Of all the stones known to the ancients, none seemed as alive as the lodestone. A dark stone, without apparent beauty, which nevertheless drew iron to itself as if by a mysterious desire. This invisible force fuelled philosophical reflection, legends and symbols for centuries. The lodestone, that is, naturally magnetised magnetite, became the image par excellence of attraction, of love and of the hidden bonds between things.
Thales and the soul of the stone
According to Aristotle, in the treatise On the Soul, Thales of Miletus, considered the first Greek philosopher, held that the lodestone had a soul, precisely because it moved iron. For Thales movement was a sign of life, and the stone's ability to attract showed that even apparently inert matter could possess a vital principle.
Thales is also credited with the saying that "all things are full of gods". The lodestone was perhaps, for him, the most evident example of this diffused presence of the divine in nature.
The name and the legend of the shepherd
The Greek name magnes probably comes from the region of Magnesia, in Thessaly, or from the city of Magnesia in Asia Minor, where the stone was found in abundance. Pliny the Elder, however, reports a more poetic legend: a shepherd named Magnes, while grazing his flock on Mount Ida, noticed that the nails of his shoes and the iron tip of his staff stuck to the ground. He had discovered the stone that bears his name.
The ancients also called it the stone of Heraclea, and under this name it already appears in Plato's dialogues.
Plato's chain of rings
In the Ion, Plato uses the lodestone as an image of poetic inspiration. The stone, says Socrates, not only attracts iron rings but communicates its power to them, so that each ring can attract another, forming a chain. In the same way the Muse inspires the poet, the poet inspires the rhapsode, the rhapsode inspires the audience. All are bound by a force that does not come from them but passes through them.
It is one of the most beautiful images of ancient philosophy: inspiration as a magnetic force passed from ring to ring, without anyone being its true owner.
Lucretius and the natural explanation
The Latin poet Lucretius, in De rerum natura, tried instead to explain magnetism in purely material terms, according to Epicurus' atomist physics. The lodestone would emit a stream of particles that creates a void in front of it, and the iron would be pushed into that void. The explanation is now outdated, but it testifies to the wish to understand the phenomenon without resorting to divine forces.
The compass and orientation
In China the property of magnetite to align itself along the north–south axis was known and used very early. Ancient Chinese texts describe a magnetite spoon placed on a polished plate, which turned until it pointed south. This instrument, also linked to geomancy, is considered an ancestor of the compass. In Europe the magnetic compass appears in the sources in the late twelfth century.
The needle that always points in the same direction enriched the symbol of the lodestone. Not only attraction but orientation: an inner force that shows the way even when everything around is dark, as on the open sea at night.
Gilbert's De magnete
In 1600 the English physician and natural philosopher William Gilbert published De magnete, one of the first great experimental treatises of modern science. Gilbert argued that the Earth itself is an enormous magnet, and that this is why the compass needle aligns itself. It is significant that, despite his modern method, Gilbert still spoke of magnetic force as a kind of soul of the Earth, in a sense taking up Thales' ancient intuition.
Sympathy and antipathy
In Renaissance natural philosophy the lodestone became the main example of sympathy, the doctrine according to which the things of the universe are linked by secret affinities. Authors such as Marsilio Ficino and later Giambattista Della Porta saw in magnetism the proof that the world is crossed by invisible forces of attraction and repulsion, and that the wise can learn to recognise them.
| Aspect | Symbolic meaning |
|---|---|
| attraction of iron | love, desire, bond |
| invisible force | hidden correspondences in nature |
| chain of rings | inspiration that is passed on |
| orientation to the north | inner guidance, fidelity to a direction |
| two poles | union and opposition of contraries |
The lodestone of love
It is not surprising that, in poetic language, the lodestone became a metaphor for love. The heart drawn to another heart, the beloved who "attracts" like a magnet: these images belong to a long tradition running through medieval and Renaissance poetry. Symbolically, the lodestone teaches that authentic attraction is not a constraint but the expression of a kindred nature.
In short
- According to Aristotle, Thales attributed a soul to the lodestone because it moved iron.
- Pliny tells the legend of the shepherd Magnes; Plato uses the chain of rings as an image of inspiration.
- In China magnetite was used early for orientation; in 1600 Gilbert described the Earth as a magnet.
- In the Renaissance the lodestone became the symbol of universal sympathy and of the hidden bonds between things.
