Ancient Writing on Metal Plates – Part I

Not too many years ago, critics of the Book of Mormon ranted and raved about ancient writing on metal plates. No one had ever heard of such a thing and the archaeological world was up in arms about such a possibility since no one had ever uncovered such ancient writing on metal, only on clay tablets. Such a claim as that of Joseph Smith was considered proof positive that the Book of Mormon was a complete fraud.

Today, however, and actually since the 1830s, more and more evidence has been found to support such ancient writing on metal plates. In fact, it is impossible today to suggest that ancient writing did not occur on metal plates with so much evidence that has been found. Nor has it been of only recent vintage since in 161 B.C., Judas Maccabaeus concluded a treaty with the Romans, which "the Romans engraved on bronze tablets and sent to Jerusalem for the Jews to keep there as a record” (I Maccabees 8), and written about by (Book 12), who also wrote that this was the first recorded contact between the Jews and the Romans.

The Copper Scroll, found among the Dead Sea Scrolls by an archeologist in 1952 with its Hebrew text inscribed on two rolls of copper dating to 50-100 A.D. Because it was found in rolls, and the metal was corroded, it had to be cut apart into 23 strips to be read.  Both rolls were part of the same document

In fact, the most well-known example of Hebrew writing on metal plates is the famous Copper Scroll from Qumran of the first century A.D., containing a list of hidden temple treasures—although the origin and purpose of the Copper Scroll is widely debated, it is a clear example of an attempt to preserve an important sacred record by writing on copper/bronze (nechushah) plates and then hiding the document. The Hebrew ritual and ascension text Sefer ha-Razim of the late third century A.D., contains numerous references to writing on metal plates or amulets (tzitz). It is not doubted that the Hebrews had a long-standing tradition dating at least to the First Temple period (well before 600 BC) of writing sacred texts on metal plates for amulets, inscriptions, and literary documents—though this was never brought out following Joseph Smith’s claim.

Actually, soft metal lead was fairly popular throughout the ancient world for writing upon since it could easily be beaten into thin sheets, inscribed and then rolled up for storage. Pliny and Pausanias of the first century A.D. both refer to lead sheets used for writing, and was also used by the Hittites and Mandaens in B.C. times. Even the Romans wrote on metal plates for certain official government documents. In fact, the practice of documenting citizenship on a bronze tablet first appeared in the beginning of the last century B.C. with Spanish cavalrymen, and it is believed that the Roman practice of recording military service and family information for soldiers on bronze plates was apparently adopted from the Spanish. It is generally believed to have begun in the reign of the emperor Claudius (41–54 A.D.), for it was during his reign that the grant of citizenship began to be heavily regulated and a “standardized document appeared.”

A decree on these bronze plates issued by the Roman emperor Trajan in 109 A.D., awarding citizenship and other honors to retiring soldiers who served in the conquest of Dacia (Romania), called the constituto. On the backside of plate 2, the names of seven witnesses or officials are given, which serve to authenticate this decree and give it legal force and effect

According to John Muir in Life and Letters in the Ancient Greek World, six examples of early Greek letters written on thin sheets of lead survive today. The best known being a letter, which is claimed that Achillodoros meant to send to his son Anaxagoras. It was written about 500 B.C., while the others date from 400 B.C. to the last century B.C.

However, while lead was fairly common, gold and silver, which were repeatedly used in many ancient civilizations, often represented wealth and was used to show the value of a religious text, to gain special merit by commissioning so expensive a “book,” to show proper respect for the position of the person to whom a letter or message was addressed, or simply to draw attention to one’s own wealth and standing.

(Left) Gold leafing is an ancient technique in which gold was beaten to paper thinness between pieces of leather, then (Right) written upon, such as King Darius cuneiform writing found in Persepolis in 522 B.C.

It is now understood and widely accepted that writing on metal was a very common ancient practice in the Old World and the New World. Reference to metal plates are found even in classical literature. Plutarch mentioned finding a bronze writing tablet at his feet when a local spring boiled up. Inscribed plates made of lead, gold, silver land copper have been found in relative abundance in the Old World since 1830, when Joseph Smith shocked the world by claiming he had uncovered ancient writings on gold plates.

During archaeological diggings in Franzfeld, South Russia, in 1898, Jacob Schaub’s sons found twelve small gold metal plates in a hill. Padre Gay tells of very thin plates of gold preserved by the Mixtecan Indians, that had ancient been worked with a hammer, upon which were engraved ancient hieroglyphs. Peter De Roo told of an ancient book belonging to the Otonmi Indians that had sacred writings upon its metal leaves. There is a legend of the Maya having a Golden Book of 52 golden plates threaded on gold bars and engraved with characters that gave the entire history of the Maya, which had been buried to prevent the Spanish from finding them. Mariano Eduardo de Rivero and Dr. Juan Diego de Tschudi, in their 1851 two-volume work Antiguedades Peruanas, discuss the ancient writing of the Peruvians, with “hieroglyphs very different from the Mexican ones, that were sculptured in stone or engraved on metal.”

The Byblos Inscriptions were engraved on two bronze plates about 4 x 6 and 8 x 5 inches, with 225 characters on the smaller and 459 characters on the larger, and each is inscribed on both sides

The Byblos syllabary, also known as the Pseudo-hieroglyphic script, Proto-Byblian, Proto-Byblic, or Byblic, is officially an undeciphered writing system, known from ten inscriptions found in Byblos, a Canaanite city along the eastern Mediterranean, north of Israel. They were excavated by Maurice Dunand, from 1928 to 1932, and published in 1945 in his monograph Byblia Grammata. The inscriptions are conventionally dated to the second millennium B.C., probably between the 18th and 15th centuries.

Left: Believed to be the oldest complete multiple page book ever found are these six plates of gold, each 2 x 1.5 inches, and bound with two rings dating to 600 B.C. that were unearthed from a tomb along the Strouma River in southwestern Bulgaria; Right: The Pyrgi Gold Tablets, a set of three gold plates discovered in 1964 in an excavation of a sanctuary in ancient Pyrgi, Italy, and dated to 500 B.C.  They contain holes around their edges, which indicates that they were likely bound together in some form at one point

An Etruscan Gold Book dates back to 600 B.C., of six plates of gold bound with two rings, which was unearthed in Bulgaria about seventy years ago. According to Bozhidar Dimitrov, director of the museum, the find has been authenticated by experts in Sofia and London. Bulgarian professor Vladimir Georgiev is working on a translation of the text. Along the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea, a little north of Israel in present day Lebanon, have been found ancient writing on gold plates referred to as the Pyrgfi Tablets, which give a dedication by Thefarie Velianas, King of Caere, to the Phoenician goddess Ashtaret.

(See the next post, “Ancient Writing on Metal Plates – Part II,” for more information on ancient writing on metal plates, and an interesting find of a stone box containing hidden plates of Darius)