Review of the origins and development of lost wax casting from its origins in the Near East in the fourth millennium B. C. through to the Middle Ages. Sections of the paper deal with Anatolia, Greece, Egypt, the Phoenicians, the Scythians, the Etruscans and the Celts. The use of molds for making wax originals, casting in pre-Columbian South America and modern practice are also mentioned. -- AATA