The peculiar and striking properties possessed by metallic mercury exercised a special influence on the beginnings of chemical thought. This element captivated the imaginations of the ancients and played a major role in the fantastic doctrines of the alchemical art. The first find of the metal was at Kurna in Egypt dating to 1500-1600 B.C. The earliest written evidence is given by Aristotle. A method of obtaining mercury from the native sulfide is given by Theophrastus. Dioscorides describes the recovery of mercury by distillation. The chief use of mercury in Grecian and Roman times was in gilding. Vitruvius records some observations on the density of mercury. Apparently the only compound of mercury known to the Ancients was the native sulfide, cinnabar.