The mysterious Lycurgus Cup is convincing evidence that ancient Romans used nanotechnology, or at least knew how to get the desired effects, long before the availability of modern technology.
The cup is made of a special type of glass known as dichroic, meaning “two-colored” in Greek, which changes hue when held up to the light. It is opaque green but turns to glowing translucent red when light shines through it.
The Lycurgus Cup owes its unusual properties to the use of tiny quantities of colloidal gold and silver. The rim of the cup is mounted with a silver-gilt band of leaf ornament. Its type is known as a “cage cup,” as it consists of a cage around the glass.
The creators of these cups used gold nanoparticles to produce the ruby glass and silver nanoparticles for the green. The question is whether they were aware of the material they were using. Perhaps they were but merely referred to it by another name?
The Roman cup is exhibited at The British Museum. It was made around 300 AD and got its name from the elaborate design depicting the death of King Lycurgus. In the 1950s, it came into the possession of the Rothschild family.
King Lycurgus of Thrace
Not to be confused with King Lycurgus of Sparta, in Greek mythology, King Lycurgus was the king of Edoni in Thrace. He appears in the sixth book of Homer’s Iliad. Lycurgus was hot-tempered and decided to ban the Dionysus cult. He showed utter disrespect for the followers.
King Lycurgus attempted to kill Ambrosia, a follower of the god Dionysus. However, she called out to Mother Earth and was subsequently transformed into a vine. She then wrapped herself around the king, holding him captive. It is this very scene that is depicted on the Lycurgus Cup.
Dionysus, Pan, and a satyr are shown taunting and tormenting the doomed king for his hubris, as he has become entangled in the vines of Ambrosia.
In yet another version of the mythological tale, Lycurgus angered Dionysus by cutting down grapevines. The god of vines and wine hence turned Lycurgus into a mad person. Lycurgus, in his hallucinations, witnessed his son as a mature trunk of ivy, which is emblematic of Dionysus. Subsequently, he pruned off his nose, ears, fingers, and toes. When Lycurgus realized what he had done, he utterly lost his mind.
There are several versions of the myth of the impious King Lycurgus. These all focus on his divine punishment. In terms of the cup’s colors, the red may symbolize Dionysus’ wine, while the green alludes to the king who was entangled in the vines.
Lycurgus Cup Phenomenon According to Modern Science
When light shines onto the front side of the Lycurgus Cup, it seems to be jade green, while from the opposite side, it appears to be red. This effect puzzled scientists up until the 1990s. At that time, fragmented pieces of the same type of variegated glass were found in ancient Roman ruins and studied.
The overall Lycurgus Cup effect is achieved by adding nano (tiny) particles of chemically treated silver and gold to the glass chalice during the manufacturing process. These particles are as small as twenty nanometers in diameter, which is less than one thousandth of a grain of table salt.
In other words, they are just coarse enough to reflect light without entirely blocking its transmission. The Romans were aware that when light hit the glass, what we now refer to as electrons in the metal nano fragments of the chalice would produce a color-altering effect.
Nowadays, we know this color change results from a systematic shift to lower energy within the gold nanoparticles’ plasmon resonance. This happens when particle size decreases.
Likewise, the measured quantities of silver and gold utilized in the manufacturing of the glass prove the Romans understood this concept at least to some extent. Artisans would have had to grind up gold and silver into nano grains finer than sand. These were then proportionally infused into the glass to achieve subatomic effects. Scientists are still uncertain what technology would have allowed the Romans to achieve this at the time.
Nonetheless, one thing that is certain is that the Romans were, remarkably, pioneers of nanotechnology even as early as 1,600 to 1,700 years ago.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
