The "brass" casting may be like some of the "gold" and "ivory" objects in ancient times, which pretty clearly were gold or ivory sheathed over more easily acccessible material. 200 tons of bronze, it seems to me, would have required the smelting of virtually all the bronze material available to Solomon, leaving none (for example) for military purposes. If you estimate the minimum set of greaves, helmet, breastplate, sword at a total weight of between 10 and 20 kg, 200 tons would equip 10,000 to 20,000 infantrymen!
>>> "Sariel Shalev" <[log in to unmask]> 03/01 2:00 AM >>>
>>> [log in to unmask] 02/29/00 10:34pm >>>
Sorry to bother you all with yet another query sent to HMS. I do ask in the
Society too but at the moment I can only do so three times per year.
Ray Pearson (of Rapier Public Relations though I don't think this is a
commercial project) is preparing a lecture about Hiram Abiff (who I think
made the castings for King Solomon) for the Free Masons and has been amazed
at the scale of the castings for the Temple. In "The History of Metals" L.
Aitcheson estimates the largest (presumably the "sea") to weigh 200 tons. My
understanding of the technology of the time suggests that if they had 50 Kgm
of molten metal available from any melt that would have been a huge amount.
He cannot accept that the bowl could have been made by joining successive
casts because it held water. Does anyone have any information that would
clarify this please? Would anyone be prepared to answer questions about it?
I must admit I have often wondered how it was done, though I have long held
that our forebears were by no means as dull as some people would make out. I
have always thought it was a bit like mending a bell.
The other problem of course is how they got it to and into the Temple
because the casting was done elsewhere. The account in the Old Testament
suggests that everything for the Temple was prefabricated.
TIA
Peter Hutchison
Honorary General Secretary
The Historical Metallurgy Society Ltd
Tel +44 (0) 1792 233 223
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