Was the Liahona in Part
a Magnetic Compass?
(Part 3-A)
By Alan C. Miner
This begins the third part of
a four-part series in which I have tried to present scriptural
and historical aspects of the magnetic compass that might
give perspectives as to whether or not the Liahona was, in
part, a magnetic compass. And in presenting the material,
I have also tried to convey to the reader the difficulty in
trying to discern "true" history when it is portrayed
so differently by various writers.
In the first part I reviewed
some of the scriptural perspectives that might be viewed to
support the idea that magnetism was part of the Liahona.
In the second part I investigated the possibility that the
principles of the magnetic compass were known anciently.
In this third part, I will continue to focus on the plausibility,
both geographically and chronologically, of Nephi and Lehi
becoming acquainted with the magnetic compass.
Could Nephi and Lehi Have
Been in the Right
Place Geographically and at the Right Time Chronologically
to become Acquainted with a Magnetic Compass?
In my continuing quest to find
perspectives on whether or not the principle of the magnetic
compass was chronologically and geographically plausible for
the Liahona, I next turned my attention to the biblical Middle
East and western world — the Mediterranean. In this regard,
I came across a book by George Q. Cannon that had been published
in 1883.
In that book, The Life of
Nephi, the Son of Lehi, Elder Cannon made an interesting
footnote in reference to the Liahona. Although Elder Cannon
first states that the Liahona "differed in several respects
from what are known as compasses," he notes the following
in connection with the term "compass":
In this connection it may be
of interest to say a few words about what is known as the
mariner's compass. It is claimed that the Chinese used the
compass at a very early period; and it is thought probably
that Marco Polo, the traveler, introduced it to Europe from
China,
about 1290 A.D., twelve years before Gioja, of Amalfi, its
supposed inventor.
Elder Cannon follows this part
of his footnote by making some comments on the 28th chapter
of the Book of Job. But before I get into his commentary,
let me lay some groundwork. According to what I read, the
authorship and date of the Book of Job is unknown, although
from the clues in the text it is estimated to have been written
sometime between the time of Solomon (1000 B.C.) and 250 B.C.
(with dates around 600 B.C. being most popular).
In chapter 28 Job compares the rich metals and gems
(stones) of the earth to the value of the wisdom of God.
In verses 12-24 (KJV) Job writes:
But where shall wisdom be found?
and where is the place of understanding?
Man knoweth not the price thereof;
neither is it found in the land of the living.
The depth saith, It is
not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me. .
. .
It cannot be valued with the
gold of Ophir, . . .
No mention shall be made of coral,
or of pearls: for the price of wisdom is above rubies.
The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it
be valued with pure gold.
Whence then cometh wisdom? and
where is the place of understanding?
God understandeth the way thereof,
and he knoweth the place thereof.
For he looketh to the ends of
the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven.
By consulting various Bible commentaries,
I found that whether the word translated here in scripture
is "coral," or "pearls" or "rubies"
or "topaz," the true meaning is not only a matter
of conjecture, but there is a possibility due to the poetic
nature of this passage — that they might be connected with
different items of value associated with travels across the
sea, or "depth," (v. 14).
I might note also that the "pure
gold," (v. 19) is paralleled (or equated) with the "gold
of Ophir," (v. 16) which is the mysterious location that
took Solomon's ships three years to visit and return from
with their bounty of gold and other gems. ( 2 Chr. 8:18; 9:21)
Now
having said this, let me get back to what George Q. Cannon
had to say in his footnote about the "compass" which
Lehi and Nephi received at the valley of Lemuel near the Red
Sea. He writes:
Some people contend that the
compass is no new invention; but that the ancients were acquainted
with it. They say that it was impossible for Solomon to have
sent ships to Ophir[], Tarshish[ ] and Parvaim[ ], without this useful
instrument.
They insist that it was impossible
for the ancients to be acquainted with the attractive virtue
of the magnet, and to be ignorant of its polarity; nay, they
affirm that this property of the magnet is plainly mentioned
in the book of Job, where the loadstone [a naturally magnetic
brownish stone discolored by the presence of an iron oxide]
is mentioned by the name of topaz, or the stone
that turns itself." (Encyclopedia Britannica)
This commentary on the 28th chapter
of the Book of Job relative to the magnetic
compass became very intriguing to me when I put it alongside
the following commentary on the same chapter cited by Josiah
Priest. In 1834 he wrote:
Dr. [Adam] Clarke has given his
opinion, in his comment on the book of Job, that the [compass]
needle was known to the ancients of the east. He derives
this from certain expressions of Job, chap. xxviii. verse
18, respecting [the magnetic lodestone] and other precious
stones . . .:
"No mention shall be
made of coral, or of pearls: for the price of wisdom is above
rubies. The topaz [or lodestone] of Ethiopia shall not
equal it . . . " That is, it is understood that
the wisdom which aided man to make this discovery [of lodestone],
and to apply it to the purposes of navigation, on the account
of its polarity, is that wisdom which is above the price of
rubies. "The attractive properties of loadstone must
have been observed from its first discovery; and there is
every reason to believe that the magnet and its virtues were
known in the east long before they were discovered in Europe."
— (Clarke [Old Testament Commentary])
To this I added another source
which stated that in the time of Lehi "the magnetic properties
of natural ferric ferrite stones (lodestones) were described
by Greek philosophers." And "as early as 600 B.C.
the Greek philosopher, Aristophanes was aware of it's peculiar
properties." Thales of Miletus
(Miletus being a Greek city in SW
Asia Minor) is also known to have mentioned the strange properties
of magnetite (lodestone) about 600 B.C.
Magnetic History
Anciently Miletus had a port and carried on important trade with Egypt and the Black Sea (which was linked through
what is now Turkey
via the Dardanelles to the Mediterranean). Interestingly, the name
magnetite comes from a place called Magnesia in Asia
Minor where this naturally magnetic iron (Fe3O4)
was mined by at least the seventh century B.C.
If these commentaries on the
Book of Job and the Greek philosophers that mention the lodestone
had any merit, I wondered, could this point to the possibility
that the magnetic compass (or at least magnetic lodestone)
was used for navigational purposes in the Middle
East by the time of Lehi and Nephi?
Additionally, we know that Solomon
sailed to Ophir from ports on the northern tip of the Gulf
of Aqaba on the Red Sea. And while the
location of "Ethiopia" mentioned above might be a question
to some, the present day country of Ethiopia
is located on the southwestern end of the Red
Sea. So again I asked myself, could Lehi and Nephi have been
in the right place geographically and the right time chronologically
to be the beneficiary of the principle of magnetism in the
form of the Liahona? I was getting closer, but I still needed
more information.
In trying to come up with some
satisfactory answers, I visited the BYU Library and selected
a few books that seemed to cover the subject from a variety
of perspectives. One of the most informative was published
just recently by Amir D. Aczel who actually grew up
on a ship that his father captained in the Mediterranean,
and who had always been fascinated by the mariner’s compass.
As I read the Preface the following caught my attention:
The origins of the compass are
shrouded in mystery. Or rather, the story of the compass
is a series of mysteries which have not, until now, been satisfactorily
addressed. The tale of the invention of the magnetic compass
spans the breadth of human civilization. Geographically,
the story traverses the world, from China
to the Mediterranean, Scandinavia, Arabia, Africa,
and the New World. As a history, the
story covers events that took place in ancient times, during
the medieval era, and that continue to our own time.
This statement intrigued me,
for it not only mentioned Arabia, but
it also opened the door for further perspectives regarding
ancient navigation. In the first part of his book, Amir Aczel
begins his review of ancient navigation with the following
comments:
How did navigators of antiquity
find their way at sea in the days before the compass? There
is a myth, propagated by people with little understanding
of the sea and no faith in human ingenuity, that ancient mariners
navigated by hugging the coastline. Nothing is further from
the truth. Since time immemorial, mariners have sailed across
seas far from the sight of land, and early sailors who inspired
the stories of the Bible and Greek mythology were quite adept
at navigating in the open seas without the advantages of the
compass.
Aczel's ideas were intriguing
and I continued to search the shelves. I found another book
that expanded on the subject of ancient navigation. Jim Bailey
writes:
Landsmen often have unrealistic
notions of what sea travel is like. Perhaps the most persistent
is the idea that it is inherently easier to journey over land
than over water. In a country with good roads and efficient
vehicles this may be so, but in early times it was far from
the truth. Particularly when it came to moving heavy loads
the reverse was true.
A large block of stone may need
a dozen men with rollers and levers to inch it laboriously
forward, even across level ground. Put it on a raft and a
single person can quite literally tow it through the water
with one finger.
Even a wheeled vehicle, until
the coming of the railway, was a clumsy substitute for a boat
and as late as the eighteenth century the English crisscrossed
their country with canals in recognition of the greater efficiency
of water travel. For most of the great prehistoric age of
sea travel the wheel had not been invented. Such long-distance
tracks as there were across land were likely to lead through
hostile territory and over terrain that was difficult going
for men and for pack animals. In those early times the rule
was simple: the land divided, the water united. It was for
that reason that the Mediterranean formed a unit in the way
the landmass of Europe did not.
Another landsman's fallacy is
that a sailor looking for safety rather than adventure will
hug the shoreline, staying in sight of land. In reality,
if you are in a true seagoing boat it is the land that is
the danger. In exceptionally heavy weather ships do get overwhelmed
by the wind and waves of the deep oceans, but far more are
wrecked on coasts. If you are caught off a lee shore in a
ship that cannot sail into the wind, it needs only a moderate
wind to blow you to inevitable destruction.
The third fallacy is that the
world ocean is a fairly homogenous body of water, and sailing
across it in one direction is much like sailing in another.
It is easy for us to believe this as we speed across it in
our power-driven ships, but in the long ages of sails and
oars no one could have thought so. Winds and currents make
some voyages easy for the most primitive craft and make others
nearly or quite impossible for all but ships of advanced design.
Our marine knowledge was developed over an immense period
of time.
Fed on these mistaken ideas,
most people suppose that it must have been far easier for
early sailors to get from end to end of the Mediterranean
than to cross the Atlantic. The fact
is that the Mediterranean is a tricky
sea to navigate. There are no long-distance currents to carry
the sailor where he wants to go, and no constant winds either.
Mediterranean winds are unpredictable and can turn suddenly
fierce. Particularly at the eastern end, the sea is crowded
with islands on whose shores many ships have been wrecked.
By contrast, the Atlantic
presents a far more straightforward challenge. For a start,
the shortest distance between Africa and South America is
less than the length of the Mediterranean, and the distance
from West Africa to the mouth of the Amazon is almost exactly equal to it.
But by far the most important factor is the pattern of winds
and currents.
One need only glance at the map
on Plate 77 to see how extraordinarily favorable it is. Two
great circular currents swirl endlessly around in the North
and South Atlantic, the northern one driving almost straight
from the bulge of North Africa to the Caribbean.
Above this current the trade wind blows in the same direction.
A barrel thrown into the sea at the right point will find
its way to America
with a lot less fuss than Columbus
made about his trips! Even without the help of the wind,
the current alone, flowing at about one knot, will get it
there in two or three months. And some currents flow at two
or three knots.
The truth is that for anyone
who sailed around the bulge of Africa in a primitive ship
it was not hard to get to America. The difficult thing was to avoid going
to America! If a crew allowed
themselves to drift or be blown just a little too far from
the coast, they would be lucky if they were not caught up
in the strong combination of current and tradewind and, like
it or not, deposited some weeks later in the Caribbean
In an Internet article entitled "Austronesian Navigation
and Migration," I found the following:
The ability of the Micronesians
to span out over many largely desolate atolls; of the Polynesians
to make voyages over vast stretches of ocean; of the Melanesians
to sail with minimal references; and of the Malays and Indonesians
to venture thousands of miles over open sea to Madagascar
are all great accomplishments that likely preceded similar
feats by other peoples. . . .
The great expansion of Austronesian
peoples that began probably at least 8,000 to 9,000 years
ago according to recent radiocarbon datings ... required a
sophisticated system of open sea navigation. Such navigation
differed greatly from sailing along the coastline or to visible
landmarks. Not only were sturdy blue-water vessels needed,
but a system of orientation, dead reckoning, position-fixing
and detection of landfall and weather prediction had to be
developed.
After citing some examples of
long distance navigation with the Minoans [3100-1200 B.C.],
the Phoenicians [1200-333 B.C.], King Solomon's Ophir [1000
B.C.], and the Polynesians, Amir Aczel goes on to explain
a number of different ways by which ancient navigators were
able to know where they were in open seas as they traveled
from one destination to the other. He sums things up with
the following:
Ancient mariners were astute
observers — their trade was not only a science, it was an
art ... A captain would use all the tools available to him
— astronomical observations, soundings, estimation of the
directions of the winds and currents, and even the directions
followed by migrating animals — to guide his ship as close
as possible to its destination. Once the coastline was sighted,
he would use his knowledge of the terrain to correct the vessel's
heading accordingly and guide it into port.
Navigators of antiquity managed
well without the advantages afforded by the compass. When
the invention was finally made, its effects were more subtle
than we might have expected, and yet their consequences changed
the world. The compass did not enable navigation — navigation
across the seas took place long before the compass was invented
— but the compass made navigation much more efficient by opening
the seas to winter sailing and by extending a ship's range
to regions that were previously unexplored.
Jim
Bailey adds to the above on ancient navigation with the following:
Heyerdahl has described the amazing
way in which Polynesian canoemen could find their way over
long distances by observing variations in the pattern of waves
and wavelets on the surface of the sea--variations so subtle
that an untrained observer simply could not see them. Sailors
who travel long distances learn that the ocean has many different
faces in its different parts.
Those who rode the Gulf Stream
on their way back from America would have noticed at once,
what is visible to anyone today, that it is a different color
from the waters through which it flows. As it runs up the
American coast it is a deep indigo blue, clearly distinguishable
from the greenish or grayish water inshore of it.
Not only the color but the taste
of the water changes in different parts of the ocean. A hundred
miles out from the mouth of the Amazon the differences are
marked enough to tell the sailor that he is approaching his
goal, and the same thing is true off the mouth of the Nile
or any other great river. The sea bottom also changes, and
to bring up a sample of silt all that is needed is a bit of
tallow smeared on the lead that sailors from very early times
have used to gauge the depth of the water.
Seaweeds, too, vary in different
parts of the ocean, and the flights of birds were almost the
principal guides ... Birds can also be a sure sign of the
closeness of land. We know that the Sumerians took their
own birds with them to release when they were lost: if they
were beyond reach of land the bird would come back to the
ship, as in the story of Noah.
The birds were also the first
to make use of another navigational aid that may possibly
have been used by men in early times. In the heads of some
migrating species zoologists have found tiny pieces of magnetic
fiber, a naturally magnetized oxide of iron also known as
magnetite, which occurs in certain rocks.
So
according to Amir Aczel and Jim Bailey, the navigation of
the open seas was ancient using a variety of helps. Why then, would the Lord
need to give Nephi a magnetic Liahona? Perhaps, as Aczel
writes, it was to extend the range of his travels "to
regions that were previously unexplored."
And
perhaps the other navigational systems became unusable at
certain times. For example, Aczel reported that the Chinese
navigators used the North Star for guidance at all points
north of 8 degrees north latitude. At that point, the North
Star was barely visible over the horizon. English mariners
later sailing south from 8 degrees north latitude said that
they had "lost the pole."
Thus
if Nephi's ship reached that area, the magnetic compass would
have become important for navigation.
But
again, could the principle of magnetism be connected chronologically
and geographically to Nephi's time and circumstances?
(continued in part 3-B)
. George Q. Cannon, The Life of
Nephi, the Son of Lehi. Salt Lake City, Utah: Published
by the Juvenile Instructor Office, 1883, p. 39.
. "Job, Book of," in The
Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Vol. 2, Wheaton, Ill: Tyndale House Publishers, 1980,
p. 791.
. We find the following by D. J. Wiseman
under "Ophir" in The Illustrated Bible Dictionary:
1. The name of the son of Yoqtan in the genealogy of Shem (Gn.
10:29 = 1 Ch. 1:23). This tribe is known from pre-islamic
inscriptions ... Their area lies between Saba in the Yemen and Hawilah
(Hawlan) as described in Gn. 10:29 ...
2. The country from which fine gold was imported to Judah (2 Ch. 8:18; Jb. 22:24;
28:16; Ps. 45:9; Is. 13:12), sometimes in large quantities
(1 Ch. 29:4), and with valuable almug (sandal?)-wood (1 Ki.
10:11), silver, ivories, apes and peacocks (1 Ki. 10:22),
and precious stones (2 Ch. 9:10). It was reached by Solomon's
fleet from Ezion-geber on the Gulf
of Aqabah (1 Ki. 9:28) employing
"ships of Tarshish", which might be *ships normally
used for carrying ore (1 Ki. 22:48). These voyages took "three
years", that is perhaps one entire year and parts of
two others. The trade was sufficiently well known for Ophir
to be synonymous with the fine gold which was its principal
product (Jb. 22:24) ...
Various theories have been put forward for the site of Ophir:
a. S Arabia as in 1 above ...
b. SE Arabia: Oman. These are not far from
Ezion-geber, and it is necessary to assume both that the 3-year
voyage included laying up during the hot summer and that some
commodities (e.g. apes) not commonly found in S Arabia were brought to Ophir as an entrepot from more distant places.
c. E African coast: Somaliland, il.e. the Egyp. Punt, a source of the frankincense and myrrh
and those items described as from Ophir . . .
d. (S)upara, 75 km N of Bombay, India. Josephus (Ant. 8.
164), LXX and Vulg. (Jb. 28:16) interpreted Ophir as India. In favour of this interpretation are the
facts that all the commodities named are familiar in ancient
India, and it is known that from the 2nd Millennium BC there was a lively sea-trade between
the Persian Gulf and India. (The Illustrated Bible Dictionary,
Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, Ill., 1980, vol. 2, pp.
1119-1120)
Note*
One other theory that is overlooked here links Ophir with
America.
. We find the following by J. A. Thompson
under "Tarshish" in The Illustrated Bible Dictionary:
W.
F. Albright has suggested that the very word Tarshish suggests
the idea of mining or smelting, and that in a sense any mineral-bearing
land may be called Tarshish ... An old Semitic root found
in Akkad, rasasu means 'to melt', 'to be smelted'.
A derived noun tarsisu may be used to define a smelting-plant
or refinery (Arab. rss, 'to trickle', etc., of liquid).
There
is another possibility as to the site of Tarshish. According
to 1 Ki. 10:22 Solomon had a fleet of ships of Tarshish that
brought gold, silver, ivory, monkeys and peacocks to Ezion-geber
o the Red Sea, and 1 Ki. 22:48 mentions that Jehoshaphat's
ships of Tarshish sailed from Ezion-geber for Ophir. Further,
2 Ch. 20:36 says that these ships were made in Ezion-geber
for sailing to Tarshish. These latter references appear to
rule out any Mediterranean destination but point to a place
along the Red Sea or in Africa. The expression 'ni tarsis, navy of Tarshish or Tarshish
fleet, may refer more generally to ships which carried smelted
metal either to distant lands from Ezion-geber or to Phoenicia
from the W Mediterranean.
[Some]
view that Tarshish vessels were deep seagoing vessels ...
These ships symbolized wealth and power. A vivid picture
of the day of divine judgment was to portray the destruction
of these large ships in that day (Ps. 48:7; Is. 2:16; 23:1,
14). The fact that Is. 2:16 compares the ships of Tarshish
with 'the pleasant place" (RSV 'beautiful craft') suggests
that whatever the original identification of Tarshish may
have been, it became in literature and in the popular imagination
a distant paradise from which all kinds of luxuries might
be brought to such areas as Phoenicia and Israel. (The
Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Tyndale House Publishers,
Wheaton, Ill., 1980) vol. 3, pp. 1517-1519)
. We find the following by J. D. Douglas
under "Parvaim" in The Illustrated Bible Dictionary
:
PARVAIM.
The place which produced the gold used for ornamenting Solomon's
Temple (2 Ch. 3:6).
The location is obscure. Some suggest Farwa in Yemen. Gesenius, identifying
it with Sanskrit parvam understands it to be a general
term for the E regions. (The Illustrated Bible Dictionary,
Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, Ill., 1980, vol. 3,
p. 1156.)
. The 28th chapter of the Book of Job
contrasts the value of the metals and gems which come out
of the earth with the wealth of wisdom, which cannot be bought
with earthly things, for it comes from the Lord. In speaking
of this spiritual wisdom, Job writes:
16. It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious
onyx, or the sapphire.
17. The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: and the exchange
of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold.
18. No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls: for the
price of wisdom is above rubies.
19. The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it,
neither shall it be valued with pure gold.
20. Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of
understanding? . . .
23. God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the
place thereof.
. Josiah Priest, American Antiquities
and Discoveries in the West, Albany:
Hoffman & White, 1834, p. 280. Copy published by Ancient
American Archaeology Foundation, Printed by Hayriver Press,
Colfax, Wisconsin, 2004.
. History of Magnetism.National Imports.
Magnetic Products Division. Internet
. Footnote #1, in "Lodestone and
the Liahona," in Reexploring the Book of Mormon,
John W. Welch ed., SLC: Deseret Book Co. and Provo:
FARMS, 1992, p. 46). Based on research by Robert F. Smith,
March 1984. As a sidenote, however, I would refer the reader
to Part 4 of this series where I have quoted the writings
of the 16th century Spanish Jesuit historian Jose de Acosta
who spent 17 years in the New World and
became an authority on Indian culture. Acosta makes the claim
that the Greeks had no knowledge of the magnetic directional
properties of lodestone. He writes: it is strange that the
Ancients have been so long ignorant of this excellent propertie
of the load stone; ... [neither] Aristotle, Theophrastus,
Discorides, Lucretius, nor any other Writers or naturall Philosophers
that I have seen, make any mention thereof, allthough they
treat of the load stone."
. Webster's New
World Encyclopedia. New York: Prentice
Hall, 1992, "Black Sea" (p. 144) and "Miletus" (p. 743). Some good illustrations of this area can
be found at www.worldatlas.com, and www.chsweb.lr.k12.nj.us/kstokes/
. "Lodestone and the Liahona,"
in Reexploring the Book of Mormon, John W. Welch ed.,
SLC: Deseret Book Co. and Provo:
FARMS, 1992, p. 44. Based on research by Robert F. Smith,
March 1984.
. Amir D. Aczel, The Riddle of the
Compass: the Invention That Changed the World. New
York: Harcourt, Inc., 2001.
. Aczel, The Riddle of the Compass,
p. xiii.
. Jim Bailey, Sailing to Paradise:
The Discovery of the Americas
by 7000 B.C., New
York: Simon & Schuster, 1994, pp. 40-42.
. Jim Bailey, Sailing to Paradise:
The Discovery of the Americas
by 7000 B.C., New
York: Simon & Schuster, 1994, p. 46.
. This idea is also supported by Cyrus
H. Gordon, (Before Columbus: Links between the Old World
and Ancient America, New York: Crown Publishers Inc.,
1971). At the time, some considered Gordon to be one of the
world's most eminent scholars. Dr. Gordon was Head of the
Department of Mediterranean Studies at Brandeis University and had published numerous books. In this thoroughly documented
book, which represented a lifetime of research, he demonstrated
that transoceanic travel across the Atlantic and Pacific to
the New World was taking place as long
as five thousand years ago. He writes:
Today it is all too common for the descendants of the most
civilized men to lose the great cultures of their ancestors
... How abysmal our ignorance is, is described by the term
"collective amnesia": when mankind as a whole forgets
the experience of the race. This book would never have had
to be written were it not that mankind as a whole has forgotten
major chapters of its history. (pp. 36-37)
