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Tabula Smaragdina
The Emerald Tablet, also known as the Smaragdine Table or the ''Tabula Smaragdina'', is a compact and cryptic text traditionally attributed to the legendary Hellenistic period, Hellenistic figure Hermes Trismegistus. The earliest known versions are four Arabic recensions preserved in mystical and alchemical treatises between the 8th and 10th centuries CE—chiefly the ''Sirr al-khaliqa, Secret of Creation'' () and the ''Secretum Secretorum, Secret of Secrets'' (). It was often accompanied by a frame story about the discovery of an emerald tablet in Hermes' tomb. From the 12th century onward, Latin translations—most notably the widespread so-called ''vulgate''—introduced the text to Europe, where it attracted great scholarly interest. Medieval commentators such as Ortolanus, Hortulanus interpreted it as a "foundational text" of alchemical instructions for producing the philosopher's stone and Chrysopoeia, making gold. During the Renaissance, interpreters increasingly read ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emerald Tablets Of Thoth The Atlantean
The Emerald Tablets of Thoth the Atlantean is a pseudohistory, pseudohistorical book written by cult leader Maurice Doreal (1898–1963) and first published in the 1940s or early 1950s. Influenced by ancient Egyptian texts and H. P. Lovecraft, Lovecraftian stories about part-reptilian civilizations emerging from ancient Egypt-like ruins, it deals with Atlantis, an ancient race of serpent-headed men, alchemy, and a variety of other topics. Background The ''book Emerald Tablets of Thoth the Atlantean'' was authored in the wake of the Theosophy, Theosophical movement and the rising popularity of the fictional tales of H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937). Written by Maurice Doreal, who in 1930 had founded the cult Brotherhood of the White Temple, it was published in the 1940s or early 1950s, most likely before 1953. Works that had inspired Doreal in particular were The Dunwich Horror (1928) and Hounds of Tindalos (1929), as well as two fabled occult Egyptian texts, the Emerald Tablet an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apollonius Of Tyana
Apollonius of Tyana (; ; ) was a Greek philosopher and religious leader from the town of Tyana, Cappadocia in Roman Anatolia, who spent his life travelling and teaching in the Middle East, North Africa and India. He is a central figure in Neopythagoreanism and was one of the most famous " miracle workers" of his day. His exceptional personality and his mystical way of life, which was regarded as exemplary, impressed his contemporaries and had a lasting cultural influence. Numerous legends surrounding him and accounts of his life are contained in the extensive ''Life of Apollonius''. Many of the ancient legends of Apollonius consist of numerous reports about miracles that he was said to have performed as a wandering sage with his lifelong companion Damis. He was tried for allegedly having used magic as a means of conspiring against the emperor; after his conviction and subsequent death-penalty, his followers believed he underwent heavenly ascension. Most modern scho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek Dark Ages, Dark Ages (), the Archaic Greece, Archaic or Homeric Greek, Homeric period (), and the Classical Greece, Classical period (). Ancient Greek was the language of Homer and of fifth-century Athens, fifth-century Athenian historians, playwrights, and Ancient Greek philosophy, philosophers. It has contributed many words to English vocabulary and has been a standard subject of study in educational institutions of the Western world since the Renaissance. This article primarily contains information about the Homeric Greek, Epic and Classical periods of the language, which are the best-attested periods and considered most typical of Ancient Greek. From the Hellenistic period (), Ancient Greek was followed by Koine Greek, which is regar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eric John Holmyard
Eric John Holmyard (11 July 1891 – 13 October 1959) was an English science teacher at Clifton College, and historian of science and technology. Scholar Holmyard studied at Sexey's School, Bruton, and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, and was a member of the Royal Asiatic Society. His scholarly work included rectification of accounts of the history of alchemy, particularly in relation with Islamic science. He translated texts from Arabic and Latin, and wrote extensively on Geber. He was responsible with D. C. Mandeville for the re-attribution of the alchemical text ''De Mineralibus'' to an origin in Avicenna. Holmyard served as the founding editor of the scientific review and history of science journal '' Endeavour''. Textbooks As a textbook author, he pioneered an approach to science teaching that included historical material. "His historicized science books were an enormous and long-term commercial success, with ''Elementary Chemistry'' (1925) alone selling half-a-million copi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Julius Ruska
Julius Ferdinand Ruska (9 February 1867 in Bühl, Baden – 11 February 1949 in Schramberg) was a German orientalist, historian of science and educator. He was a critical scholar of alchemical literature, and of Islamic science, raising many issues on attributions and sources of the texts, and providing translations. The range of his studies was wide, including the ''Emerald Tablet'', a basic hermetic text. From 1924 he headed an institute in Heidelberg, where he has been a student. Of his seven children, Ernst Ruska and Helmut Ruska Helmut Ruska (June 7, 1908, in Heidelberg – August 30, 1973) was a German physician and biologist from Heidelberg. After earning his medical degree, he spent several years working as a physician at hospitals in Heidelberg and Berlin. During this ... were distinguished in their fields. Books * Sources * * External links *Comprehensive biographical and bibliographical site 1867 births 1949 deaths People from Bühl (Baden) Peo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neoplatonism
Neoplatonism is a version of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a series of thinkers. Among the common ideas it maintains is monism, the doctrine that all of reality can be derived from a single principle, "the One". Neoplatonism began with Ammonius Saccas and his student Plotinus (c. 204/5 – 271 AD) and stretched to the sixth century. After Plotinus there were three distinct periods in the history of neoplatonism: the work of his student Porphyry (third to early fourth century); that of Iamblichus (third to fourth century); and the period in the fifth and sixth centuries, when the academies in Alexandria and Athens flourished. Neoplatonism had an enduring influence on the subsequent history of Western philosophy and religion. In the Middle Ages, Neoplatonic ideas were studied and discussed by Christian, Jewish, and Muslim thinkers. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chrysopoeia
In alchemy, the term chrysopoeia () refers to the artificial production of gold, most commonly by the alleged transmutation of base metals such as lead. A related term is argyropoeia (), referring to the artificial production of silver, often by transmuting copper. Although alchemists pursued many different goals, the making of gold and silver remained one of the defining ambitions of alchemy throughout its history, from Zosimus of Panopolis (c. 300) to Robert Boyle (1627–1691). The word was used in the title of a brief alchemical work, the ''Chrysopoeia of Cleopatra'' attributed to Cleopatra the Alchemist, which was probably written in the first centuries of the Christian era, but which is first found on a single leaf in a tenth-to-eleventh century manuscript in the Biblioteca Marciana, Venice, MS Marciana gr. Z. 299. The document features an ouroboros containing the words "the all is one" (, '), a concept that is related to Hermeticism. Stephen of Alexandria wrote a work ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philosopher's Stone
The philosopher's stone is a mythic alchemical substance capable of turning base metals such as mercury into gold or silver; it was also known as "the tincture" and "the powder". Alchemists additionally believed that it could be used to make an elixir of life which made possible rejuvenation and immortality. For many centuries, it was the most sought-after goal in alchemy. The philosopher's stone was the central symbol of the mystical terminology of alchemy, symbolizing perfection at its finest, divine illumination, and heavenly bliss. Efforts to discover the philosopher's stone were known as the Magnum Opus ("Great Work"). Antiquity The earliest known written mention of the philosopher's stone is in the ''Cheirokmeta'' by Zosimos of Panopolis (). Alchemical writers assign a longer history. Elias Ashmole and the anonymous author of ''Gloria Mundi'' (1620) claim that its history goes back to Adam, who acquired the knowledge of the stone directly from God. This knowledge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ortolanus
Ortolanus (fl. 1300), also known as Hortulanus, was a medieval alchemist. Little information exists about his life and identity. He is best known for his influential commentary on ''The Emerald Tablet'' entitled Liber super textum Hermetis. It was composed before 1325, and the original work has two sections. The first is entitled ''Spiritus quinte essentie et in quo elemento habitat''. It is dedicated to making a prodigious substance, the quintessence, from a mysterious material called ''argento vivo'', which happens to be wine. Ortholan is the first author to relate alcohol and quintessence, half a century before Jean de Roquetaillade. In his opinion, the quintessence would be present everywhere, but it can best be attained through certain substances, ideally wine. The second part is a theoretical text. It is written as a comment to the ''Emerald Tablet'' attributed to Hermes. Its theme revolves around the primordial heat, praised by Hermes as a universal substrate that gives dynam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emerald
Emerald is a gemstone and a variety of the mineral beryl (Be3Al2(SiO3)6) colored green by trace amounts of chromium or sometimes vanadium.Hurlbut, Cornelius S. Jr., and Kammerling, Robert C. (1991). ''Gemology'', John Wiley & Sons, New York, p. 203, . Beryl has a hardness of 7.5–8 on the Mohs scale. Most emeralds have many inclusions, so their toughness (resistance to breakage) is classified as generally poor. Emerald is a cyclosilicate. Etymology The word "emerald" is derived (via and ), from Vulgar Latin: ''esmaralda/esmaraldus'', a variant of Latin ''smaragdus'', which was via (smáragdos; "green gem"). The Greek word may have a Semitic, Sanskrit or Persian origin. According to ''Webster's Dictionary'' the term emerald was first used in the 14th century. Properties determining value Emeralds, like all colored gemstones, are graded using four basic parameters known as "the four ''C''s": ''color'', ''clarity,'' ''cut'' and ''carat weight''. Normally, in grading ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sirr Al-khaliqa
The ''Hermetica'' are texts attributed to the legendary Hellenistic figure Hermes Trismegistus, a syncretic combination of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth. These texts may vary widely in content and purpose, but by modern convention are usually subdivided into two main categories, the "technical" and "religio-philosophical" ''Hermetica''. The category of "technical" ''Hermetica'' encompasses a broad variety of treatises dealing with astrology, medicine and pharmacology, alchemy, and magic, the oldest of which were written in Greek and may go back as far as the second or third century BCE. Many of the texts belonging in this category were later translated into Arabic and Latin, often being extensively revised and expanded throughout the centuries. Some of them were also originally written in Arabic, though in many cases their status as an original work or translation remains unclear. These Arabic and Latin Hermetic texts were widely copied throughout the Middle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hellenistic Period
In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the Roman conquest of Ptolemaic Egypt the following year, which eliminated the last major Hellenistic kingdom. Its name stems from the Ancient Greek word ''Hellas'' (, ''Hellás''), which was gradually recognized as the name for Greece, from which the modern historiographical term ''Hellenistic'' was derived. The term "Hellenistic" is to be distinguished from "Hellenic" in that the latter refers to Greece itself, while the former encompasses all the ancient territories of the period that had come under significant Greek influence, particularly the Hellenized Middle East, after the conquests of Alexander the Great. After the Macedonian conquest of the Achaemenid Empire in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
