Glaucus of Chios. The Invention and Glorification of Welding
Résumé
All over Antiquity, the name and art (Plato : techne) of Glaucus of Chios have symbolized the invention of soldering [welding] iron artefacts. From Herodotus to Plato, from Plutarch to Pausanias and Athenaeus, Glaucus’ masterpiece, offered, it is told, at Delphi by the Lydian king Alyattes, the father of Croesus (seventh or sixth century B.C.), has been celebrated for various reasons. Our first purpose is to try to elucidate that story, at once historical and legendary, by confronting the literary testimonies with the results of archaeological, experimental and archaeometrical researches. How was made the crater-stand? What about Chios and its possible influence on the realization of the masterpiece ? How could such a metallic basis endure so long and so constantly raise the admiration of many and eminent commentators? Is it possible, and to what extent, to reconstruct the progress of welding techniques in the Greek and Western world? What kind of value added this operation, so complex in the eyes of the ancients, conferred on the welded objects? In examining these questions and some products involved (iron bars, wagon tyres…) the multidisciplinary point of view will prevail.