Luster of the Sun: The Significance of Gold in the Ancient Near East

The Late Bronze Age of the Eastern Mediterranean featured a “golden” age in international trade.  Like in today’s world, states engaged in long-distance trade that involved shipments, exchanges, and even embargoes.  While staples like grain, bronze, and tin were instrumental in maintaining the structure of civilizations, the importance of prestige items like gold are perhaps more difficult to assign.  In this paper I will show where gold came from, where it went and how it got there, and examine its sociocultural role in maintaining the high status of elites. 

During the Bronze Age, which lasted from roughly 3300 BC to 1200 BC, gold was increasingly in high demand as international trade networks developed.  Egypt was the most important source of it in these exchanges (Cline 54), though lower volumes of it came from Anatolia (Lamberg-Karlovsky 2009:57), where the Hittite, Mittani, and Assyrian empires would have some internal access.  Evidence for Egypt being the top source for gold-seekers lies in the Amarna letters, which demonstrate a high demand for it from kings in the region, usually for prestige or as part of gift exchanges (Cline 54-55).  Like today, gold was a luxury item, though it had nothing to do with coinage the way it has in the more recent past. 

The mines of Nubia were the greatest source of gold for Egyptians (Cline 54).  This area, located around the eastern desert of Lower Egypt, was conquered by the Egyptians around 1500 BC, allowing them greater access to gold reserves (Klemm, Klemm, & Murr 2001:649), conveniently at a time when international trade was reaching its peak.  Importantly, the authors suggest the most probable etymology of Nubia is “nub”, the Egyptian word for gold at the time.  Evidence for gold extraction from this area comes from about 250 excavation sites, where archaeologists have discovered hammers and axes (tools used for milling gold), large settlements housing hundreds of workers, and mineshafts (Klemm, Klemm, & Murr 2001:643).  During the New Kingdom, Egyptians were able to refine techniques for procuring gold in panning and the introduction of the bronze chisel, which allowed it to separate from the quartz of host rocks better (Klemm, Klemm, & Murr 2001:653-654).  These developments created a huge surplus of gold in the kingdom, every bit as staggering as the surplus of workers needed to erect its towering pyramids centuries before.  That surplus became evident after Howard Carter’s excavation of King Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1922, where “everywhere the glint of gold” was found (Cline 61).  Such a ravishing display of color and luster that matched the desert sands would have appealed to foreign traders in Egypt, who might have been keen to share it with other kingdoms. 

Gold from Nubia was transported north on ships that sailed with the current of the Nile.  From the Nile delta on the Mediterranean Sea, it was then distributed to various states in the Near East.  The Amarna letters reveal gold was sent by caravan to Babylon (Cline 55), though there is speculation that much of it was robbed or swapped with silver along the way.  The letters also provide evidence that the king of Mitanni received gold from Egypt in gift exchanges (Cline 54).  To my knowledge, no evidence exists for Egyptian gold being traded farther east than Babylon and Assyria; most of it appears to have stayed within the sphere of the Near East.   

Farther west, sailors took gold sent by the Pharaoh Merneptah to Ugarit when there was famine in the city (Cline 155-156).  Tablets excavated from Ugarit reveal how wealthy the royal family was.  Even before the famine, Egypt was a major source of imports there, as the royal family would send gold to the Hittites farther north as tribute (Cline 100), likely relayed from the Egyptian imports.  As Ugarit was a major hub of shipping and trade in the Eastern Mediterranean, Egyptian gold would have had ample opportunities to travel from there.  On the Uluburun shipwreck, off the coast of modern Turkey, a gold scarab inscribed with “Nefertiti” was found (Cline 73), suggesting luxury items from Egypt were in circulation around the Mediterranean.  Archaeologists suspect most were luxury items due to the gift exchanges revealed by international letters, many which praise “the unending supplies of gold” from Egypt (Feldman 2002:11).  Complementing these letters is the fact that most of the gold items found at excavations across the Near East are in fact luxury items.  For instance, two gold pendants were found in Ugarit that were made of sheet gold, showing Egyptian females in robes seated on chairs (Feldman 2002:14).  There is little evidence for gold nuggets or ingots shipping out of Egypt: the exception being Babylon, where the king would heat up the gold in a kiln to verify its contents (Cline 55).  Most of the artifacts found in the Eastern Mediterranean are luxury items that appear to have been made by artisans in Egypt prior to shipping, though some raw material may have been exported for local artisans and manufacturers to manipulate. 

Both the luxury items and the raw gold were prominent in gift exchanges between kings, which became the material “contract” by which an ancient Brotherhood flourished.  Lamberg-Karlovsky (2009:71) states that this Brotherhood was held together by gift exchanges involving expensive commodities like gold.  They were instrumental in the dynastic and cultural exchanges that took place between states during the time, strengthening relationships between trade partners.  The great kings of the Late Bronze Age depended on each other for these high-status items and all the personnel that came with them, including craftsmen and wives.  Class also played a role, as elites governed the luxury trade for ostentatious display of furnishings in their temples, palaces, and homes (Feldman 2002:19; Lamberg-Karlovsky 2009:62).  The overabundance of gold that was discovered in King Tutankhamen’s tomb indicates how prestigious an item it was to have been found in royal burials, at least to Egyptians. 

Economically, gold was a boon for this Brotherhood of nations- an international entity that bonded the kings of nations so tightly that friendly exchanges were deemed essential over warfare.  According to Podany (10), these kings took the term “brotherhood” quite literally, as their relationships demanded the loyalty expected from real brothers.  Included in the Brotherhood were the kings and leaders of Egypt, Babylon, Mitanni, Hatti, and possibly even Greece (Podany 15).  Because of this code of loyalty, ambassadors were able to travel safely to capitals; kings negotiated peace treaties; and their relationships could be strengthened by arranged marriages (Podany 10).  The peace generated by such stable relationships allowed trade networks to solidify and flourish, thereby increasing the accumulated wealth of kings. 

This was an incredibly fertile ground for the Egyptians to disperse their highest luxury commodity through international trade networks.  Lamberg-Karlovsky (2009:57) cites the creation of added value the recipients enjoyed as they exchanged commodities for gold.  Raw gold that was shipped to urban centers created jobs for artisans and the manufacturers of prestige items.  Feldman (2002:8) states that the gold coming through ports like Ugarit generated enormous wealth for locals due to the demand for luxury items.  Being that the production of gold was largely initiated by state institutions (Lamberg-Karlobsky 2009:59), it served as a safety net for the preservation of high society in most Near Eastern states.  Texts have also been found that highlight the concern over “capitalist” ventures to procure gold in Anatolia (Lamberg-Karlovsky 2009:68) in exchange for staple items like tin, bearing a striking resemblance to modern techniques of accumulating wealth. 

The idea of gold representing high status, or the divine right to rule, is not unique to the ancient Near East; for much of recorded history, gold has been the most sought-after item for ostentatious display in royal courts.  What’s less certain is the origin of the seemingly universal quality.  If it is gold’s resemblance to the color and power of the sun, it follows that many disparate cultures would be attracted by its luster to forge an archetypal color of leadership, especially if that leadership professed to divine authority.  The first state to achieve this on a grand scale was likely the Egyptians, who extolled this metal to such miraculous extremes that their sun god Ra was referred to as a mountain of gold, and the gold-emblazoned Pharaohs claimed to be his offspring.  The Egyptian model, reinforced by its matching desert landscape, could have been so powerful that it infiltrated other states during the Late Bronze Age, putting gold on the map as a top luxury item reserved for elites. 

If that idea survived the end of the Bronze Age, it certainly resonated through the ages in other empires.  Gold’s economic significance may be unparalleled when one considers the advantages it provides to any state.  That could be why it was important enough to be measured as the standard unit of currency in the U.S. for many years.  For the ancient Near East though, gold was more than an economic necessity; it sent a powerful sociopolitical message involving class symbolism, that only those in powerful positions were worthy of its opulence.  As the sun powers the Earth, so was gold thought to empower its kings and pharaohs, stabilizing a cordial system of trade between cooperative states. 

 

References Cited 

Cline, Eric, 2014, 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 

Klemm, Dietrich, Rosemarie Klemm, and Andreas Murr, 2001, Gold of the Pharaohs ‐ 6000 years of gold mining in Egypt and Nubia. Journal of African Earth Science, 33, 643–59 

Feldman, Marian H., 2002, Luxurious Forms: Redefining a Mediterranean “International Style,” 1400–1200 b.c.e.. The Art Bulletin, 84:1, 6-29 

Lamberg-Karlovsky, C.C., 2009, Structure, Agency and Commerce in the Ancient Near East. Iranica Antiqua, 44:0, 47–88 

Podany, Amanda, 2020, Brotherhood of Kings: How International Relations Shaped the Ancient Near East. New York: Oxford University Press 

Effects of Awe and Wonder on Prosocial Education and Career Development

Awe and wonder are powerful emotions that most people take for granted.  Many experiences that might seem routine can arouse them, from scenic views on mountaintops to moving symphonies.  Few people realize the power they have to change our lives.  Though awe and wonder are slightly different emotions, I have grouped them together in the interest of broadening our understanding of awe, which is the term used in most of the studies referenced.  This is because it would be very difficult to define awe without its product, wonder; in human psychology, it appears you can’t have one without the other. 

A proper definition of these emotions is required before we delve into them.  Weger & Wagemann (1,394), in their efforts to define awe and wonder, describe them as experiences that are both selfless and full of vastness.  They describe highly charged experiences of selflessness as phenomena that stretch our cognitive capacities beyond familiar knowledge structures, leading to broader understandings and increased curiosity (Weger & Wagermann, 1386).  Feelings of selflessness, vastness, and the need for accommodation are key descriptors of awe and wonder across the literature (Weger & Wagermann, 1387, 1394; Keltner & Haidt, 304; Stellar, Gordon, Anderson, Piff, McNeil, & Keltner, 2018, 267).  Keltner and Haidt (2003, 307) note that vastness does not only apply to physical vastness, but other forms involving abstract concepts like artistic expression.  While awe can induce vastness in natural settings by feelings that transcend one’s previous knowledge, it can also be induced when works of art challenge the viewer, involve obscurity, or when they are larger than the viewer is used to seeing (Keltner & Haidt, 2003, 310).  Awe and wonder can change the way we look at the world, moving us in directions that involve social movements (Keltner & Haidt, 307-308) or personal change and growth, satisfying the curiosity aroused by wondrous experiences (Keltner & Haidt, 2003, 312).   

This paper will focus more on personal changes in the context of education and career development in prosocial environments.  I will outline several recent studies that reveal how awe and wonder contribute to career development, then make a case for implementing awe-inspired activities into educational programs.  In the conclusion, I will show why it is important to cultivate awe and wonder into educational programs that facilitate cooperation and career counseling.   

 

Prosocial Career Development 

Central to prosocial career development is the trait of selflessness, which awe and wonder are known to enhance.  Bai et al. (2017, 185) found that awe increased collective engagement, promoting integration into social groups.  They highlight a small-self effect, where the sensation of awe does not diminish one’s sense of status, rank, or self-esteem, but instead increases orientation to the collective by diminishing the perceived size of the self (Bai et al., 201).  The effect is that awe and wonder tend to orient people to the interests of others, helping them assume collective identities that ferment collaboration (Bai et al., 201).  It may be helpful to think of instances when these findings apply to our own lives.  For example, in my career there have been people who left me awestruck by their capabilities, which inspired me to improve my performance for the benefit of the team.  Even as a child there were countless times when I saw people playing a sport or game that left me awestruck by their abilities, making me wanting to try it and get more involved in a team environment. 

Also central to selflessness is the generosity involved in helping others.  Prade and Saroglou (2016, 522) found that experiences of awe prime people for prosociality in contexts where generosity is concerned, particularly when helping a person in need in everyday situations.  As one’s career often involves everyday activities, situations where prosocial decisions are needed seem ubiquitous among professions involving selflessness, including medicine, counseling, teaching, law, and many others. 

Another aspect of career development is Piaget’s need for accommodation, which is the restructuring of cognitive processes based on new information (Keltner & Haidt, 2003, 304).  Though Piaget’s paradigm is a tool used in child development, accommodation can apply to all age groups.  Shiota, Kelter, & Mossman (2007, 958) found that awe-prone individuals were more comfortable revising mental structures when they are incompatible with new information.  They found that the experience of awe and wonder was associated with a low need for cognitive closure- a preference for arriving at unambiguous conclusions- making awe-prone individuals more open to information processing and less judgment.  A low need for cognitive closure allowed them to collect experiences that challenged their normal way of thinking about the world, which tended to evoke awe more than other elicitors (Shiota, Kelter, & Mossman, 2007, 950).  This may partially explain why college creates better career opportunities for students: because the student is more likely to find themselves in an awe-inspiring environment than in high school, the military, or when training for an apprenticeship.   

 

Vastness, Cultural Magnificence, and Selflessness 

Vastness in all its forms can also inspire individuals to reorient or re-evaluate career direction.  Awe was related to a higher sense of cooperation, belongingness, and sense of importance because of the humility one feels when confronted by the vastness and complexity of the world (Stellar et al., 2018, 267).  In another study, openness to vast, new experiences in nature and music was the only significant predictor of awe, generating aesthetic states that challenge one’s worldview (Silvia, Fayn, Nusbaum, & Beaty, 2015, 381).  The vastness associated with natural wonders, aesthetics, or complexity, from witnessing the immensity of stars to the composition of a piece writing, music, or painting, can move people so much that their worldview shifts to align with the new material.   

It's important to stress how vastness can be considered a prosocial phenomenon when one considers the multitude of beings involved in a community, nation, social group, or movement.  Those who strive for magnificence in community settings, whether they be artists, scientists, clergy, or leaders can generate powerful feelings of awe and wonder on every social level.  For instance, awe was found to be induced by the remarkable achievements of others in social professions, helping identify community leaders (Shiota, Keltner, & Mossman, 2007, 950; Keltner & Haidt, 2003, 307-308).  Likewise, remarkable achievements produced by artists, scientists, and clergy are equally important when one considers the cultural significance of a Shakespeare, Einstein, or Martin Luther King Jr.  I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been so amazed by a passage in literature or poetry that it inspired me to attempt writing something similar, using my own words.  That makes it easy for me to believe the most influential people in the world also spread the most awe and wonder to others.   

Related to inducing awe and wonder through cultural magnificence is the ability of influential people to cultivate it in their work.  De Cruz (2020, 161), in their research on awe and wonder in scientific practice, notes that awe tends to shift the focus away from the self, reducing feelings of self-importance as people cultivate a scientific path.  This also applies to religious teachers and leaders (De Cruz, 2020, 164), which is interesting when one considers how different their career paths are to scientists.  Preston & Shin (2018, 213) concluded that spirituality induces awe through the feelings of smallness that are shared by religious and non-religious individuals.  As spirituality is not necessarily required to be religious, this would explain how awe and wonder can have a similar effect on career paths as seemingly distant as those in science, religion, government, or art. 

 

Creativity in Career Development 

Creative capacity is another strong element of career development, which can be improved in children who are exposed to awe-inducing events.  Results from Chirico et al. (2018) showed that “awe affected key creative thinking components—fluency, flexibility and elaboration”.  Priming spatial distance induced higher levels of awe in children, fermenting their creativity by increasing fluency and originality (Liberman, Polack, Hameiri, & Blumenfeld, 2012).  Awe was also found to expand people’s perception of time, alter decision-making, and enhance well-being (Rudd, Vohs, & Aaker, 2012, 1130).  The same study found that awe made people feel more in the present moment, like they had more time available; and they felt more patient as a result.  Furthermore, expanding time perception led awe-induced participants to more strongly desire helping other people and to “partake in experiential goods over materials ones” (Rudd, Vohs, & Aaker, 1136).  This study makes the connection between selflessness and creativity that awe and wonder are seemingly able to forge.  As these traits are so central to career development, including the patience, experimentation, fluency, well-being, and originality that derives from them, it would be difficult to ignore the impact awe and wonder has on it. 

 

Financial Success and Cultural Influence 

One might assume that just because awe and wonder are better for career development, it would make people desire financial success more.  However, it is interesting to note that awe weakens the desire for money (Jiang et al., 2018, 10), suggesting that those inspired by it tend to pick career paths that benefit humanity as opposed to themselves.  Those who pick careers just to earn money are probably less influential than those who genuinely want to help people by demonstrating prosocial behavior, though this is a generalization.  If one does not ever experience awe or wonder in their chosen career, it seems they would be more likely to desire changing it.   

It is worth mentioning a cross-cultural study on the cultural effects of awe and wonder.  In a study comparing the effects of awe in Iranian and U.S. participants, Razavi et al. (2016, 1100) found that Iranians experienced far less instances of awe than those in the U.S.  This may suggest cultural values or social circumstances play a role in the experience of awe and therefore career direction and other freedoms.  We must consider how important the freedoms that allow educational opportunities in career development are.  In narrow societies like Iran, which ranks low in positive emotions in general (Razavi et al. (2016, 1100), we can see the impact a rigid educational system has on its citizens.  That is why western societies would be wise to maintain their open education systems, perhaps even enhancing them. 

 

Self-actualization 

In theory, the connection between awe, wonder, and career development suggests that awe is essential to self-actualization on Abraham A Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, though it would be hard to measure such a hypothesis by experiment.  Self-actualization is the highest need on Maslow’s hierarchy, involving “peak experiences” and the fulfillment of one’s talent or full potential.  According to Keltner & Haidt (302), Maslow’s descriptions of peak experiences coincide with many of the traits brought by experiences of awe: ego-transcendence, self-forgetfulness, humility, a perception of the goodness of the world, feeling lucky or graced, and a sense that “polarities and dichotomies have been transcended or resolved”.  Comparing this list to the other studies I have mentioned, it becomes clear that awe and wonder are essential to a prosocial education and career paths for those who seek to self-actualize, or who want to change the world in a big way. 

 

 

Conclusion 

As I have demonstrated, awe and wonder are emotions that strengthen career development in fields involving high levels of cognition, creativity, and cooperation (the three Cs).  An ideal educational program would implement awe-inspiring activities that evoke feelings of vastness, selflessness, and the need to accommodate for higher levels of information.  Due to the tendency for these emotions to increase selflessness and promote creative solutions, those seeking careers involving high levels of cooperation would benefit immensely from educational programs that use awe and wonder in their curriculum. 

An interesting research project would be to measure the relationships between awe and the three Cs in an educational context over a long period of time.  Such a longitudinal study would ideally show the kind of influence awe-inducement has on careers, both in how prosocial they are or by the level of influence their work inspires (which admittedly can be subjective), or by a measurement of career satisfaction.  Education systems that are too traditional, bland, or simple do little to inspire students to greatness; teaching them things that really expand their minds can make a big difference in their lives.  

 

References 

Bai, Y., Maruskin, L. A., Chen, S., Gordon, A. M., Stellar, J. E., McNeil, G. D., Peng, K., Keltner, D. (2017). Awe, the diminished self, and collective engagement: Universals and cultural variations in the small self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 113(2), 185-209. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000087 

Chirico, A., Glaveanu, V. P., Cipresso, P., Riva, G., & Gaggioli, A. (2018). Awe enhances creative thinking: An experimental study. Creativity Research Journal, 30(2), 123-131. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2018.1446491 

De Cruz, H. (2020). Awe and Wonder in Scientific Practice: Implications for the Relationship Between Science and Religion. Issues in Science and Technology: Nature and Beyond, 155-168.  DOI:10.1007/978-3-030-31182-7_13 

Keltner, D., & Haidt, J. (2003). Approaching awe, a moral, spiritual, and aesthetic emotion. Cognition and Emotion, 17(2), 297-314. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02699930302297  

Jiang, L., Yin, J., Mei, D., Zhu, H., & Zhou, X. (2018). Awe weakens the desire for money. Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology, 12, 10. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/prp.2017.27 

Liberman, N., Polack, O., Hameiri, B., & Blumenfeld, M. (2012). Priming of spatial distance enhances children's creative performance. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 111(4), 663-670. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2011.09.007 

Prade, C., & Saroglou, V. (2016). Awe’s effects on generosity and helping. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 11(5), 522-530. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2015.1127992 

Preston, J. L., & Shin, F. (2017). Spiritual experiences evoke awe through the small self in both religious and non-religious individuals. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 70, 212-221. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2016.11.006Preston, J. L., & Shin, F. (2017).  

Razavi, P., Zhang, J. W., Hekiert, D., Yoo, S. H., & Howell, R. T. (2016). Cross-cultural similarities and differences in the experience of awe. Emotion, 16(8), 1097-1101. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/emo0000225 

Rudd, M., Vohs, K. D., & Aaker, J. (2012). Awe expands people’s perception of time, alters decision making, and enhances well-being. Psychological Science, 23(10), 1130-1136. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797612438731 

Shiota, M. N., Keltner, D., & Mossman, A. (2007). The nature of awe: Elicitors, appraisals, and effects on self-concept. Cognition and Emotion, 21(5), 944-963. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02699930600923668 

Silvia, P. J., Fayn, K., Nusbaum, E. C., & Beaty, R. E. (2015). Openness to experience and awe in response to nature and music: Personality and profound aesthetic experiences. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 9(4), 376-384. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/aca0000028 

Stellar, J. E., Gordon, A., Anderson, C. L., Piff, P. K., McNeil, G. D., & Keltner, D. (2018). Awe and humility. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 114(2), 258-269. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000109 

Weger, U., & Wagemann, J. (2021). Towards a conceptual clarification of awe and wonder: A first person phenomenological enquiry. Current Psychology: A Journal for Diverse Perspectives on Diverse Psychological Issues, 40(3), 1386-1401. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12144-018-0057-7