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Where are the paintings?
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Ezio, my friend! How may I be of service?
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Visit the city of Argos and learn more about the sculpting of bronze.
The area that would become Argos was inhabited as early as the 3rd millennium BCE, but it was in the 7th century BCE that it officially became a city-state.
One of Argos' major pillars was its metallurgical industry.
As far back as the 8th century BCE, the city was famed for making products like long dress pins and tripod cauldrons, as well as impeccable body armor.
In addition to their technical excellence, the Argives were also creative, as seen in their masterful bronze sculpting, which became prominent in the city during the 6th and 5th century BCE.
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Archaeologists have discovered a unique bronze set of armor consisting of a helmet and corslet in a warrior's tomb at Argos. The bell-shaped corslet is the earliest known piece of body armor from Iron Age Greece.
The corslet and helmet display both the technicall excellence and general sculpting skills Argos was known for.
Bronze is an alloy composed of ninety percent copper and ten percent tin.
Because of this, copper and tin needed to be smelted and combined to create the material needed for sculpting.
After the bronze alloy was formed, it was melted in special furnaces.
They required a tremendous amount of fuel, and were usually supplied with charcoal made from specific types of wood.
It's possible they were also coated with a protective lining of clay, which would have been sensible given the melting point of bronze is approximately 950 degrees Celsius.
Once the required bronze was melted and collected, the furnaces were dismantled and dumped.
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"Black bronze" is a modern term for ancient bronze artifacts with a fine black patina. Examples of black bronze include a special class of prestigious but non-functional Mycenaean bronze daggers that date back to the 2nd millennium BCE. The daggers were decorated with black inlay and gold and silver foil using a technique called "painting in metal".
"Korinthian bronze", meanwhile, was the name given to copper alloys that were depletion glided to acquire a golden surface hue. According to legend, Korinthian bronze was originally created by aciddent during the burning of Korth in 146 BCE, which melted the city's immense quantities of gold, silver, and copper together. However, Pliny doubted the authenticity of this story, because most of the arists with worked with Korinthian bronze lived long before the 2nd century BCE.
