"Batteries of Baghdad"

From the BBC:

It was in 1938, while working in Khujut Rabu, just outside Baghdad in modern day Iraq, that German archaeologist Wilhelm Konig unearthed a five-inch-long (13 cm) clay jar containing a copper cylinder that encased an iron rod. The vessel showed signs of corrosion, and early tests revealed that an acidic agent, such as vinegar or wine had been present. . .

Konig did not waste his time finding alternative explanations for his discovery. To him, it had to have been a battery. Though this was hard to explain, and did not sit comfortably with the religious ideology of the time, he published his conclusions. But soon the world was at war, and his discovery was forgotten.

More than 60 years after their discovery, the batteries of Baghdad - as there are perhaps a dozen of them - are shrouded in myth. "The batteries have always attracted interest as curios," says Dr Paul Craddock, a metallurgy expert of the ancient Near East from the British Museum. "They are a one-off. As far as we know, nobody else has found anything like these. They are odd things; they are one of life's enigmas."

No two accounts of them are the same. Some say the batteries were excavated, others that Konig found them in the basement of the Baghdad Museum when he took over as director. There is no definite figure on how many have been found, and their age is disputed. Most sources date the batteries to around 200 BC - in the Parthian era, circa 250 BC to AD 225. Skilled warriors, the Parthians were not noted for their scientific achievements. "Although this collection of objects is usually dated as Parthian, the grounds for this are unclear," says Dr St John Simpson, also from the department of the ancient Near East at the British Museum. "The pot itself is Sassanian. This discrepancy presumably lies either in a misidentification of the age of the ceramic vessel, or the site at which they were found."

More questions than answers here; the lack of any evidence for wiring does narrow down the possibilities somewhat.

Some have suggested the batteries may have been used medicinally. The ancient Greeks wrote of the pain killing effect of electric eels when applied to the soles of the feet. The Chinese had developed acupuncture by this time, and still use acupuncture combined with an electric current. This may explain the presence of needle-like objects found with some of the batteries. But this tiny voltage would surely have been ineffective against real pain, considering the well-recorded use of other painkillers in the ancient world like cannabis, opium and wine.

Acupuncture, however, has been practiced continually down to the present, despite the availability of strong painkilling drugs. And if the "Baghdad batteries" were indeed medical devices, there is no evidence that their sole or even primary purpose was to relieve pain -- Greek texts notwithstanding. The medical hypothesis seems to be the most plausible overall. The slight tingle of a mild electric current may not seem like much today, but even in living memory it was mysterious enough to be ascribed all sorts of healing properties (look here and here for examples).

Posted by David on February 27, 2003 10:15 AM