2. Metallic reflection from a smooth surface

The name orichalcum was given in the 3rd century BC to a copper-zinc alloy prized for its gold-like appearance. In older texts, it refers to a fabulous but indefinable material. Strabo, in his Geography, Book VIII, 56, borrows a passage from the Philippics of Theopompus of Chios (IV ^e century BC): "There is a stone near Andeira which yields iron when burned. After being treated in a furnace with a certain earth, it yields drops of false silver. This added to the copper forms the mixture that some call orichalcum."

Christiane Eluère, Jean-Pierre Mohen (