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Adamant inclassical mythology is an archaic form ofdiamond. In fact, the English worddiamond is ultimately derived fromadamas, viaLate Latindiamas andOld Frenchdiamant. In ancient Greekἀδάμας (adamas), genitiveἀδάμαντος (adamantos), literally 'unconquerable, untameable'. In those days, the qualities of hard metal (probablysteel) were attributed to it, andadamant became an independent concept as a result.
In the Middle Ages adamant also became confused with the magnetic rocklodestone, and afolk etymology connected it with the Latinadamare, 'to love or be attached to'.[1] Another connection was the belief that adamant (the diamond definition) could block the effects of a magnet. This was addressed in chapter III ofPseudodoxia Epidemica, for instance.
Since the contemporary worddiamond is now used for the hardest gemstone, the increasingly archaic nounadamant has been reduced to mostlypoetic oranachronistic use. In that capacity, the name, and various derivatives of it, are frequently used in modern media to refer to a variety of fictional substances.
InGreek mythology,Cronus castrated his fatherUranus using an adamantsickle given to him by his motherGaia.[2] An adamantine sickle or sword was also used by the heroPerseus to decapitate the GorgonMedusa while she slept.
Three Phrygian Dactyls, in the service of the Great Mother as Adraste (Ἀδράστη), are usually namedAcmon (theanvil),Damnameneus (thehammer), andCelmis (casting). Of Celmis,Ovid (inMetamorphoses iv) made a story that when Rhea was offended at this childhood companion ofZeus, she asked Zeus to turn him to diamond-hardadamant, like a tempered blade. Zeus obliged.[3]
In the Greek tragedyPrometheus Bound (translated by G. M. Cookson),Hephaestus is to bindPrometheus "to the jagged rocks in adamantine bonds infrangible".
InVirgil'sAeneid, the gate ofTartarus is framed with pillars of solid adamant, "that no might of man, nay, not even the sons of heaven, could uproot in war"[4]
In TheHypostasis of the Archons,Gnostic scripture from theNag Hammadi Library refers to the Adamantine Land, an incorruptible place 'above' from whence the spirit came to dwell within man so that he became Adam, he who moves upon the ground with a living soul.[5]
In the Early Modern epic poemThe Faerie Queene, published 1590, Sir Artegal's swordChrysaor is made of adamant.
In theHoly Sonnet I, published 1620,John Donne states in line 14, "And thou like adamant draw mine iron heart".
InJohn Milton's epic poemParadise Lost, adamant or adamantine is mentioned eight times. First in Book 1,Satan is hurled "to bottomless perdition, there to dwell in adamantine chains and penal fire" (lines 47–48). Three times in Book 2 the gates of hell are described as being made of adamantine (lines 436, 646 and 853). In Book 6, Satan "Came towring [sic], armd [sic] in Adamant and Gold" (line 110), his shield is described as "of tenfold adamant" (line 255), and the armor worn by the fallen angels is described as "adamantine" (line 542). Finally in book 10 the metaphorical "Pinns [sic] of Adamant and Chains" (lines 318–319) bind the world to Satan, and thus to sin and death.[9]
^Pierre Grimal,The Dictionary of Classical Mythology,s.v. "Kelmis"
^Virgil,Eclogues. Georgics. Aeneid: Books 1-6, trans. H. Rushton Fairclough, rev. G. P. Goold, Loeb Classical Library 63 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1916), p. 571.
^The Hypostasis of the Archons. (Translated by Bentley Laton and the Coptic Gnostic Library Project[1])
