Gold in antiquity: Did you mean...?

Gold coins issued by Samudragupta (circa 335 – 375 CE).

Artist's impression of how Coronado's expedition may have looked, titled "Seekers of the Seven Cities of Gold, Coronado in the Chiricahaus".

Bowl, gold. c. 1100 BCE. Zurich-Altstetten. Canton of Zurich. With images of stags and does grazing under round suns and crescent moons, this heavy vessel made of pure gold depicts both heaven and earth. It was buried by a farming community...

A c. 6th century CE gold girdle from the Silla kingdom of south-eastern Korea (57 BCE - 668 CE). From the Gold Crown Tomb, Gyeongju. National Treasure No. 88. (Gyeongju National Museum, South Korea)

Gold snail shell, 100 BCE - 1000 CE. Restrepo, Valle del Cauca, Colombia. 14,8 x 30 cm (5.8 x 11.8 inches). Museo del Oro / The Gold's Museum (Bogota, Colombia).

Almoravid dynasty (1056-1147 CE) gold coin from the reign of 'Abdallah ibn 'Iyad. 1146 CE. (British Museum, London)

Gold stater from Lydia, reign of Croesus, 560-546 BCE. O: Lion and ox. R: Two incuse squares.

An oil painting dating to c. 1545 CE illustrating the 'Field of the Cloth of Gold', a magnificent pageant held near Calais in June 1520 CE as a show of friendship between Henry VIII of England (r. 1509-1547 CE) and Francis I of France (r...

El Dorado ('Gilded Man' or 'Golden One') referred to the legendary kings of the Muisca (Chibcha) people who populated the northern Andes of modern-day Colombia from 600 to 1600. The name derives from the coronation ritual when the new king...

Did you know that the Ghana king would automatically keep any gold nugget extracted that weighed between 25 grams and half a kilo? This video is all about the lucrative gold trade of ancient and medieval West Africa. West Africa was...