Emerald Tablet

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 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 '' Secret of Creation'' () and the '' 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 Hortulanus interpreted it as a "foundational text" of alchemical instructions for producing the philosopher's stone and making gold. During the Renaissance, interpreters increasingly read the text through Neoplatonic, allegorical, and Christian lenses; and printers often paired it with an emblem that came to be regarded as a visual representation of the ''Tablet'' itself.

Following the 20th-century rediscovery of Arabic sources by Julius Ruska and Eric Holmyard, modern scholars continue to debate its origins. They agree that the ''Secret of Creation'', the ''Tablets earliest source and its likely original context, was either wholly or at least partly compiled from earlier Greek or Syriac materials. The ''Tablet'' remains influential in esotericism and occultism, where the phrase ''as above, so below'' (a paraphrase of its second verse) has become a popular maxim. It has also been taken up by Jungian psychologists, artists, and figures of pop culture, cementing its status as one of the best-known Hermetica.

Background and early Arabic versions

Beginning from the first century BCE onwards, Greek texts attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, a syncretic combination of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth, appeared in Greco-Roman Egypt. These texts, known as the Hermetica, are a heterogeneous collection of works that in the modern day are commonly subdivided into two groups: the technical Hermetica, comprising astrological, medico-botanical, alchemical, and magical writings; and the religio-philosophical Hermetica, comprising mystical-philosophical writings.

These Greek pseudepigraphal texts found receptions, translations, and imitations in Latin, Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, and Middle Persian prior to the emergence of Islam and the Arab conquests in the 630s. These conquests brought about various empires in which a new group of Arabic-speaking intellectuals emerged. These scholars received and translated the aforementioned wealth of texts and also began producing Hermetica of their own. By the tenth century, some Arabic-speaking Muslims had come to identify Hermes with the prophet Idris, thereby elevating the Hermetica to the level of other Islamic prophetic revelations. Until the early twentieth century, only Latin versions of the ''Emerald Tablet'' were known in the Western world, with the oldest dating back to the twelfth century. The older Arabic versions were rediscovered by Eric John Holmyard and Julius Ruska.

''Secret of Creation''

The oldest version of the ''Emerald Tablet'' is found as an appendix in an encyclopaedic treatise on natural philosophy meant as a cosmogony. It is believed to have been compiled in Arabic in the late eighth or early ninth century. The treatise bears the title '' Book of the Secret of Creation and the Craft of Nature''. Some scholars consider it plausible that this work is a translation of a much older Greek or Syriac original, although no such manuscript is known. At the same time others think it is more likely that it was an original Arabic composition based on older materials. The Arabic text presents itself as a translation of a work by Apollonius of Tyana. Pseudepigraphal attributions to Apollonius were common in medieval Arabic texts on magic, astrology, and alchemy. If the ''Tablet'' originally hailed from a pseudo-Apollonian context, it could be considered a text of late antiquity, like other such works.

This earliest known version reads as follows:

The introduction to the ''Book of the Secret of Creation'' presents a narrative that outlines key philosophical and alchemical ideas. It explains that all things are composed of four elemental qualities—heat, cold, moisture, and dryness—drawn from Aristotelian theory. These elements and their combinations are said to determine the sympathetic or antagonistic relationships between beings. In the frame story, Balīnūs, a legendary figure known as the ''Master of Talismans'', discovers a crypt beneath a statue of Hermes Trismegistus. Inside, he finds a tablet made of emerald, held by an old man seated with a book. The central part of the text is an alchemical treatise, notable for introducing—for the first time—the theory that all metals are formed from two basic substances: sulphur and mercury. This concept later became a foundational idea in medieval alchemy. Emerald was the stone traditionally associated with Hermes, while quicksilver was his metal and Mercury his planet. Mars was associated with red stones and iron, and Saturn with black stones and lead. People in antiquity thought of various green-coloured minerals—such as green jasper and even green granite—as emerald.

The text of the ''Emerald Tablet'' appears in the ''Book of the Secret of Creation'' as an appendix. It has long been debated whether it is an extraneous piece, solely cosmogonic in nature, or whether it is an integral part of the rest of the work, in which case it could have had an alchemical significance from the outset. It has been suggested that the ''Emerald Tablet'' was originally a text of talismanic magic that was only later understood as being alchemical in nature. This may have been due to it having been divorced from its original context in the ''Book of the Secret of Creation''; and instead having been commonly transmitted through the alchemical treatise containing the ''vulgate''.

Julius Ruska observed that the ''Tablet'''s cosmogony in the ''Book of the Secret of Creation'' seemed neither Islamic, Iranian, nor Christian. He speculated that it might reflect Chaldean, Harranian, or gnostic ideas from the regions northeast of Iran, along the Silk Road. Chang Tzu-Kung proposed an origin further east—as he believed Hermes Trismegistus to have been Chinese. He noted that Chinese aphorisms commonly hailed from legendary slabs and steles in caves and temples. Tzu-Kung produced a speculative Chinese rendition of the ''Tablet'', which he based on John Read's ''vulgate'' translation.' He then claimed the ''Tablets origin to be a Han dynasty (202 BCE – 220 CE) Taoist text known as the ''Guanzi''. Joseph Needham rejected this theory as not yet having been sufficiently proved.

Jabir ibn Hayyan

Another early version of the ''Emerald Tablet'' is found in the ''Second Book of the Element of the Foundation'' () attributed to the eighth-century alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan. In this somewhat shorter version, lines 6, 8, and 11–15 as found in the ''Secret of Creation'' are missing. Other parts appear to be corrupt. It reads:

''Secret of Secrets''

Another text of the ''Emerald Tablet'' is found towards the end of the tenth-century pseudo-Aristotelian work known as the ''Secret of Secrets''. This entire treatise is framed as a pseudepigraphical letter from Aristotle to Alexander the Great during the latter's conquest of Persia and is introduced via a number of letters between the two. It discusses politics, morality, physiognomy, astrology, alchemy, medicine, and more.

It reads:

Ibn Umayl

Similarly, an Arabic treatise called the ''Book of the Silvery Water and the Starry Earth'' by Ibn Umayl reproduces a version of the ''Tablet''. This treatise was translated as ''.'' In this version of the frame story, an alchemical stone table is discovered, resting on the knees of Hermes Trismegistus in the secret chamber of a pyramid. However, this table does not contain the ''Tablet'' text which is repeated later in the treatise. It is instead inscribed with writing described as . Its "hieroglyphic" contents are then visually depicted together with an alchemical exegesis thereof.

The literary theme of the discovery of Hermes' hidden wisdom can be found in other Arabic texts from around the tenth century. The introduction of the Book of Crates provides one such example. In the narrative a Greek philosopher named Crates is praying in the temple ''Sarapieion''. While in prayer he has a vision of the ancient sage. It reads:

European medieval period

''On the Secrets of Nature''

The ''Book of the Secret of Creation'' was translated into Latin' in by Hugo of Santalla. This text does not appear to have been widely circulated. Its translation of the ''Tablet'' reads as follows:

''Secret of Secrets''

The ''Tablet'' was also translated into Latin as part of the thirteenth-century translation of the ''Secret of Secrets'' () by Philip of Tripoli. This entire treatise has been called "the most popular book of the Latin Middle Ages". Its translation of the ''Tablet'' differs significantly from both Hugo of Santalla's version and the ''vulgate'' translation. In Roger Bacon's 1255 edition it reads:

''Vulgate''

A third Latin version can be found in an alchemical treatise likely from the twelfth century. This latter, most circulated version is called the ''vulgate'', as it was widespread and formed the subsequent basis for all later editions and translations into European vernacular languages. It is found in an anonymous compilation of commentaries on the ''Emerald Tablet,'' translated from a lost Arabic text–variously called the ''Book of Hermes on Alchemy'', the ''Book of Dabessus'', or the ''Book of the Rebis''. Its translator has been tentatively identified as Plato of Tivoli, who was active in . However, this is merely conjecture, and although it can be deduced from other indices that the text dates to the first half of the twelfth century, its translator remains unknown.

Its translation of the ''Tablet'' reads:

The translator of this version did not understand the and therefore merely transcribed it into Latin as ''telesmus'' or ''telesmum''. This accidental neologism was variously interpreted by commentators, thereby becoming one of the most distinctive, yet ambiguous, terms of alchemy. The word is of Greek origin, from . The obscurity of this word's meaning brought forth many interpretations. In the ''Book of Hermes on Alchemy'' the cryptic ''telesmus'' line was left out entirely. The vulgate's final line referring to the ''operation of Sol'' is commonly interpreted as a reference to the alchemical ''Great Work''. The ''Emerald Tablet'' was seen as a summary of alchemical principles, wherein the secrets of the philosopher's stone were thought to have been described. This belief led to its consequent popularity and the wide array of European translations of and commentaries on the text, beginning in the High Middle Ages and persisting to the present.

Commentaries

Herman of Carinthia was one of a few European twelfth-century scholars to cite the ''Emerald Tablet''. He did so in his 1143 treatise ''On Essences,'' where he also recalled the frame story of the tablet's discovery under a statue of Hermes in a cave, from the ''Book of the Secret of Creation.'' Carinthia was a friend of Robert of Chester, who in 1144 translated the '' Book on the Composition of Alchemy'', which is generally considered to be the first Latin translation of an Arabic treatise on alchemy. An anonymous twelfth-century commentator tried to explain the aforementioned neologism ''telesmus'' in the phrase by claiming it is synonymous with . The translator followed this claim with the assertion that a kind of divination, which is "superior to all others" among the Arabs is called . In subsequent commentaries on the ''Emerald Tablet'' only the meaning of ''secret'' was retained. ''On Minerals'' written around 1250 by Albertus Magnus comments on the vulgate ''Tablet''. Roger Bacon translated and annotated the ''Secret of Secrets'' around 1275–1280''.'' He thought it an authentic work of Aristotle and it greatly influenced his thought. He cited it constantly, from his earliest writings to his last''.'' The most widespread commentary accompanying the text of the ''Emerald Tablet'' is that of Hortulanus. He was an alchemist, who was likely active in the first half of the fourteenth century, about whom very little is known except for what he states about himself in the introduction of the text. Hortulanus, like Albertus Magnus before him, saw the tablet as a cryptic recipe that described laboratory processes using " deck names". This was the dominant view held by Europeans until the fifteenth century. In his commentary, Hortulanus, again like Albertus Magnus, interpreted the sun and moon to represent alchemical gold and silver. Hortulanus translated "telesma" as "secret" or "treasure".

From around 1420, the ''Rising Dawn'' introduced one of the earliest European cycles of alchemical imagery, combining complex metaphors with the motif of glass vessels. Its illustrations depict symbolic operations such as putrefaction, sublimation, and the union of opposites through figures like Mercury, the sun and moon, dragons, and eagles. These images reflect philosophical principles including “two are one” and “nature vanquishes nature”. Drawing on late antique traditions preserved in Ibn Umayl's ''Book of the Silvery Water and the Starry Earth'', the manuscript visualises the myth of the rediscovery of Hermetic knowledge, portraying hieroglyphic signs as divinely instituted symbols immune to verbal distortion. The ''Rising Dawn'' thus helped establish the Renaissance notion of alchemical imagery as a medium for transmitting original wisdom through visual, rather than textual, means.

Renaissance and early modernity

During the Renaissance, Hermes Trismegistus was widely regarded as the founder of alchemy and native to Babylon. He was thought to be a contemporary of Noah or Moses and his legend became intertwined with biblical narratives. One illustrative example of the belief that Hermes invented alchemy is found in the anonymous text ''Who Were the First Inventors of this Art'', extracted from a gloss of the fourteenth-century ''Textus Alkimie''. This text or a later French one, incorporating much of its narrative, influenced another discovery legend claiming the tablet (and its ''emblem'') to have been discovered after the Biblical Flood in Hebron Valley.

The narrative further evolved via Hieronymus Torrella's 1496 ''Splendid Work of Astrological Images''. In it, Alexander the Great discovers a in Hermes' tomb while travelling to the Oracle of Amun in Egypt. This story is repeated in 1617 by Michael Maier in ''Symbols of the Golden Table'', referencing a ''Book of Chymical Secrets'' attributed to, but likely not written by, Albertus Magnus. That same year, he published ''Fleeing Atalanta''. It was illustrated by Matthaeus Merian the Elder, possibly with cooperation from his cousin Theodor de Bry, with fifty alchemical emblems, each accompanied by a poem, the score of a fugue, and alchemical and mythological explanations. Among them were ones depicting verses from the ''Tablet''.

The first printed edition of the ''Emerald Tablet'' appeared in 1541, in ''Of Alchemy''. It was published in Nuremberg by Johann Petreius and edited by a certain Chrysogonus Polydorus. Polydorus is likely a pseudonym used by the Lutheran theologian Andreas Osiander, who edited Copernicus' ''On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres'' in 1543, also published by Petreius. This edition, which is similar to the ''vulgate'' version, is accompanied by Hortulanus' commentary.

By the early sixteenth century, the writings of Johannes Trithemius marked a shift away from a laboratory interpretation of the ''Emerald Tablet'', to a metaphysical approach. Trithemius equated Hermes' ''one thing'' with the monad of Pythagorean philosophy and the anima mundi. This interpretation of the Hermetic text was adopted by alchemists such as John Dee, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, and Gerhard Dorn. In 1583, Dorn published ''On the Light of Physical Nature'' by Christoph Corvinus. This Paracelsian treatise drew up a detailed parallel between the Emerald Tablet and the Genesis creation narrative.

Emblem

From the late sixteenth century onwards, the ''Emerald Tablet'' was often accompanied by a symbolic figure called . This figure is encircled by an acrostic in whose seven initials form the word . At the top, the sun and moon pour into a cup above the planetary symbol ☿ representing Mercury. Surrounding this mercurial cup are the four other planets, representing the classic association between the seven planets and the seven metals. Though, many of the extant copies of the emblem are not set in colour, it was originally polychrome—linking each planetary-metallic pair with a specific colour, thus rendering: gold– Sol-gold, silver–Luna–silver, grey– Mercury–quicksilver, blue–Jupiter–tin, red–Mars–iron, green–Venus–copper, and black–Saturn–lead. At the centre are a ring and a globus cruciger; at the bottom, the celestial and terrestrial spheres. Three charges represent, according to the accompanying poem, the '' three principles'' of Paracelsian alchemical theory: the eagle signifying quicksilver and the spirit, the lion signifying sulphur and the soul, and the star signifying salt and the body. Finally, two Schwurhands appear alongside the image, affirming the creator’s veracity.

The oldest known printed reproduction of this emblem is found in the ''Golden Fleece'', attributed to Salomon Trismosin—likely a pseudonym employed by a German Paracelsian. Wherein the image was accompanied by a didactic alchemical poem in German titled (). This poem explained the emblem's symbolism in relation to the Great Work and the classical goals of alchemy: wealth, health, and long life. The emblem is largely derivative. The colours, symbols and associations are all found in different Paracelsian works from the same period and unlikely to be influenced by the ''Tablet'' itself. The association with the cryptic text might have served primarily as a legitimation for an artwork also meant to be read metaphorically. Additionally, the image first spread in the circle of Karl Widemann, a known Paracelsian mystifier. Initially, the image was presented alongside the ''Emerald Tablet'' as a merely ancillary element. However, in printed editions of the seventeenth century, the poem was omitted, and the emblem came to be known as the symbolic or graphical representation of the ''Emerald Tablet''. The emblem proliferated quickly, was frequently reproduced, and gained narrative antiquity. From Ehrd de Naxagoras in his 1733 ''Supplement to the Golden Fleece'' came an example of such a narrative. In the aforementioned discovery legend a woman named Zora finds "a precious emerald plaque" engraved with this emblem in Hermes' grave in Hebron Valley. The emblem thus came to be conceptualised of as part of the esoteric tradition of interpreting Egyptian hieroglyphs. It also came to serve as an example of the Renaissance-Platonic and alchemical belief that "the deepest secrets of nature could only be appropriately expressed through an obscure and veiled mode of representation”.

Nuremberg edition

The 1541 Nuremberg edition from Johannes Petreius' '' Of Alchemy''—largely similar to the ''vulgate''—reads:

French sonnet translation

In the fifteenth century an anonymous French version, set in verse, appeared. A revised 1621 sonnet version by reads:

Enlightenment

From the dawning seventeenth-century Enlightenment onward, a number of authors began to issue challenges to the attribution of the ''Emerald Tablet'' to Hermes Trismegistus. Chronologically first among them was the former alchemist Nicolas Guibert. He believed the ancients had never mentioned alchemy by name and the practice of identifying gold and silver by the names of planets was an idea first advanced by Proclus. He argued, therefore, that the ''Emerald Tablet'' must be inauthentic. These attacks were supported by a rising spectre of doubt surrounding all things Hermetic, following a linguistic analysis by Isaac Casaubon, calling into question the authenticity of the Corpus Hermeticum and Hermes himself. The most prominent attack came from Athanasius Kircher in his ''Egyptian Oedipus''. Kircher rejected the ''Emerald Tablet''’s attribution to Hermes Trismegistus, as it did not support his interpretation of hieroglyphs; he argued that the Tablet’s “barbaric” Latin betrayed a much later, post‐classical origin. Additionally, he pointed out that no ancient Greek philosophers ever mention it—a silence he took as evidence of forgery. Further, he associated it with a group of alchemists he considered delusional and rejected the story of its discovery in Hermes’ tomb as a pure figment of their imagination. He applied critical arguments he otherwise rejected—for example when defending the legitimacy of the Corpus Hermeticum—when the text in question conflicted with his aims. Kircher’s critique was forceful enough to draw out a response from the Danish alchemist Ole Borch in his 1668 ''On the Origin and Progress of Chemistry.'' In which Borch sought to distinguish genuinely ancient Hermetic writings from later forgeries and to re‐value the ''Emerald Tablet'' as truly Egyptian in origin. Amid this climate of inquiry and doubt a 1684 tractate by deployed linguistic analysis—incorporating Hebrew—to assert that Hermes Trismegistus was not the Egyptian Thoth but the Phoenician Taaut—whom Tacitus identifies as Tuisto, the legendary divine progenitor of the Germanic peoples. The debate continued and both Borch’s and Kriegsmann’s treatises were reprinted (alongside many others) in Jean-Jacques Manget's '' Curious Chemical Library''.

The ''Emerald Tablet'' was still translated and commented upon by Isaac Newton, who rendered the recondite as "perfection". But the result of this age of upheaval and inquiry was the gradual decline of alchemy during the eighteenth century. The hardest blow to alchemy's legitimacy was the advent of modern chemistry and the work of Lavoisier

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