Smelter

Someone whose work is to extract metal from ore by melting it.

"The most important were the metal trades, which showed the greater degree of division of labour and specialisation. In Rome itself, we hear of pattern-makers (figuratores), smelters (fusores), turners (tritores), metal-chasers (crustarii), gilders (auratores), and among the jewellers there were specialist silversmiths and goldsmiths. Armour was manufactured at Rome, but also in Mantua, Brundisium, Tarentum, and Capua. The fabri aerarii, or bronze-workers, made table-ware with relief decoration, pots, jugs, chafing-dishes, tripods, beds, lamps, weights, scales and so on. There were also a large number of fabri ferrarii or iron-workers in Rome, Minturnae, Rhegium and Syracuse."

Claude Mossé, The Ancient World of Work (1969)

[Translated by Janet Lloyd].