Athanor is a tube to conduct water
Atanor is a term with an extensive etymological journey. Its remote origins are found in Akkadian tinūru , which led to Aramaic tannūrā . This word came into classical Arabic as tannūr , in turn transformed into the Hispanic Arabic attannúr .
water pipe
The pipe used to transport water is called athanor. The concept also refers to each tube that makes up the pipe in question.
This concept has a very extensive history, and contains a vital importance for the evolution of our species, precisely because it was useful for the provision of water. This element has always been and will be fundamental for our subsistence and our health, and the creation of the first pipes was the first step towards greater protection of the body, through hygiene and nutrition in areas far from natural sources.
An athanor, in this way, is a pipe that allows transporting water or even other types of liquids. In a broader sense and depending on the context, athanor can be used to transport gases or even certain solids.
In ancient times, the athanor was built with baked clay . Currently, pipes are made of other materials, such as iron , steel , plastic or concrete . The choice of material is linked to the content of the tubes, the location of the system and the distance that must be traveled, among other variables.
Athanor stove
The idea of athanor, on the other hand, appears in the field of alchemy . The small oven used by alchemists is known as the athanor stove .
With the athanor stove, alchemists achieved heat transmission in their processes, keeping the temperature uniform. There were utensils of this type with standardized measurements according to the descriptions that could be found, but it was common for each alchemist to create his own athanor stove according to his needs.
The usual thing was that what was desired to be melted or modified was placed in clay containers. These vessels were then placed in the athanor stove, and they had to be able to withstand very high temperatures, since in some cases this oven was used to calcine materials, such as a fusion one. Its use did not have merely spiritual objectives, but was also aimed at specific chemical and physical work on certain minerals.
Athanor and correspondence
The so-called law of correspondence is one of the bases of alchemy, and proposes that there is a symmetry between two orders of reality: the macrocosm and the microcosm . The alchemists transfer this to their own person, in relation to their work. In other words, through the use of minerals you intend to reproduce your body.
An athanor furnace, essential for alchemical processes
Let's look at some examples of correspondences within alchemy that can help us better understand this law. When alchemists speak of salt , sulfur , mercury , the Sun or fire , they refer to the concepts that we perceive with the naked eye but also to the body , the soul , the spirit , the heart and the blood , respectively. Something similar happens with the processes: the action of separating refers to the achievement of mineral and gangue (useless matter that accompanies it) individually, but also to the separation of the body and the spirit.
Returning to the concept of athanor, alchemy understands it precisely as an instrument of exploration, with processes that can be compared with those of our own organism. For example, the temperature of the body and that of the oven have a correspondence. The fire that burns at the base of the athanor and that generates a flow of heat is related to that of the air through our lungs, which is also key in the regulation of our body temperature.