 It is referred to in various ancient texts, but few known examples of hepatizon exist today.Of the known types of bronze or brass in classical antiquity (known in Latin as "aes" and in Greek as χαλκός), hepatizon was the second most valuable.Pliny the Elder mentions it in his "Natural History", stating that it is less valuable than Corinthian bronze, which contained a greater proportion of gold or silver and as a result resembled the precious metals, but was esteemed before bronze from Delos and Aegina.