Measuring Gold’s Role in History

If we were to determine the value of gold by all of the lives ruined or lost in pursuit of it, not to mention all of the civilizations wiped out when they got in the way, then it most certainly would stand as the world’s most precious metal.

The History Channel contemplates gold’s powerful influence on human affairs in four one-hour episodes of “Gold!” airing tonight through Friday at 9. Directed, written and executive produced by Brian J. Kelly, the miniseries ranges from the ancient Egyptian tomb of King Tutankhamen to the 1848 discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill to present-day mines in South Africa.

Tonight’s installment, “The Gold Wars,” jumps immediately into some of the ugliest conquests in history, all fueled by greed for gold, without explaining why the metal is so precious.

For even a hint of that, viewers will have to wait until Wednesday’s more interesting installment, “Gold Fever,” which charts the gold strikes of the 19th century that so vastly altered the development of the western United States, Australia and South Africa. Woven into this chapter are a few of the facts and figures that might have been more helpful at the start. Among these is the statistic that if all of the world’s gold were to be melted into one block, it would form a 63-foot cube, just one-fifth the size of the Washington Monument.

Despite such lapses, “Gold!” is fascinating for its reminder of the degree to which the search for gold has shaped world history, not least of which was Columbus’ chance discovery of the Americas and the subsequent centuries of slaughter, enslavement and shoving aside of the continents’ native populations.

Looking ahead: Thursday’s “The Stuff of Dreams” focuses on attempts to locate fabled caches of gold, and Friday’s “Cold Hard Cash” studies the gold standard.

Surf Report

SERIES

“Nothing is as it seems” on the season finale of “Witchblade,” as New York detective Sara Pezzini finds herself in a showdown to reveal the identity of her father’s killer (9 p.m. TNT).

MOVIES

Rappers Silkk the Shocker and Snoop Dogg star in “Hot Boyz,” about a “good kid” who embarks on a crime spree after his girlfriend is framed for murder and dies in jail (8 p.m. UPN).

SPECIALS

A convicted getaway driver (Pete Postlethwaite) decides to go straight upon release from jail and faces the expectations of his family and the temptations of the criminal world in the seven-hour weekly miniseries “The Sins” (7 and 10 p.m. BBC America).