Editing Alchemy (section)

==== Mythology ====
Zosimos of Panopolis asserted that alchemy dated back to [[Ancient Egypt|Pharaonic Egypt]] where it was the domain of the priestly class, though there is little to no evidence for his assertion.<ref>{{cite book |last=Garfinkel |first=Harold |title=Ethnomethodological Studies of Work |publisher=Routledge &Kegan Paul |year=1986 |page=127 |isbn=978-0-415-11965-8}}</ref> Alchemical writers used Classical figures from Greek, Roman, and Egyptian mythology to illuminate their works and allegorize alchemical transmutation.<ref>Yves Bonnefoy. 'Roman and European Mythologies'. University of Chicago Press, 1992. pp. 211–213</ref> These included the pantheon of gods related to the Classical planets, [[Isis]], [[Osiris]], [[Jason]], and many others.

The central figure in the mythology of alchemy is [[Hermes Trismegistus]] (or Thrice-Great Hermes). His name is derived from the [[deity|god]] [[Thoth]] and his Greek counterpart [[Hermes]].<ref>A survey of the literary and archaeological evidence for the background of Hermes Trismegistus in the Greek Hermes and the Egyptian Thoth may be found in Bull, Christian H. 2018. ''The Tradition of Hermes Trismegistus: The Egyptian Priestly Figure as a Teacher of Hellenized Wisdom''. Leiden: Brill, pp. 33–96.</ref> Hermes and his [[caduceus]] or serpent-staff, were among alchemy's principal symbols. According to [[Clement of Alexandria]], he wrote what were called the "forty-two books of Hermes", covering all fields of knowledge.<ref>[[s:Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume II/CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA/The Stromata, or Miscellanies/Book VI/Chapter IV.|Clement, ''Stromata'', vi. 4.]]</ref> The ''[[Hermetica]]'' of Thrice-Great Hermes is generally understood to form the basis for Western alchemical philosophy and practice, called the [[hermeticism|hermetic philosophy]] by its early practitioners. These writings were collected in the first centuries of the common era.