Editing Hermes Trismegistus (section)

==Hermetic writings==
{{main|Hermetica}}
During the [[Middle Ages]] and the [[Renaissance]], the ''Hermetica'' enjoyed great prestige and were popular among alchemists. Hermes was also strongly associated with astrology, for example by the influential Islamic astrologer [[Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi]] (787–886).<ref>{{harvnb|Van Bladel|2009|loc=122ff.}}</ref> The "Hermetic tradition" consequently refers to alchemy, magic, astrology, and related subjects. The texts are usually divided into two categories: the philosophical and the technical hermetica. The former deals mainly with [[philosophy]], and the latter with practical magic, potions, and alchemy. The expression "[[hermetically sealed]]" comes from the alchemical procedure to make the [[Philosopher's Stone]]. This required a mixture of materials to be placed in a glass vessel which was sealed by fusing the neck closed, a procedure known as the Seal of Hermes. The vessel was then heated for 30 to 40 days.<ref name="Principe">Principe, L. M., ''The Secrets of Alchemy'', 2013, University of Chicago Press, p. 123</ref>

During the [[Renaissance]], it was accepted that Hermes Trismegistus was a contemporary of [[Moses]]. However, after [[Isaac Casaubon]]'s demonstration in 1614 that the Hermetic writings must postdate the advent of Christianity, the whole of Renaissance Hermeticism collapsed.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hanegraaff|first1=Wouter J.|author1-link=Wouter J. Hanegraaff|date=1996|title=New Age Religion and Western Culture|location=Leiden|publisher=Brill}} pp. 390–391.</ref> As to their actual authorship:

{{blockquote|... they were certainly not written in remotest antiquity by an all wise Egyptian priest, as the Renaissance believed, but by various unknown authors, all probably Greeks, and they contain popular Greek philosophy of the period, a mixture of [[Platonism]] and [[Stoicism]], combined with some Jewish and probably some Persian influences.<ref>Yates ''Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition'' pp. 2–3</ref>}}

The French [[figurist]] [[Jesuit missions to China|Jesuit missionary to China]] [[Joachim Bouvet]] thought that Hermes Trismegistus, [[Zoroaster]] and the Chinese cultural hero [[Fuxi]] were actually the Biblical patriarch [[Enoch]].<ref name="Mungello Enoch">{{Harvcolnb|Mungello|1989|p=321}}</ref>

Various critical editions of the Hermetica have been published in modern academia, such as ''Hermetica'' by [[Brian Copenhaver]].