A mythical metal said by ancient Greeks to be found in the lost city of Atlantis has been recovered from a ship that sunk 2,600 years ago off the coast of Sicily.
The disappearance of the Atlantis metropolis is one of the most perplexing mysteries of human civilization. The intriguing city vanished into thin air 11,000 years ago and was described in several of the Greek philosophers Plato’s finest writings

Many think that the Atlanteans did not disintegrate but instead relocated to another planet utilizing their powerful spaceships and ships. On the other side, others say that the city’s level of power and corruption endangered the city’s future by precipitating a massive nuclear war that altered the land’s landscape

When the mythical island of Atlantis submerged into the ocean, it took all of its orichalcum with it. The legendary cast metal was reputedly second only to gold in value. Now, a team of divers say they’ve recovered 39 blocks of orichalcum in a sixth-century shipwreck on the seafloor near Sicily, Discovery News reports.

The 2,600-year-old ship, likely from Greece or somewhere in Asia Minor, was carrying the metal to Gela in southern Sicily when it was caught in a storm and sank around 300 meters (1,000 feet) from the port.

Superintendent of the Sea-Sicily Region, Sebastiano Tusa Professor Sebastiano Tusa, a famous archaeologist from Sicily’s Office of the Superintendent of the Sea, indicated that the legendary red metal known as Orichalcum was most likely found in the buried ship’s wreckage

One of the lumps of ‘orichalcum’ that was found on the seabed just off the coast of Gela, in southern Sicily

“Nothing similar has ever been found,” Sebastiano Tusa of Sicily’s Sea Office says. “We knew orichalcum from ancient texts and a few ornamental objects.” According to Plato’s Critias, the metal was mined only on Atlantis, where it was used to cover the inside of Poseidon’s temple.

Experts nowadays agree that orichalcum is a brass-like alloy that was made in that past by reacting zinc ore, charcoal, and copper metal. When the newly discovered ingots were analyzed with X-ray fluorescence, Discovery explains, the metal turned out to be an alloy made with 75 to 80 percent copper, 15 to 20 percent zinc, and small percentages of nickel, lead, and iron.

Tusa’s team is now working on excavating the entire shipwreck, which may reveal more about artisan workshops in antiquity.

Nothing like it has ever been discovered. Orichalcum was known to us via ancient literature and decorative items.” Sebastiano Tusa, Professor Cadmus is a Greek legendary person who is credited with the invention of orichalcum. The mystical Orichalcum, the metal of Atlantis, has a long and illustrious history. For nearly a century, scientists have argued and studied the metal’s composition and origin.

Cadmus, a Greek mythological figure, is said to have developed the Orichalcum, according to Greek mythology. In the Critias conversation, Plato described Orichalcum as a mythological metal. The blazing red light of Orichalcum was said to illuminate the lost metropolis of Atlantis.

“The metal, second only to gold in value, was mined from Atlantis to cover all of the Temple of Poseidon’s surfaces.” Plato. The Orichalcum, according to the majority of specialists, is a copper alloy created by carburizing. Carburizing is a process that involves combining zinc ore, carbon, and copper metal in a crucible.

According to X-ray fluorescence examination, 39 Atlantis ingots were formed of an alloy consisting of 75-80 percent copper, 14-20 percent zinc, and lesser quantities of nickel, lead, and iron.

Professor Tumus clarified the significance of the discovery: “The discovery demonstrates that Gela developed to become a city filled with workshops of artisans specializing in the manufacturing of valuable artifacts a century after its establishment in 689 BC.”