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.A survey of the literary and archaeological evidence for the background of Hermes Trismegistus in the Greek Hermes and the Egyptian Thoth is found in . 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.; . Garth Fowden is somewhat more cautious, noting that our earliest testimonies date to the first century BCE (see ). Many of the texts belonging to 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 original works or translations remains unclear.. These Arabic and Latin Hermetic texts were widely copied throughout the Middle Ages (the most famous example being the Emerald Tablet).
The "religio-philosophical" Hermetica constitute a relatively coherent set of religio-philosophical treatises, primarily written in the second and third centuries. However, the very earliest one of them, the Definitions of Hermes Trismegistus to Asclepius, may go back to the first century CE.; . The sole exception to the general dating of is the Definitions of Hermes Trismegistus to Asclepius, which may date to the first century CE (see , referring to ; cf. ). Earlier dates have been suggested, most notably by Flinders Petrie (500–200 BCE) and Bruno H. Stricker (c. 300 BCE), but these suggestions have been rejected by most other scholars (see ). They are chiefly focused on the relationship between human beings, the cosmos, and God (thus combining philosophical anthropology, cosmology, and theology). Many of them are also moral exhortations calling for a way of life (the "way of Hermes") leading to spiritual rebirth, and eventually to divinization in the form of a heavenly ascent.. The treatises in this category were probably all originally written in Greek, although some of them survive only in Coptic, Armenian, or Latin translations.E.g., The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth (Coptic; preserved in the Nag Hammadi library, which consists entirely of works translated from Greek into Coptic; see ), the Definitions of Hermes Trismegistus to Asclepius (Armenian; see ), and the Asclepius (also known as the Perfect Discourse, Latin; see ). During the Middle Ages, most of them were only accessible to Byzantine scholars (an important exception being the Asclepius, which mainly survives in an early Latin translation), until a compilation of Greek Hermetic treatises known as the Corpus Hermeticum was translated into Latin by the Renaissance scholars Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499) and Lodovico Lazzarelli (1447–1500).; .
Although strongly influenced by Greek and Hellenistic philosophy (especially Middle Platonism and Stoicism),. and to a lesser extent also by Jewish ideas,See, e.g., , and the copious references in . many of the early Greek Hermetic treatises also contain distinctly Egyptian elements, most notably in their affinity with traditional Egyptian wisdom literature.. Mahé also demonstrated numerous other Egyptian influences on the Hermetica (cf. ). This used to be the subject of much doubt,Especially by ; ; see . but it is now generally admitted that the Hermetica as such did in fact originate in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt,Following the studies of and ; see . even if most of the later Hermetic writings (which continued to be composed at least until the twelfth century CE) did not.For example, the Kitāb fi zajr al-nafs ("The Book of the Rebuke of the Soul"; edited by and by ; English translation of Bardenhewer's Latin translation in ), the only Arabic Hermetic text that is rather "religio-philosophical" than "technical" in nature, is commonly thought to date from the twelfth century; see . It may even be the case that the great bulk of the early Greek Hermetica were written by Hellenizing members of the Egyptian priestly class, whose intellectual activity was centred in the environment of Egyptian temples.This is the central thesis of ; see 12ff.
Technical Hermetica
Greek
Greek astrological Hermetica
The oldest known texts associated with Hermes Trismegistus are a number of astrological works which may go back as far as the second or third century BCE:
The Salmeschoiniaka (the "Wandering of the Influences"), perhaps composed in Alexandria in the second or third century BCE, deals with the configurations of the stars.; . The Nechepsos-Petosiris texts are a number of anonymous works dating to the second century BCE which were falsely attributed to the Egyptian king Necho II (610–595 BCE, referred to in the texts as Nechepsos) and his legendary priest Petese (referred to in the texts as Petosiris). These texts, only fragments of which survive, ascribe the astrological knowledge they convey to the authority of Hermes.; cf. . On the identification of Nechepsos with Necho II and of Petosiris with Petese, see the references in . The Art of Eudoxus is a treatise on astronomy which was preserved in a second-century BCE papyrus and which mentions Hermes as an authority.. The Liber Hermetis ("The Book of Hermes") is an important work on astrology laying out the names of the decans (a distinctly Egyptian system that divided the zodiac into 36 parts). It survives only in an early (fourth- or fifth-century CE) Latin translation,. but contains elements that may be traced to the second or third century BCE.; .
Other early Greek Hermetic works on astrology include:
The Brontologion: a treatise on the various effects of thunder in different months.; . The Peri seismōn ("On earthquakes"): a treatise on the relation between earthquakes and astrological signs.. The Book of Asclepius Called Myriogenesis: a treatise on astrological medicine.. The Holy Book of Hermes to Asclepius: a treatise on astrological botany describing the relationships between various plants and the decans.. On this work, see , , and . The Fifteen Stars, Stones, Plants and Images: a treatise on astrological mineralogy and botany dealing with the effect of the stars on the pharmaceutical powers of minerals and plants..
Greek alchemical Hermetica
Starting in the first century BCE, a number of Greek works on alchemy were attributed to Hermes Trismegistus. These are now all lost, except for a number of fragments (one of the larger of which is called Isis the Prophetess to Her Son Horus) preserved in later alchemical works dating to the second and third centuries CE. Especially important is the use made of them by the Egyptian alchemist Zosimus of Panopolis (fl. c. 300 CE), who also seems to have been familiar with the religio-philosophical Hermetica.. Hermes' name would become more firmly associated with alchemy in the medieval Arabic sources (see below), of which it is not yet clear to what extent they drew on the earlier Greek literature..
Greek magical Hermetica
The Cyranides is a work on healing magic which treats of the magical powers and healing properties of minerals, plants and animals, for which it regularly cites Hermes as a source.. The Greek text was edited by . English translation of the first book in . It was independently translated both into Arabic and Latin.The Arabic translation of the first book was edited by . The Arabic fragments of the other books were edited by . The Latin translation was edited by . The Greek Magical Papyri are a modern collection of papyri dating from various periods between the second century BCE and the fifth century CE. They mainly contain practical instructions for spells and incantations, some of which cite Hermes as a source.. Edition in .
Arabic
Many Arabic works attributed to Hermes Trismegistus still exist today, although the great majority of them have not yet been published or studied by modern scholars.According to , there are least twenty Arabic Hermetica extant. For this reason too, it is often not clear to what extent they drew on earlier Greek sources. The following is a very incomplete list of known works:
Arabic astrological Hermetica
Some of the earliest attested Arabic Hermetic texts deal with astrology:
The Qaḍīb al-dhahab ("The Rod of Gold"), or the Kitāb Hirmis fī taḥwīl sinī l-mawālīd ("The Book of Hermes on the Revolutions of the Years of the Nativities") is an Arabic astrological work translated from Middle Persian by ʿUmar ibn al-Farrukhān al-Ṭabarī (. 816 CE), who was the court astrologer of the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur ().. The Carmen Astrologicum is an astrological work originally written by the first-century CE astrologer Dorotheus of Sidon. It is lost in Greek, but survives in an Arabic translation, which was in turn based upon a Middle Persian intermediary. It was also translated by ʿUmar ibn al-Farrukhān al-Ṭabarī. The extant Arabic text refers to two Hermeses, and cites a book of Hermes on the positions of the planets.. Edition of the Arabic text by . The Kitāb Asrār an-nujūm ("The Book of the Secrets of the Stars", later translated into Latin as the Liber de stellis beibeniis) is a treatise describing the influences of the brightest fixed stars on personal characteristics. The Arabic work was translated from a Middle Persian version which can be shown to date from before c. 500 CE, and which shared a source with the Byzantine astrologer Rhetorius (fl. c. 600 CE).. The Arabic text and its Latin translation were edited by . See also . The Kitāb ʿArḍ Miftāḥ al-Nujūm ("The Book of the Exposition of the Key to the Stars") is an Arabic astrological treatise attributed to Hermes which claims to have been translated in 743 CE, but which in reality was probably translated in the circles of Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi (787–886 CE).; . On the dating, see .
Arabic alchemical Hermetica
The Sirr al-khalīqa wa-ṣanʿat al-ṭabīʿa ("The Secret of Creation and the Art of Nature"), also known as the Kitāb al-ʿilal ("The Book of Causes") is an encyclopedic work on natural philosophy falsely attributed to Apollonius of Tyana (c. 15–100, Arabic: Balīnūs or Balīnās).Edited by . It was compiled in Arabic in the late eighth or early ninth century, (c. 813–833); (c. 750–800). but was most likely based on (much) older Greek and/or Syriac sources.; . It contains the earliest known version of the sulfur-mercury theory of metals (according to which metals are composed of various proportions of sulfur and mercury),; . which lay at the foundation of all theories of metallic composition until the eighteenth century.. In the frame story of the Sirr al-khalīqa, Balīnūs tells his readers that he discovered the text in a vault below a statue of Hermes in Tyana, and that, inside the vault, an old corpse on a golden throne held the Emerald Tablet.. It was translated into Latin by Hugo of Santalla in the twelfth century.Edited by . On its later influence, see .