Talk:Magnes the shepherd

A fact from Magnes the shepherd appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 10 April 2015 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that Pliny the Elder believed the name of Magnes the shepherd was the source of the Latin root of the words magnet, magnetism, and related word forms?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2015/April. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Magnes the shepherd.

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Categorisation

Currently we're using the category Category:Ancient Greeks. This is rather broad, and possibly problematic - Mount Ida where Magnes is supposed to have made his discovery is in modern day Turkey. Magnes might have been an Aeolian. Of course it's more likely that Magnus never existed, so trying to fit him in the categories of real people might be a fool's errand. Thoughts? --LukeSurl^{t c} 17:22, 19 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

When you say he may be Aeolian, do you mean with respect to this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnes_(son_of_Aeolus)?

I think this might be a different Magnes; this Magnes is meant to be the Eponym of Magnesia in Thessaly. So perhaps it isn't much of a problem. Isn't this Magnes spoken of by Pliny just some random chap with the same name? JaBCo2 (talk) 18:42, 28 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Magnes myth dating long before Pliny/Nicander

The only source given that the myth propagates perhaps to 900BC is Gillian Turner's book. I have not seen in this book any source given which suggests that the myth goes back this far. Gillian Turner writes in the book that "it is thought to date back to 900BC", but thought by who? I have not found anything anywhere else suggesting this. JaBCo2 (talk) 18:49, 28 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]