Editing Hermes Trismegistus

{{Short description|Legendary author of the Hermetica}}
[[File:Hermes mercurius trismegistus siena cathedral.jpg|thumb|Hermes Trismegistus, floor mosaic in the [[Cathedral of Siena]]]]
{{Hermeticism|expand=Hermetic writings}}
{{Special characters}}
{{Esotericism}}
{{Ancient Egyptian religion}}
{{Ancient Greek religion}}

'''Hermes Trismegistus''' (from {{langx|grc|Ἑρμῆς ὁ Τρισμέγιστος}}, "Hermes the Thrice-Greatest") is a legendary [[Hellenistic period]] figure that originated as a [[Syncretism|syncretic combination]] of the Greek god [[Hermes]] and the Egyptian god [[Thoth]].<ref name="Bull 2018">A survey of the literary and archaeological evidence for the background of Hermes Trismegistus as the Greek god [[Hermes]] and the Egyptian god [[Thoth]] may be found in {{cite book |last=Bull |first=Christian H. |year=2018 |chapter=The Myth of Hermes Trismegistus |title=The Tradition of Hermes Trismegistus: The Egyptian Priestly Figure as a Teacher of Hellenized Wisdom |location=[[Leiden]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |pages=31–96 |series=Religions in the Graeco-Roman World |volume=186 |doi=10.1163/9789004370845_003 |isbn=978-90-04-37081-4 |s2cid=172059118 |issn=0927-7633}}</ref> He is the purported author of the ''[[Hermetica]]'', a widely diverse series of ancient and medieval [[pseudepigraphica]] that laid the basis of various philosophical systems known as [[Hermeticism]].

The wisdom attributed to this figure in antiquity combined a knowledge of both the material and the spiritual world, which rendered the writings attributed to him of great relevance to those who were interested in the interrelationship between the material and the divine.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Van den Broek|first=Roelof|author1-link=Roel van den Broek|year=2006|chapter=Hermes Trismegistus I: Antiquity|editor-last=Hanegraaff|editor-first=Wouter J.|title=Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism|location=Leiden|publisher=Brill|pages=474–478|isbn=9789004152311}} p. 474.</ref>

The figure of Hermes Trismegistus can also be found in both [[Islam|Muslim]] and [[Baháʼí]] writings. In those traditions, Hermes Trismegistus has been associated with the prophet [[Idris (prophet)|Idris]] (the Biblical [[Enoch]]).

==Origin and identity==
[[File:Hermes Ingenui Pio-Clementino Inv544.jpg|thumb|upright|Hermes depicted with a ''kerykeion'' ([[caduceus]]), a ''[[kithara]]'', a ''[[petasos]]'' (round hat) and a traveler's cloak, [[Vatican Museums]]]]
[[File:Thoout, Thoth Deux fois Grand, le Second Hermés, N372.2A.jpg|thumb|''Thoout, Thoth Deux fois Grand, le Second Hermès'', N372.2A, [[Brooklyn Museum]]]]

Hermes Trismegistus may be associated with the [[Ancient Greek religion|Greek god]] [[Hermes]] and the [[Ancient Egyptian deities|Egyptian god]] [[Thoth]].<ref name="Bull 2018"/><ref>{{cite book|last=Budge|first=E.A. Wallis|title=The Gods of the Egyptians Vol. 1|year=1904|url=https://archive.org/stream/godsofegyptianso00budg#page/414/mode/2up|pages=414–5}}</ref> Greeks in the [[Ptolemaic Kingdom]] of Egypt recognized the equivalence of Hermes and Thoth through the {{lang|la|[[interpretatio graeca]]}}.<ref name="Hart">Hart, G., ''The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses'', 2005, Routledge, second edition, Oxon, p 158</ref> Consequently, the two gods were worshiped as one, in what had been the Temple of Thoth in Khemenu, which was known in the [[Hellenistic period]] as [[Hermopolis]].<ref>Bailey, Donald, "Classical Architecture" in Riggs, Christina (ed.), ''The Oxford Handbook of Roman Egypt'' (Oxford University Press, 2012), p. 192.</ref>

Hermes, the Greek god of interpretive communication, was combined with Thoth, the Egyptian god of wisdom. The Egyptian priest and [[polymath]] [[Imhotep]] had been deified long after his death and therefore assimilated to Thoth in the [[Classical Greece|classical]] and Hellenistic periods.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Artmann |first=Benno |title=About the Cover: The Mathematical Conquest of the Third Dimension |url=https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2006-43-02/S0273-0979-06-01111-6/S0273-0979-06-01111-6.pdf |date=22 November 2005 |page=231 |volume=43 |number=2 |journal=[[Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society]] |series=New Series |access-date=7 August 2016|doi=10.1090/S0273-0979-06-01111-6 |doi-access=free }}</ref> The renowned scribe [[Amenhotep, son of Hapu|Amenhotep]] and a wise man named Teôs were coequal deities of wisdom, science, and medicine; and, thus, they were placed alongside Imhotep in shrines dedicated to Thoth–Hermes during the Ptolemaic Kingdom.<ref>''Thoth or the Hermes of Egypt: A Study of Some Aspects of Theological Thought in Ancient Egypt'', p.166–168, Patrick Boylan, Oxford University Press, 1922.</ref>

[[Cicero]] enumerates several deities referred to as "Hermes": a "fourth [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]] (Hermes) was the son of the Nile, whose name may not be spoken by the Egyptians"; and "the fifth, who is worshiped by the people of Pheneus [in [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]]], is said to have killed [[Argus Panoptes]], and for this reason to have fled to Egypt, and to have given the Egyptians their laws and alphabet: he it is whom the Egyptians call [[Thoth|Theyt]]".<ref>''De natura deorum'' III, Ch. 56</ref> The most likely interpretation of this passage is as two variants on the same [[syncretism]] of Greek Hermes and Egyptian Thoth (or sometimes other gods): the fourth (where Hermes turns out "actually" to have been a "son of the Nile," i.e. a native god) being viewed from the Egyptian perspective, the fifth (who went from Greece to Egypt) being viewed from the Greek-Arcadian perspective. Both of these early references in Cicero (most ancient Trismegistus material is from the early centuries AD) corroborate the view that Thrice-Great Hermes originated in Hellenistic Egypt through syncretism between Greek and Egyptian gods (the ''Hermetica'' refer most often to Thoth and Amun).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/cicero/nd3.shtml#56 |title=Cicero: De Natura Deorum III |publisher=Thelatinlibrary.com |access-date=2015-06-25}}</ref>

The Hermetic literature among the Egyptians, which was concerned with conjuring spirits and animating statues, inform the oldest Hellenistic writings on Greco-[[Babylon]]ian [[astrology]] and on the newly developed practice of [[alchemy]].<ref>Fowden 1993: pp65–68</ref> In a parallel tradition, [[Hermetic philosophy]] rationalized and systematized religious [[cult|cult practices]] and offered the adept a means of personal ascension from the constraints of physical being. This latter tradition has led to the confusion of Hermeticism with [[Gnosticism]], which was developing contemporaneously.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.esoteric.msu.edu/Merkur.html |title=Stages of Ascension in Hermetic Rebirth |publisher=Esoteric.msu.edu |access-date=2015-06-25}}</ref>

==The epithet "thrice great"==
Fowden asserts that the first datable occurrences of the epithet "thrice great" are in the ''Legatio'' of [[Athenagoras of Athens]] and in a fragment from [[Philo of Byblos]], {{circa|AD 64}}–141.<ref>Fowden, G., "The Egyptian Hermes", Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1987, p 216</ref> However, in a later work, Copenhaver reports that this epithet is first found in the minutes of a meeting of the council of the [[Ibis]] [[cult]], held in 172 BC near [[Memphis, Egypt|Memphis]] in Egypt.<ref>Copenhaver, B. P., "Hermetica", Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1992, p xiv.</ref> Hart explains that the epithet is derived from an epithet of Thoth found at the Temple of [[Esna]], "Thoth the great, the great, the great."<ref name="Hart" />

Many Christian writers, including [[Lactantius]], [[Augustine]], [[Marsilio Ficino]], [[Tommaso Campanella|Campanella]], and [[Giovanni Pico della Mirandola]], as well as [[Giordano Bruno]], considered Hermes Trismegistus to be a wise [[pagan]] prophet who foresaw the coming of [[Christianity]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Heiser|first1=James D.|title=Prisci Theologi and the Hermetic Reformation in the Fifteenth Century|date=2011|publisher=Repristination Press|location=Malone, Tex.|isbn=978-1-4610-9382-4|edition=1st}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|title = Enoch in the Islamic Tradition|last = Jafar|first = Imad|date = 2015|journal = Sacred Web: A Journal of Tradition and Modernity|volume =  XXXVI}}</ref> They believed in the existence of a ''[[prisca theologia]]'', a single, true theology that threads through all religions. It was given by God to man in antiquity<ref>Yates, F., "Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition", Routledge, London, 1964, pp 14–18 and pp 433–434</ref><ref>Hanegraaff, W. J., "New Age Religion and Western Culture", SUNY, 1998, p 360</ref> and passed through a series of prophets, which included [[Zoroaster]] and [[Plato]]. In order to demonstrate the verity of the ''prisca theologia,'' Christians appropriated the Hermetic teachings for their own purposes. By this account, Hermes Trismegistus was either a contemporary of [[Moses]],<ref>Yates, F., "Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition", Routledge, London, 1964, p 27 and p 293</ref> or the third in a line of men named Hermes, i.e. [[Enoch]], [[Noah]], and the Egyptian priest king who is known to us as Hermes Trismegistus<ref name="Yates">Yates, F., "Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition", Routledge, London, 1964, p52</ref> on account of being the greatest priest, philosopher, and king.<ref name="Yates" /><ref>Copenhaver, B.P., "Hermetica", Cambridge University Press, 1992, p xlviii</ref>

Another explanation, in the ''[[Suda]]'' (10th century), is that "He was called Trismegistus on account of his praise of the trinity, saying there is one divine nature in the trinity."<ref>Copenhaver, ''Hermetica'', p. xli</ref>

==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]].

==Islamic tradition==
{{See also|Idris (prophet)}}

[[File:Bodl Arab.d.221 roll332 frame11.jpg|thumbnail|right|Pages from a 14th-century Arabic manuscript of the [[Cyranides]], a text attributed to Hermes Trismegistus]]

[[Antoine Faivre]], in ''The Eternal Hermes'' (1995), has pointed out that Hermes Trismegistus has a place in the [[Islam]]ic tradition, although the name Hermes does not appear in the [[Qur'an]]. [[Hagiographer]]s and chroniclers of the first centuries of the Islamic [[Hijrah]] quickly identified Hermes Trismegistus with Idris,<ref>{{harvnb|Van Bladel|2009|p=168}}: "Abu Mas'har’s biography of Hermes, written approximately between 840 and 860, would establish it as common knowledge."</ref> the [[Prophets of Islam|Islamic prophet]] of [[sura]]hs 19.57 and 21.85,  whom Muslims also identified with [[Enoch (ancestor of Noah)|Enoch]] (cf. Genesis 5.18–24). According to the account of the Persian astrologer [[Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi]] (787–886), Idris/Hermes was termed "Thrice-Wise" Hermes Trismegistus because he had a threefold origin. The first Hermes, comparable to [[Thoth]], was a "civilizing hero", an initiator into the mysteries of the divine science and wisdom that animate the world; he carved the principles of this sacred science in [[Egyptian hieroglyph|hieroglyphs]]. The second Hermes, in [[Babylon]], was the initiator of [[Pythagoras]]. The third Hermes was the first teacher of [[alchemy]]. "A faceless prophet," writes the Islamicist [[Pierre Lory]], "Hermes possesses no concrete or salient characteristics, differing in this regard from most of the major figures of the Bible and the Quran."<ref>(Faivre 1995 pp. 19–20)</ref>

The [[star-worship]]ping sect known as the [[Sabians of Harran]] also believed that their doctrine descended from Hermes Trismegistus.<ref name=stapleton>{{cite journal <!-- Citation bot bypass-->|last1=Stapleton|first1=Henry E.|author1-link=Henry Ernest Stapleton|last2=Azo|first2=R.F.|last3=Hidayat Husain|first3=M.|year=1927|title=Chemistry in Iraq and Persia in the Tenth Century A.D.|journal=Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal|volume=VIII|issue=6|pages=317–418|oclc=706947607|url=http://www.southasiaarchive.com/Content/sarf.100203/231270}} pp. 398–403.</ref>

There are least twenty [[Hermetica#Arabic|Arabic ''Hermetica'']] extant. While some of these Arabic Hermetic writings were translated from [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] or [[Middle-Persian]], some were originally written in Arabic.<ref>{{harvnb|Van Bladel|2009|loc=p. 17, note 42}}.</ref> Hermetic fragments are also found in the works of [[Alchemy and chemistry in the medieval Islamic world|Muslim alchemists]] such as [[Jabir ibn Hayyan]] (died {{circa|806}}–816, cited an early version of the ''[[Emerald Tablet]]'' in his {{Transliteration|ar|Kitāb Usṭuqus al-uss}})<ref>{{cite thesis|last=Zirnis|first=Peter|year=1979|title=The Kitāb Usṭuqus al-uss of Jābir ibn Ḥayyān|type=Unpublished PhD diss.|location=New York University}} pp. 64–65, 90. Jabir explicitly notes that the version of the ''Emerald Tablet'' quoted by him is taken from "Balīnās the Sage" (i.e., [[Pseudepigrapha|pseudo]]-[[Apollonius of Tyana]]), although it differs slightly from the (probably even earlier) version preserved in pseudo-Apollonius of Tyana's [[Sirr al-khaliqa|''Sirr al-khalīqa'']] (''The Secret of Creation''): see {{Cite book|last=Weisser|first=Ursula|editor1-first=<!-- Deny Citebot -->|editor1-last=<!-- Deny Citebot -->|title=Das "Buch über das Geheimnis der Schöpfung" von Pseudo-Apollonios von Tyana|publisher=[[De Gruyter]]|year=1980|isbn=978-3-11-086693-3|location=Berlin|doi=10.1515/9783110866933|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DZFZzxgiUqAC}} p. 46.</ref> and [[Ibn Umayl]] ({{circa|900|960}}, quoted and commented upon Hermetic sayings throughout his work, among them also a commentary on the ''Emerald Tablet'').<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Stapleton|first1=H. E.|author1-link=Henry Ernest Stapleton|last2=Lewis|first2=G. L.|last3=Taylor|first3=F. Sherwood|author3-link=F. Sherwood Taylor|year=1949|title=The sayings of Hermes quoted in the Māʾ al-waraqī of Ibn Umail|journal=Ambix|volume=3|issue=3–4|pages=69–90|doi=10.1179/amb.1949.3.3-4.69}}</ref>

==Baháʼí writings==
[[Bahá'u'lláh]], founder of the [[Baháʼí Faith]], identifies Idris with Hermes in his ''[[Baháʼí literature|Tablet on the Uncompounded Reality]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bahai-library.com/brown_hermes_apollonius |title=Hermes Trismegistus and Apollonius of Tyana in the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh |publisher=Bahai-library.com |access-date=2015-06-25}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
*Aufrère, Sydney H. (2008) (in French). ''Thot Hermès l'Egyptien: De l'infiniment grand à l'infiniment petit''. Paris: L'Harmattan. {{ISBN|978-2296046399}}.
*Bull, Christian H. 2018. ''The Tradition of Hermes Trismegistus: The Egyptian Priestly Figure as a Teacher of Hellenized Wisdom''. Leiden: Brill. (the standard reference work on the subject)
*CACIORGNA, Marilena and GUERRINI, Roberto: ''Il pavimento del duomo di Siena''. L'arte della tarsia marmorea dal XIV al XIX secolo fonti e simologia. Siena 2004.
*CACIORGNA, Marilena: ''Studi interdisciplinari sul pavimento del duomo di Siena''. Atti el convegno internazionale di studi chiesa della SS. Annunziata 27 e 28 settembre 2002. Siena 2005.
*Copenhaver, Brian P. (1995). ''Hermetica: the Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius in a new English translation, with notes and introduction'', Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995 {{ISBN|0-521-42543-3}}.
*Ebeling, Florian, ''The secret history of Hermes Trismegistus: Hermeticism from ancient to modern times'' [Translated from the German by David Lorton] ([[Cornell University Press]]: Ithaca, 2007), {{ISBN|978-0-8014-4546-0}}.
*Festugière, A.-J.,''La révélation d'Hermès Trismégiste''. 2e éd., 3 vol., Paris 1981.
*Fowden, Garth, 1986. ''The Egyptian Hermes: A Historical Approach to the Late Pagan Mind''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (Princeton University Press, 1993): deals with Thoth (Hermes) from his most primitive known conception to his later evolution into Hermes Trismegistus, as well as the many books and scripts attributed to him.
*Hornung, Erik (2001). ''The Secret Lore of Egypt: Its Impact on the West''. Translated by David Lorton. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. {{ISBN|0801438470}}.
*Lupini, Carmelo, s.v. ''Ermete Trismegisto'' in "Dizionario delle Scienze e delle Tecniche di Grecia e Roma", Roma 2010, vol. 1.
*Merkel, Ingrid and [[Allen G. Debus]], 1988. ''Hermeticism and the Renaissance: intellectual history and the occult in early modern Europe'' Folger Shakespeare Library {{ISBN|0-918016-85-1}}
* {{citation |last=Mungello |first=David Emil |authorlink=David Emil Mungello |title =Curious Land: Jesuit Accommodation and the Origins of Sinology |publisher =University of Hawaii Press |date=1989 |location=Honolulu |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wb4yPw4ZgZQC |isbn=0-8248-1219-0}}
* {{Cite book|last=Van Bladel|first=Kevin|url=https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195376135.001.0001/acprof-9780195376135|title=The Arabic Hermes: From Pagan Sage to Prophet of Science|location=Oxford|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=2009|isbn=978-0-19-537613-5|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195376135.001.0001}} (the standard reference for Hermes in the Arabic-Islamic world)
*Van den Kerchove, Anna 2012. ''La voie d’Hermès: Pratiques rituelles et traités hermétiques''. Leiden: Brill.
*[[Frances Yates|Yates, Frances A.]], ''[[Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition]]''. University of Chicago Press, 1964. {{ISBN|0-226-95007-7}}.

==External links==
{{Commons}}
{{wikiquote}}
{{wikisource author}}
{{Wikisourcelang|el|Ερμής ο Τρισμέγιστος|Ἑρμῆς ὁ Τρισμέγιστος}}
* [http://www.gnosis.org/library/hermet.htm ''Corpus Hermeticum''] along with the complete text of G.R.S. Mead's classic work, ''Thrice Greatest Hermes''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040729235829/http://www.hermeticresearch.org/ Hermetic Research] is a portal on Hermetic study and discussion
* [http://www.esoteric.msu.edu/Merkur.html Dan Merkur, "Stages of Ascension in Hermetic Rebirth"]
* [http://www.aussagenlogik.org/asclepius-mercurii-trismegisti-dialogus/ Asclepius] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070117122532/http://www.aussagenlogik.org/asclepius-mercurii-trismegisti-dialogus/ |date=2007-01-17 }}— Latin text of the edition Paris: Henricus Stephanus 1505.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070107064230/http://www.aussagenlogik.org/mercurii-trismegisti-liber-de-potestate-dei-i-ix/ Pimander]—Latin translation by Marsilio Ficino, Milano: Damianus de Mediolano, 1493.
* [http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/pym/index.htm THE DIVINE PYMANDER of Hermes Mercurius Trismegistus in English]
* [http://hos.ou.edu/galleries//01Ancient/HermesTrismegistus/ Online Galleries, History of Science Collections, University of Oklahoma Libraries]—High resolution images of works by Hermes Trismegistus in JPEG and TIFF format.

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