Editing Iron (section)

==Symbolic role==
[[File:Eisernes Kreuz (1914).jpg|thumb|upright|"{{Lang|de|Ich gab Gold für Eisen}}" – "I gave gold for iron". [[German Americans|German-American]] brooch from WWI. ]]
Iron plays a certain role in mythology and has found various usage [[Iron (metaphor)|as a metaphor]] and in [[Iron in folklore|folklore]]. The [[Greeks|Greek]] poet [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Works and Days]]'' (lines 109–201) lists different [[ages of man]] named after metals like gold, silver, bronze and iron to account for successive ages of humanity.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1086/366027 |jstor=268960 |title=Work, Justice, and Hesiod's Five Ages |journal=Classical Philology |volume=69 |issue=1 |pages=1–16 |year=1974 |last1=Fontenrose |first1=Joseph |s2cid=161808359}}</ref> The Iron Age was closely related with Rome, and in Ovid's ''Metamorphoses''

{{Blockquote|text=The Virtues, in despair, quit the earth; and the depravity of man becomes universal and complete. Hard steel succeeded then.|sign=Ovid|source=[[Metamorphoses]], Book I, Iron age, line 160 ff}}

An example of the importance of iron's symbolic role may be found in the [[German Campaign of 1813]]. [[Frederick William III]] commissioned then the first [[Iron Cross]] as military decoration. [[Berlin iron jewellery]] reached its peak production between 1813 and 1815, when the Prussian [[royal family]] urged citizens to donate gold and silver jewellery for military funding. The inscription ''Ich gab Gold für Eisen'' (I gave gold for iron) was used as well in later war efforts.<ref>Schmidt, Eva (1981) ''Der preußische Eisenkunstguss. (Art of Prussian cast iron) Technik, Geschichte, Werke, Künstler''. Verlag Mann, Berlin, {{ISBN|3-7861-1130-8}}</ref>