Quote:
Originally Posted by malloyd
I believe the oldest reference to anti-magical properties of iron is Pliny the Elder, who specifies "nails taken from a tomb" rather than "cold iron". You drive them into your threshold to ward off nocturnal spirits. That may or may not be a much older tradition - witness the similarity of nails in the ground to the use of the Tibetan phurba or Sanskrit kila.
|
Yeah, anti-magic properties of iron are certainly very old, but the question was about the 'cold' part.