Ephesus means it was a revolution that had spread beyond the kingdom of Lydia to the shores of the Mediterranean and can we be sure it really was a Lydian invention the surest evidence for the Lydian mass of those coins are the Lydian inscriptions which occur on some of them we don't know what those inscriptions mean or it's not generally understood but the alphabet is the Lydian alphabetic system [Music] previously people had traded in anything from livestock to seashells now there was something that worked better they were portable and widely trusted people didn't have to weigh in little pieces of metal every time they wanted to make a transaction the Lydians took advantage of that invention the people of Sardis were known for selling anything even their daughters [Music] but there was still a problem because they were made of the alloy electrum people couldn't be sure how much of the high value gold was mixed with the lower value silver the Lydians solved this problem to these rather unprepossessing little walls with the modern shelters protective shelters over them are the installations where the natural alloy of electrum was separated into gold and silver the Lydians had created the first gold refinery by combining separation technology with their skills at making coins they created something very desirable in the Lydian Royal Mint they struck the world's first pure gold coins and the creator of those coins was the Lydian King Croesus his name has become a byword for fabulous wealth [Music] I suppose there are three aspects to the attractiveness of gold as a monetary metal I mean the first would be that it's simply attractive it looks nice the second is that it's soft and therefore it's relatively easy to work and produces a very nice design when you strike it with coin dies and the third means a very practical one is there isn't so much to go round that everybody has access to it so it is something that cuts off a certain part of the population who have it from those who do not [Music] the gold and silver coins minted in Sardis were the world's first metal currency it was a system that was to last throughout the world for 2,000 years the coins were popular and spread across the Aegean Sea to Greece and around Asia Minor they stimulated trade and increased the wealth and power of Lydia [Music] Croesus was known as the richest man in the world he wanted to expand his empire thinking his wealth made him invincible he planned to attack the Persians Croesus sought the advice of the Oracle at Delphi before his battle the Oracle predicted that Croesus would destroy a great Empire confident he went to war with the Persians after a siege at Sardis the Lydians lost at that point he is angry and he wants to know why the Oracle lied to him despite the fact that he had given him so many presents and the Oracle says I didn't lie a great Kingdom was destroyed but he was your kingdom [Music] although the Libyans lost an empire their capital Sardis remained an important city over the centuries it was run by the Persians the Greeks and the Romans [Music] the greatest legacy of the Lydians was a system of coinage the Persians took charge of the Royal Mint and issued their own versions of the gold and silver currency Persian kings put images of themselves on their coins the spread of coins literally put gold into the hands of many more people and they had other advantages for the rulers of the ancient world the important thing to remember of course is that coinage is really the only mass medium in the ancient world there are no newspapers there's no radio or television the only way you can really spread a simple message a long way in a mass-produced form his own coinage one man Alexander the Great understood this perfectly the young Macedonian King made a series of whirlwind conquests across the ancient world by the time he was 26 he had built an empire that stretched from Egypt to India and he used coins to let everyone know of his achievements Alexander used well-known images from Greek mythology the goddess Nike represented victory Athena was shown as a warrior goddess the message was clear Alexander brought success in battle he made sure the gold coins circulated throughout his empire [Music] alexander's triumphs in battle and conquest were surpassed only by the Romans they built the greatest empire the world had ever known Rome was a vast military and economic machine and it needed gold to fuel its progress [Music] for the Romans gold was both sacred and worldly they used to store their reserves on the Capitoline hill in the center of the city in a temple dedicated to their most powerful God Jupiter [Music] in Roman legend they nearly lost all their gold to a band of invaders from Gaul the city was under attack a group of the enemy's soldiers had got to the Capitoline Hill undetected by the Romans it was only the cackling of a flock of geese that alerted the guards the goals were captured the city and its gold was sick the Romans were so grateful they built a new shrine to the goddess of warning Juno Moneta her name was ever after associated with gold manator became a Latin word for money if the Romans gave us the word for money they had also a constant need for the real thing conquest was expensive the Romans took over most of the known world at its height the Empire stretched from Hadrian's Wall to North Africa but victory brought problems as well as glory twisted on latter the latter porta nuova three kids Donnell Medicaid Services copra no Minnie Minnie ready metal preziosi Munira dora la paz de aumento abbas on the monitor the monitor door Oh purple adequacy sh t t VD or my provision is T the solution came when the Romans conquered Spain and took possession of the area of las modulus [Music] the red mountains of Las modulus were rich in gold ore they gave the Romans the secure and seemingly endless supply they needed in their quest for gold the Roman miners changed this landscape forever they took down whole cliffs and built networks of tunnels and shafts throughout the mountains the scarred landscape is still testament to their efforts it was hard work even with thousands of slaves it was a slow painstaking process too slow to satisfy their needs estamos en el interior de la montaña estamos en el diente de la montaña LaMontagne que lo Romano's llegar una Destro's our para tratar de buscar el oro qué tanto nizam para mantener su imperio me imperio que se Mantinea fundamental meant a sin Soldado's mer scenarios en un sistema de sklavos que por tanto todo yo regiona gran cantidad de oro KO tenía en cualquier zona de fundamental meant a Europa and North Africa Asia pero Tamia caiman or Estella finish reading to speed up production the Roman engineers came up with a clever solution in an age before heavy machinery and explosives they use the power of water under pressure to get at their gold for water supplies the Romans used smoke from a neighboring mountain range the melted snow water had to be transported across country back to the gold mines they built a network of canals to carry the water some of them are up to a hundred kilometers long the water was stored in reservoirs while the pressure built up in Los Padilla's they dug tunnels to channel the water into the heart of the mountains when there was enough pressure the water would be released it rushed into the tunnels and was channeled through narrowing passages the force was enough to blast the gold ore from the mountain he knew mr. Latino Rock Dorado definied como la Rina Montillo Larina de la montaña no porque la montaña estaba [Music] [Music] despite the environmental damage of Roman gold extraction there is still enough or in the surrounding area to make modern mining profitable stock at Angola mono the container mineral de Oro case Australia cement of the del Valle and a Vermonter de marrón de que con tiene la basura tada a la planta de donde Ora modern extraction and processing techniques make this a very efficient operation the mine produces five and a half tonnes of gold every year more than the Romans could have dreamed of demos that was the last discover the inner circle looking as de los estudios de los investigadores and the other conclusion de caelo Romano's an sacado entry cuatro mil ethan Comiskey los de Oro tear dos cientos a nose cuatro mean cinco mil kilos de Oro no parece impossible pero el ante dad sell or hacer plantera me poco pour tanto que antenna esse Pokagon dia de Oro pues era realmente el dueño del mundo en aquel caso era Roma in Rome owning gold was vital it bought favors at all levels this was the first society obsessed by private wealth one very rich and influential man came to represent this new attitude Crassus he bought his way to everything and dreamed of a place in history as a great general but he failed in battle with the Parthians his enemies killed him in a fitting way to mark his obsession with wealth they poured molten gold down his throat [Music] Roman gold supplies were always outstripped by demand whatever new sources they found they always wanted more the Empire was a single currency zone coins circulated all over this vast area and they kept the Roman economic machine functioning there was always a temptation for the emperor to make limited gold supplies go further by secretly adding cheaper metals more coins could be made with less gold and silver but if people found out they wouldn't trust the currency [Music] and unscrupulous members of the public could also damage the coinage by clipping little bits from the edge of coins gold could be stolen from the state the public lost faith in the currency money lost value inflation rose as bit by bit the coins weighed less where the weak economy came a weak Empire the first Christian Emperor Constantine the Great decided to take matters under control he moved the center of his empire away from the corruption of Rome to a city he named after himself Constantinople [Music] in his new capital which is modern-day Istanbul he said about building a formidable new Empire based on trade and Christianity Constantinople situated at a crossroads between east and west and with easy access to mineral and natural resources really recorded the vision of its founder and it was to develop into an international dream city of crystal tomb for over a millennium trade flourished Constantine minted a new gold coin the solidus it was his crowning achievement pure gold never debased and so successful it is known as the dollar of the Middle Ages the dollar of the Middle Ages this is a very appropriate expression the same way the Athenian silver coins of the 5th and 4th century circulated widely and were accepted the same way the dollar or even the British Pound is accepted now the Byzantine solidus was accepted everywhere and was valued as a very fine coin [Music] the solidus was used as far away as China Britain and Scandinavia it became one of the longest-lived coins in history [Music] constantinople was the center of the world [Music] it's wealth on show in great buildings like the Church of Santa Sofia [Music] it's dome was lined with 12 tons of gold it was filled with lavish mosaics Constantinople became a city of gold its artists and craftsmen the finest in the world [Music] Gold became an obsession for wealthy emperors one even put the sacred image of Christ on the gold solidus religious mosaics became ever more elaborate people wondered if the Emperor's were showing devotion to the glory of God or the glory of gold there was a backlash [Music] a change was forced the cross was the only image to be allowed poems were issued with simple designs rich mosaics were torn down the Emperor's added yet more gold to their coffers [Music] as Constantinople thrived in the East the remains of the Roman Empire in the West fell apart plunging Europe into the Dark Ages [Music] people moved away from towns and cities back to small settlements closer to the land law and order fell apart and in these uncertain times people hoarded their gold hoping to keep it safe from plunder with so much gold under the ground or hidden away there was much less money circulating [Music] with money largely out of use trade dried up the economy withered the gold which had driven the Roman machine was being kept for better days [Music] by the 7th century had stopped using gold economists historians argue why this was it may seem to be that the patterns of trade of bringing gold from the main areas of God production in Africa and the East simply weren't there anymore so that nothing not off was coming through to be able to fuel a carnage but it was also a time of great religious faith in the monasteries monks celebrated God in intricate illuminated manuscripts and they wanted gold to shine from their world because it was scarce they only used tiny amounts of powdered gold mixed with egg white and then painted on to their finely detailed manuscript it was painstaking and frustrating work [Music] forced by hard times the craftsman of dog ages Europe began a tradition that continues to this day they pressed gold into ever thinner sheets just one ounce of gold can be made into gold leaf that would cover a hundred square feet apply to furniture or buildings the gold leaf litters as if it was solid la nación co-operative eat the gruel Omarion element epidural at a particular name for lomito produced record akira kurosawa cool afraid of San Fermin Pepe doxology will have will have to sell extreme he only Avatar he verified or get a book with the best jewelry may - I don't if I hung on a verified orchid I think it about you wanted a vacuum [Music] stretching small amounts of gold became an art form in itself [Music] it sparked a trend gilding was applied to everything from chairs to church roofs [Music] in 750 ad Britain were still divided into several warring kingdoms gold was scarce and money little used but that was about to change offer the powerful king of Mercia ruled a large territory [Music] he began minting coins and was able to build a currency that became the envy of northern Europe and lasted for 500 years he had little gold so used silver from Cornwall he kept a close eye on the quality of his coinage British money gained a reputation for purity and integrity a reputation that is guarded to this day every year in London a 700 year old ceremony takes place every new coin produced by the Royal Mint is checked for weight and purity a verdict is produced it's a very very long verdict every coin that has been checked and as assayed and tested is recorded in the verdict and it is read out aloud to the public in the hall behind us so that the public can hear that the coinage of their realm is up to standard [Music] Europe emerged from its Dark Ages into a period of great energy and improvement cathedrals were built and universities founded armies left Europe on Crusades to return the Holy Land to the Christian faith [Music] in the 13th century rulers of newly prosperous states in Western Europe minted their own gold coins in rapid succession it was a financial crusade coins that would rival the solidus from Constantinople [Music] the most powerful of the European cities was Venice well located for trading and maritime power the gold floating Venetian Goldsmith's became famous for their work wealthy leaders and merchants covered the city in go [Music] constantinople was left behind the city and culture of the byzantine empire was crumbling even their remarkable gold coins were coming to the end of their life after nearly a thousand years of supremacy [Music] the massive walls of Constantinople had kept out invaders for centuries eventually a weakened city fell to Mehmet the Conqueror a Muslim invader who breached the defenses and galloped through the city's gate to take control in 1453 Constantinople was sacked by the Turks and this really marks the end of a millenium history of glory ends of much much wealth the future of Constantinople was to lie with Islam a new Empire of the Ottoman Sultans door to the west troubles loomed on the horizon a century of war and plague in Europe lay ahead time so bad money didn't seem to matter but the glint of gold wouldn't stay hidden for long in the next program we travel to a new world Gold drives Europeans across the ocean to the Americas explorers adventurers and thieves they find more gold than they could have dreamed of and plunder holds civilizations [Music] Europe is awash with gold more gold than ever before [Music] you

Channel: Timeline - World History Documentaries

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Keywords: 2017 documentary, obsessed, Bernstein, documentary history, The Power of Gold, BBC documentary, Full Documentary, stories, real, Documentary Movies - Topic, Character of Humankind Documentary, history documentary, TV Shows - Topic, History, Documentaries, myth, Channel 4 documentary, Documentary, Gold, contemporary, Full length Documentaries, Obsession Documentary

Id: puN36_2axBU

Length: 49min 27sec (2967 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 08 2018