View source for Baghdad Battery

{{Short description|Set of artifacts claimed to be a battery}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{Unreliable sources|date=July 2025}}
{{Fringe theories|date=July 2025}}
}}
[[File:Ironie pile Bagdad.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.3|Drawing of the three pieces]]
The '''Baghdad Battery''' is the name 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]], [[Kingdom of Iraq|Iraq]] in 1936,<ref name=Skeptical /><ref name="Magic" /> close to the ancient city of [[Ctesiphon]], the capital of the [[Parthian Empire|Parthian]] (150 BC – 223 AD) and [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanian]] (224–650 AD) empires, and it is believed to date from either of these periods.<ref name=bbc />

Its origin and purpose remain unclear. [[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.<ref name="Magic">{{cite book |last1=Paszthory |first1=Emmerich |author1-link=Electricity generation or magic? The analysis of an unusual group of finds from Mesopotamia. |editor1-last=Fleming |editor1-first=Stuart J. |editor2-last=Schenck |editor2-first=Helen R. |title=History of Technology: The Role of Metals (MASCA Research Papers in Science and Archaeology 6) |date=1989 |publisher=UPenn Museum of Archaeology |pages=31–38 |isbn=978-0-924171-95-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NKCpAVR011MC&dq=Paszthory,+E.+1989.+Electricity+generation+or+magic%3F+The+analysis+of+an+unusual+group+of+finds+from+Mesopotamia.&pg=PA31 |access-date=7 July 2025}}</ref>

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]]. Some had bronze wrappers with badly decomposed [[cellulose]] fibers. Others had iron nails or lead plates.<ref name="Magic" />

The current whereabouts of the artifact are unknown, since the 2003 US-led [[2003 invasion of Iraq|invasion of Iraq]].<ref name=Hafford></ref>

== Physical description and dating ==
Austrian archeologist Wilhelm König's description of the find, translated into English, included:

<blockquote>In a vase-like container of bright yellow clay, the neck of which had been removed, a copper cylinder was stuck, held in place by asphalt. The vase was about 15cm high; the cylindrical tube with a closed bottom made from sheet copper had a diameter of 26 mm and a height of 9 cm. In the latter a completely oxidized rod of iron was gound, held in place by a sort of stopper of asphalt...<ref name=Skeptical /></blockquote> 

König stated that the cylinder was "fairly pure copper with traces of zinc, lead and iron."<ref name="Magic" /> 

The copper cylinder is not watertight, so if the jar were filled with a liquid, this would surround the iron rod as well. The artifact had been exposed to the weather and had suffered corrosion.

König thought the objects might date to the [[Parthian Empire|Parthian]] period, between 250 BC and AD 224. However, according to [[St John Simpson]] of the [[Ancient Near East|Near Eastern]] department of the [[British Museum]], their [[Stratigraphy (archaeology)|original excavation and context]] were not well-recorded, and evidence for this date range is very weak. Furthermore, the style of the pottery is [[Sasanian]] (224–640).<ref name=bbc /><ref name=keyser />

[[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."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Al-Haik |first1=Albert |title=The Rabbou'a Galvanic Cell |journal=Sumer |date=1964 |volume=20 |pages=103–104}}</ref> W. B. Hafford gives context to the discovery of the artifacts in his reaction video to Milo Rossi's video on the subject.<ref name=Hafford>{{cite AV media| people = Hafford, W. B. [@Artifactually Speaking]| title = The Baghdad Battery? Archaeologist Reacts!| accessdate = 2023-05-09| date = 2022-08-24| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZBsNGPVK2s}}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media| people = Rossi, M. [@Miniminuteman]| title = Awful Archaeology Ep. 6: The Baghdad Battery| accessdate = 2023-05-09| date = 2022-07-31| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRZR_TeVi5Y| archive-date = 2023-05-09| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230509170021/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRZR_TeVi5Y| url-status = live}}</ref>

== Comparable finds ==
Similar vessels, which can be distinguished primarily by their contents, had previously been found and examined more closely:

Four clay vessels were excavated at [[Seleucia]] in 1930 under the archaeological direction of Leroy Waterman, University of Michigan. All four were common unglazed ceramic, sealed with bitumen stoppers and between 6 and 8 inches (15 to 20cm) tall. Three of these finds were lying horizontal, held in place by up to four metal rods at the ends and sides. The rods were six to ten inches (15 to 25cm) long, one iron rod per jar and the rest bronze. Each contained a bronze cylinder, sealed at both ends, all three the same size: 1¼ inches (3cm) in diameter and 3 inches (7½cm) long. All three cylinders contained plant matter, one decomposed to flakes, one just a small closely-wrapped core and the other appearing to be a papyrus roll folded over at the ends.  The fourth jar was found upright and contained fragments of a small broken glass bottle. Silver coins found in context imply a Sasanian date.<ref name="Waterman">{{cite book |last1=Waterman |first1=Leroy |title=Preliminary Report upon the Excavations at Tel Umar, Iraq |date=1931 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |location=Ann Arbor |pages=61-62 & Plate XII |url=https://archive.org/details/preliminaryrepor0000lero/page/n85 |access-date=8 July 2025}}</ref>

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. Inside these bronze wraps were already badly decomposed cellulose fibers. Another clay vessel contained three sealed bronze cylinders. In the other two vessels, which were also sealed, there were plates of originally pure lead coated with lead carbonate in a find specimen; in the other ten heavily corroded iron nails, on which traces of a wrapped organic fiber material could be detected.<ref name=Ktesiphon>Ernst Kühnel: ''Die Ergebnisse der Zweiten Ktesiphon-Expedition.'' In: ''Forschungen und Fortschritte.'' Nr. 8, 1932; Ernst Kühnel: ''Die Ausgrabungen der zweiten Ktesiphon-Expedition.'' hrsg. ''Islamische Kunstabteilung der Staatlichen Museen in Berlin.'' 1933.</ref> These finds were also dated to the late Sasanian period.<ref name="Magic" />

== Electric battery theory ==
Its origin and purpose remain unclear.<ref name=bbc /> Wilhelm König was an assistant at the [[Iraq Museum]] in the 1930s. He had observed a number of very fine silver objects from ancient Iraq, plated with very thin layers of gold, and speculated that they were [[Electroplating|electroplated]]. In 1938 he authored a paper<ref>König, Wilhelm (1938): ''Ein Galvanisches Element aus der Partherzeit?'', Forschungen und Fortschritte, 14: 8–9. ([[:w:de:Datei:König (1938) Ein Galvanisches Element aus der Partherzeit.pdf|pdf]]).</ref><ref>König, Wilhelm (1939): ''Im Verlorenen Paradies – Neun Jahre Irak'', pp. 166–68, Munich and Vienna.</ref> offering the hypothesis that the Khujut Rabu jar may have formed a [[galvanic cell]], perhaps used for [[electroplating]] [[gold]] onto [[silver]] objects.<ref name=bbc>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2804257.stm |title=Riddle of 'Baghdad's batteries' |work=[[BBC News]] |date=February 27, 2003 |access-date=April 6, 2012 |author=Frood, Arran |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320140646/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2804257.stm |archive-date=March 20, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> This interpretation is rejected by archeologists and scientists.<ref name="Skeptical" /><ref name="Hafford" /><ref name =BadArch>{{cite web|url=http://www.badarchaeology.com/out-of-place-artefacts/anomalously-old-technology/the-%E2%80%98batteries-of-babylon%E2%80%99/|title=The batteries of Babylon: evidence for ancient electricity?|work=Bad Archaeology|date=26 December 2009|author=Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews|access-date=17 December 2016|archive-date=11 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161111183240/http://www.badarchaeology.com/out-of-place-artefacts/anomalously-old-technology/the-%E2%80%98batteries-of-babylon%E2%80%99/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Stone" /><ref name="Handorf">{{cite journal |last1=Von Handorf |first1=D. E. |title=The Baghdad Battery—Myth or Reality? |journal=Plating & Surface Finishing |date=2002 |issue=May |pages=84–87 |url=https://www.nmfrc.org/pdf/psf2002/050284.pdf |access-date=7 July 2025}}</ref>

Two  media reports (in 2003 and 2004) stated that corrosion of the metal and tests both indicated that an acidic agent such as wine or [[vinegar]] was present in the jar, without giving sources for that information.<ref name=bbc /><ref name="Grauniad">{{cite news |last1=Pilkington |first1=Mark |title=Ancient electricity |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2004/apr/22/science.research |access-date=5 July 2025 |work=The Guardian |date=22 April 2004}}</ref> In 1993, Dr Paul T. Keyser had speculated that "The asphalt seal indicates the presence of liquid" and that because most liquids known at the time were acidic, except for vegetable and  mineral oils, that the hypothetical liquid was used as an [[acid]]ic [[electrolyte]] solution to generate an [[electric current]] from the difference between the [[electrode potential]]s of the copper and iron [[electrode]]s.<ref name=keyser>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/545563 Paul T. Keyser, "The Purpose of the Parthian Galvanic Cells: A First-Century A.D. Electric Battery Used for Analgesia"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190730074817/https://www.jstor.org/stable/545563 |date=2019-07-30 }}, ''Journal of Near Eastern Studies'', vol. 52, no. 2, pp. 81–98, April 1993. Includes images of the artifact and similar objects.</ref>

== Experiments ==
{{Cleanup|section|reason=Lack of sources, lack of quantifiable data|date=January 2020}}
After the publication of a sensationalist article describing the jar in the March 1939 edition<ref name="Astounding">{{cite journal |last1=Ley |first1=Willy |title=An Electric Battery 2,000 Years Ago |journal=Astounding Science-Fiction |date=1939 |issue=March |pages=43–44 |url=https://archive.org/details/Astounding_v23n01_1939-03_frankenscan/page/n41/mode/2up?view=theater |access-date=7 July 2025}}</ref> of ''Astounding Science-Fiction'', an electrical engineer at the General Electric plant in Pittsfield, Massachusetts called Willard F. M. Gray made a reconstruction. Gray chose to test it with [[copper (II) sulphate]] solution as the electrolyte. He reported that this “worked quite well for a short time.”<ref name="Galaxy">{{cite journal |last1=Ley |first1=Willy |title=THE ELEMENTS OF KHUJUT RABU'A AND CTESIPHON |journal=Galaxy Science Fiction |date=1954 |issue=December |pages=44–51 |url=https://archive.org/details/Galaxy_v09n03_1954-12/page/n49/mode/2up?view=theater |access-date=7 July 2025}}</ref><ref name="Skeptical" /> 

Arne Eggebrecht, a past director of the [[Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum Hildesheim]], claimed to have electroplated silver onto an unspecified surface. Using many replicas of the jar connected together, with grape juice as the electrolyte, Eggebrecht only produced a layer of silver 100 nanometres thick. Speaking to a reporter for BBC News, Dr Bettina Schmitz, a researcher based at the same museum, said, "There does not exist any written documentation of the experiments which took place here in 1978... The experiments weren't even documented by photos, which really is a pity...I have searched through the archives of this museum and I talked to everyone involved in 1978 with no results."<ref name=bbc/>

In  1993, W. Jansen reported an experiment with an electrolyte of  diluted acetic acid with some dissolved [[benzoquinone]] in a cell and got "good experimental results".<ref name="Skeptical">{{cite journal |last1=Eggert |first1=Gerhard |title=The Enigmatic 'Battery of Baghdad' |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |date=1996 |issue=May/June |pages=31–34 |url=https://cdn.centerforinquiry.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/1996/05/22165042/p31.pdf |access-date=7 July 2025}}</ref>{{Citation needed|date=January 2020|reason=Experiments need sources, satisfactory performance is NOT a quantitative property.}}

On the [[MythBusters (2005 season)#Baghdad Battery|29th episode]] (23 March 2005) of [[Discovery Channel]] program ''[[MythBusters]]'', the Build Team made ten hand-made replica terracotta jars fitted to act as batteries. [[Lemon juice]] was chosen as the [[electrolyte]] to allow the electrochemical reaction between the copper and iron. With all ten connected in series, the battery produced 4.33 [[volts]] of electricity. When linked in series, the ten cells had sufficient power to visibly electroplate a small copper token with zinc when left overnight. Five were sufficient to deliver a painful current through acupuncture type needles stuck in the skin, but ten were not enough to deliver an electric shock to dry skin.<ref name="mythbust">{{Cite web |date=2013-02-11 |title=Ancient Batteries: Discovery Channel |url=http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/mythbusters-database/ancient-batteries.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130415225614/http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/mythbusters-database/ancient-batteries.htm |archive-date=2013-04-15 |access-date=2023-11-22 |website=[[MythBusters]]}}</ref> Archaeologist [[Ken Feder]] commented on the show noting that no archaeological evidence has been found either for connections between the jars (which would have been necessary to produce the required voltage) or for their use for electroplating.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.skeptic.com/podcasts/monstertalk/11/07/27/transcript/|title=Ancient Alien Astronauts: Interview with Ken Feder|publisher=Monster Talk Podcast|date=July 27, 2011|access-date=June 1, 2013|archive-date=August 31, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190831113940/https://www.skeptic.com/podcasts/monstertalk/11/07/27/transcript/|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Problems with the electrical interpretation ==
=== Lack of electrical connections ===
Though the iron rod did project outside of the asphalt plug, the copper tube did not, making it impossible to connect a wire to this to complete a circuit.{{cn|date=July 2025}}

=== Expected residues ===
A 2002 article in ''Plating & Surface Finishing'' addressed the expected results of the jar being used for electroplating. 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. Nothing resembling an electroplating cell with the associated gold or silver traces has been reported.<ref name="Handorf" />

=== Electroplating hypothesis ===
König himself seems to have been mistaken on the nature of the objects he thought were electroplated. They were apparently [[Gilding#Fire_gilding|fire-gilded]] (with [[mercury (element)|mercury]]). Paul Craddock of the [[British Museum]] said "The examples we see from this region and era are conventional gold plating and mercury gilding. There's never been any irrefutable evidence to support the electroplating theory".<ref name=bbc />

König had seen primitive gold electroplating using a ceramic pot being done in Baghdad in 1938. He proposed that the secret could have been passed down through the millennia as a secret of the local jewelers. Gerhard Eggert showed that the method used by the Baghdadi silversmiths in 1938 was almost exactly the same process as that invented in Birmingham, UK in 1839 by [[John_Wright_(inventor)|John Wright]] - using a ceramic flowerpot.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Eggert |first1=Gerhard |title=On the Origin of a Gilding Method of the Baghdad Silversmiths |journal=Gold Bulletin |date=1995 |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=12–16 |doi=10.1007/BF03214732 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227312139 |access-date=7 July 2025}}</ref>

David A. Scott, senior scientist at the [[Getty Conservation Institute]] and head of its Museum Research Laboratory, writes: "There is a natural tendency for writers dealing with chemical technology to envisage these unique ancient objects of two thousand years ago as electroplating accessories (Foley 1977), but this is clearly untenable, for there is absolutely no evidence for electroplating in this region at the time".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Scott|first1=David A.|title=Copper and Bronze in Art: Corrosion, Colorants, Conservation|date=2002|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yQKuSOzkLvcC&q=bitumen+copper+cylinder+Khuyut+Rabbou&pg=PA17|publisher=Getty Publications|isbn=978-0-89236-638-5|pages=16–18|access-date=2020-10-20|archive-date=2021-05-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210531010132/https://books.google.com/books?id=yQKuSOzkLvcC&q=bitumen+copper+cylinder+Khuyut+Rabbou&pg=PA17|url-status=live}}</ref>

Paul T. 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. For that and other reasons, Keyser concluded that even if this was in fact a battery, it could not have been used for electroplating. However, Keyser still supported the battery theory, but believed it was used for some kind of mild [[electrotherapy]] such as pain relief, possibly through [[electroacupuncture]].<ref name=keyser />

=== Bitumen as an insulator ===
A bitumen seal, being [[thermoplastic]], would be extremely inconvenient for a galvanic cell, which would require frequent topping up of the [[electrolyte]] for extended use.<ref>[http://www.theironskeptic.com/articles/battery/battery.htm the Baghdad Battery] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181206143455/http://www.theironskeptic.com/articles/battery/battery.htm |date=2018-12-06 }} on The Iron Skeptic website</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://sites.matrix.msu.edu/pseudoarchaeology/2010/10/12/the-baghdad-battery-and-ancient-electricity/ |title=The Baghdad Battery – and Ancient Electricity |publisher=[[Michigan State University]] students website |date=October 12, 2010 |access-date=March 9, 2015 |archive-date=November 9, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109074955/http://sites.matrix.msu.edu/pseudoarchaeology/2010/10/12/the-baghdad-battery-and-ancient-electricity |url-status=dead }} MSU students cite the now offline SkepticWorld.com website article ([https://web.archive.org/web/20120116204622/http://www.skepticworld.com/ancient-artifacts/baghdad-battery.asp archived January 16, 2012]) and offer their viewpoint.</ref>

=== Oxygen needed to function ===
Tests run by Emmerich Paszthory showed that oxygen was a limiting factor for the cell to function when the electrolyte was water with salt and acetic or citric acids. Sealing the copper cylinders in the way seen in the archaeological finds brought electricity production to a stop at once.<ref name="Magic" />

=== Iron shape ===
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.<ref name="Magic" />

=== Alternative hypothesis ===
Wilhelm König noted the clear similarity of this jar with the 4 found in Seleucia and 6 found in Ctesiphon.<ref name=keyser /> In 1932, Kühnel described those found at Ctesiphon as containers for "conjurations, blessings and the like, written perhaps on papyrus".<ref name=Ktesiphon /> 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. As the tubes were copper, the spell was probably protective. "Magic nails have been preserved in large numbers." The iron nails were used to nail fast the contents.<ref name="Magic" /> Dr Brad Hafford of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Museum agreed with this analysis.<ref name=Hafford /> The jars found in Seleucia were in the same vicinity as three magical or incantation bowls - made to protect against demons. Two of those bowls were covered  with fake writing. Those two were found stacked together, covering a similarly inscribed eggshell.<ref name="Waterman" /> The jar found at Khujut Rabu' (the Baghdad Battery) was itself also found in association with magical bowls.<ref name=keyser /> 

The artifacts are similar to other objects believed to be storage vessels for sacred [[scroll]]s from nearby [[Seleucia]] on the [[Tigris]].<ref name =BadArch />

In March 2012, Professor Elizabeth Stone of [[Stony Brook University]], an expert on Iraqi archaeology, returning from the first archaeological expedition in Iraq after 20 years, stated that she does not know a single archaeologist who believed that these were batteries.<ref name="Stone">{{cite interview|title=Archaeologists Revisit Iraq|access-date=April 6, 2012|date=March 23, 2012|last=Stone|first=Elizabeth|interviewer=Flatow, Ira|work=Science Friday|url=http://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/archaeologists-revisit-iraq/|quote=My recollection of it is that most people don't think it was a battery.&nbsp;... It resembled other clay vessels&nbsp;... used for rituals, in terms of having multiple mouths to it. I think it's not a battery. I think the people who argue it's a battery are not scientists, basically. I don't know anybody who thinks it's a real battery in the field.|archive-date=April 16, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190416033610/https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/archaeologists-revisit-iraq/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Prof. Stone's statement, listed as a 'red flag' among [http://archyfantasies.wordpress.com/2012/06/22/the-10-most-not-so-puzzling-ancient-artifacts-the-baghdad-battery/ 5 red flags why it was not a battery] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131115050914/http://archyfantasies.wordpress.com/2012/06/22/the-10-most-not-so-puzzling-ancient-artifacts-the-baghdad-battery/ |date=2013-11-15 }} (with sources, on Archaeology Fantasies website)</ref>

== See also ==

* {{annotated link|Coso artifact}}
* {{annotated link|Dendera light}}
* {{annotated link|History of the battery}}
* {{annotated link|Leyden jar}}
* {{annotated link|List of topics characterized as pseudoscience}}
* {{annotated link|Out-of-place artifact}}

== References ==

{{Reflist}}

==External links==

* {{Skeptoid | id= 4640| number= 640| title= Draining the Baghdad Battery | date=September 11, 2018 | access-date=}}
* {{Cite AV media| people = Rossi, M. [@Miniminuteman]| title = Awful Archaeology Ep. 6.5: The Baghdad Battery... Again? (YouTube video)| accessdate = 2023-05-09| date = 2022-09-30| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19mhccQ3nVA}}

[[Category:Pseudoscience]]
[[Category:Pseudoarchaeology]]
[[Category:Parthian Empire]]
[[Category:Sasanian art]]
[[Category:Electric battery]]
[[Category:History of Baghdad]]
[[Category:Impacts of the Iraq War]]
[[Category:Lost objects]]
[[Category:2003 invasion of Iraq]]