Status Updates From Becoming Gold: Zosimos of P...

It's not about turning lead into gold. These early alchemists refer to metals in Greek as somata (bodies) and their colours as pneumata (essential / spiritual / conceptual essence). They describe transference or spirits between bodies, essentially colouring metals. Also makes sense why later alchemists thought this was about magical operations.

Becoming very clear at this point that Greco-Egyptian alchemists knew that they were colouring metals gold rather than transmuting base metals. They refer to 'coral of gold', a red staining solution that yellows metals. It is with the misunderstanding of European alchemists of the 13th century that we get full-blown transmutation.