DiscoverScroll article

The Baghdad Battery or Parthian Battery (Persian: باتری اشکانی; Arabic: بطارية بغداد) are the names given to an artifact consisting of a ceramic pot, a tube of copper, and a rod of iron fixed together with bitumen.

It was discovered in present-day Khujut Rabu, Iraq in 1936, close to the ancient city of Ctesiphon, the capital of the Parthian (150 BC – 223 AD) and Sasanian (224–650 AD) empires, and it is believed to date from either of these periods. Wilhelm König, at the time director of the laboratory of the National Museum of Iraq, suggested that the object functioned as a galvanic cell, possibly used for electroplating, or some kind of electrotherapy. There is no electroplated object known from this period, and the claims are universally rejected by archaeologists. An alternative explanation is that it functioned as a container for magic spells for protection, defense or curses. Ten similar clay vessels had been found earlier. Four were found in 1930 in Seleucia dating to the Sassanid period. Three were sealed with bitumen and contained a bronze cylinder, again sealed, with a pressed-in papyrus wrapper containing decomposed fiber rolls. They had been held in place with up to four bronze and iron rods sunk into the ground, and their cult meaning and use are inferred. Six other clay vessels were found nearby in Ctesiphon.

In the latter a completely oxidized rod of iron was found, held in place by a sort of stopper of asphalt... König stated that the cylinder was "fairly pure copper with traces of zinc, lead and iron." The copper cylinder is not watertight, so if the jar were filled with a liquid, this would surround the iron rod as well. König thought the objects might date to the Parthian period, between 250 BC and AD 224. However, according to St John Simpson of the Near Eastern department of the British Museum, their original excavation and context were not well-recorded, and evidence for this date range is very weak. Albert Al-Haik noted original reports from the 1936 dig led by Sherif Yousif and Jawad al-Saffar at Khuyut Rabbou'a, giving the location as an area northeast of Baghdad, "some two miles off the Baghdad eastern bund." W.

In 1931, a German-American excavation expedition led by Ernst Kühnel found six more clay vessels in the immediately neighboring Ctesiphon, including three sealed find objects, each with one, three and ten wrapped and sealed bronze rolls.

In 1938 he authored a paper offering the hypothesis that the Khujut Rabu jar may have formed a galvanic cell, perhaps used for electroplating gold onto silver objects.

With all ten connected in series, the battery produced 4.33 volts of electricity.

If used as an electrical cell, copper would have gone into solution in the liquid and copious amounts of copper salts would have been seen in the ceramic vessel and copper metal on the iron parts. This jar was theorised to be the battery but to effect electroplating another cell would be needed.

König had seen primitive gold electroplating using a ceramic pot being done in Baghdad in 1938. Keyser of the University of Alberta noted that using only vinegar, or other electrolytes available at the time the jar was made, the battery would be very feeble.

Emmerich Paszthory found that when used as an electrode an iron rod erodes at the neck, so the tapered shape of the iron nail showed it had not been used as an electrode.

Wilhelm König noted the clear similarity of this jar with the 4 found in Seleucia and 6 found in Ctesiphon. Emmerich Paszthory asserted the Khujut Rabu jar and those from Seleucia and Ctesiphon were clearly magic objects - as all the parts were known to be associated with magic in that time. The jar found at Khujut Rabu' (the Baghdad Battery) was itself also found in association with magical bowls.

Quick Facts

• Wilhelm König, at the time director of the laboratory of the National Museum of Iraq, suggested that the object functioned as a galvanic cell, possibly used for electroplating, or some kind of electrotherapy.
• The jar found at Khujut Rabu' (the Baghdad Battery) was itself also found in association with magical bowls.
• Ten similar clay vessels had been found earlier.
• Three were sealed with bitumen and contained a bronze cylinder, again sealed, with a pressed-in papyrus wrapper containing decomposed fiber rolls.
• Albert Al-Haik noted original reports from the 1936 dig led by Sherif Yousif and Jawad al-Saffar at Khuyut Rabbou'a, giving the location as an area northeast of Baghdad, "some two miles off the Baghdad eastern bund." W.

Source material: Wikipedia - "Baghdad Battery". Adapted and summarized for DiscoverScroll. Original contributors are credited through the linked Wikipedia article. Read original on Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes were made from the original.