Corpus Hermeticum

The Corpus Hermeticum ("Hermetic Corpus"; also known by the titles Pimander and Poimandres) is a collection of seventeen esoteric tracts in Greek from 2nd and 3rd century Egypt. This collection was attributed to the legendary Hermes Trismegistus. In the tracts, supposedly ancient wisdom is revealed by a god, Hermes and his followers. This wisdom is a mixture of religious and philosophical thought and is supposed to lead to the attainment of gnosis (intuitive, divine knowledge) and salvation.

The tracts of the Corpus were written independently by different authors and therefore contain differences in vision and style. Often the texts are dialogues in which a teacher shares ancient, secret knowledge with an initiate, so that the initiate can break free from the difficult earthly existence and come into contact with the divine.

In its present form, the Corpus originated in the Byzantine Empire, but it was completely unknown in medieval western Europe and in the Arab world. The Neoplatonist Marsilio Ficino made the first Latin translation in 1463. He hypothesized that the Corpus had influenced various philosophers and religions, from Judaism to Plato. As a result, the Corpus became popular. After it was shown in 1614 that it dated from the Roman imperial period, interest waned, though the Corpus remained popular in theosophical circles.

Characters

Various characters appear in the tracts of the Corpus Hermeticum. Some are more clearly developed and occur much more frequently than others.

• Hermes Trismegistus is the main character within Hermeticism. He is based on the Egyptian god Thoth, who is said to have given art and science to man. He was popular in the Ptolemaic period and was equated with Hermes by the Greeks. Trismegistus means "thrice greatest" and was a title of Thoth. In the Corpus, Hermes Trismegistus is no longer represented as a god, but as a human being with divine knowledge.
• Asclepius is mentioned a total of twenty times in tracts (C.H.) II, VI, IX, and X. This figure goes back to the deified Egyptian Imhotep, who was said to be versed in medicine, writing, and astrology, among other things. In time, he was considered the son of the god Ptah and godson of Thoth. By the Greeks, he was equated with the healer god Asclepius, who had a popular cult in Hellenistic times.
• Tat is the son of Hermes Trismegistus. Tat is derived from Thoth. The name occurs twenty times in the tracts. In C.H. XVII he is a priest speaking to an anonymous king.
• Ammon is a king and follower of Hermes Trismegistus. The name is the Greek variant of Amun or Amon-Ra, who was identified with the wind, air and cosmic elements. The serpent Kneph, whom the Greeks called Agathodaimon, was associated with him. Ammon was associated by the Greeks with Zeus and the spirit (pneuma). Philosophers like Plato and Jamblichus considered (king) Ammon to be the mouthpiece of Thoth for the Egyptians.
• Poimandres is the divine spirit who reveals himself to Hermes in C.H. I, where he is mentioned twelve times. In other hermetics he is mentioned only twice. From him is derived the alternative title of the Corpus.
• Nous is a spiritual being who reveals knowledge, presumably the same figure as Poimandres.
• Agathodaimon ('Good Spirit') is an obscure figure who is mentioned in passing in C.H. X §23, XII and XIII. He is identified with Nous and with the individual guardian spirit (genius) of man. He is also the teacher of Hermes Trismegistus.

The names indicate an Egyptian background, but the original mythology is blurred. For example, Hermes was equated with Thoth, but Tat is also originally Thoth. Pseudo-Manetho and Church Father Augustine mentioned that Tat is the son of Hermes Trismegistus, the second Hermes, and that the latter is the son of Agathodaimon, who in turn is the son of Thoth, the first Hermes.[1]

Description of the Treatises

The numbering of the tracts (logoi) goes back to early modern editions and runs from I to XIV and from XVI to XVIII. This suggests that tract XV is missing, but in reality it never existed.[2] Together, the tracts present three generations of knowledge transfer. First from a divine being (Poimandres, Nous, Agathodaimon) to Hermes Trismegistus, second from Hermes Trismegistus to Asclepius and Tat, and third from Asclepius and Tat to Ammon, among others.[3]

• I. Poimandres. Hermes Trismegistus describes his state of mind. Then Poimandres appears. Who reveals knowledge about the origin of the cosmos and man, but also about the end of everything. After the vision, Hermes ends with a prayer of thanksgiving. Then he becomes a prophet to spread the received teachings.

• II. A general conversation of Hermes with Asclepius. The beginning of the dialogue is lost, so the text begins abruptly. In it, it is explained that the cosmos moves within the greater God, and that this God is transcendent and unknowable. He can, however, be called "Father" and "the Good.

• III. A sacred treatise of Hermes. God is the beginning and end, corresponds to nature, manifests himself in it and keeps it going. Life on earth is influenced by the divine stars and planets. An immortal soul is not spoken of, but man lives on in the memories of others thanks to his works.

• IV. The Mixing Vessel or The Unity. This dialogue between Hermes and Tat consists of two parts. In the first part, the divine spirit (nous) is added as a divine gift to man and his mind (logos). This nous can be obtained by way of price (the mixing vessel) if the hermetician lives piously and focuses on spiritual development. In the second part, God as Unity is discussed in philosophical terms.

• V. God: invisible and yet readily visible. In this dialogue between Hermes and Tat, it is explained that the eternal God can be known through His works. This knowledge is a gift of God, who is the father and mother for whom no name is sufficient and yet can be referred to by all names because everything emanates from him.

• VI. The Good is only in God and nowhere else. It is argued that the transcendent God is responsible for all good and that he is therefore the Good and Beautiful Himself. Since the Good is nowhere else, the cosmos and human actions are evil.

• VII. Ignorance of God: the greatest evil among men. This tract is a sermon. Man is in a state of drunkenness if he does not know God. The way to the knowledge of God is one of light and leads to the transcendence of bodily needs and miseries.

• VIII. Of what exists, nothing perishes. There are only changes, falsely referred to as destruction and death. God and the cosmos, which is a living entity, count as eternal. Death is only transformation, for the soul too is immortal. The building blocks of the body are reabsorbed into nature, and the soul is absorbed into the cosmos. Man is a microcosm reflecting the macrocosm.

• IX. Insight and Perception. In this dialogue, it is explained to Asclepius that insight and perception cannot be without each other, with God instilling the good thoughts, and demons on earth the bad ones. People who are focused on the earthly and material must be distinguished from those who are focused on the spiritual. Ultimately, however, all people are part of God, from whom all things originate and are reabsorbed. Understanding this leads to peace.

• X. Revelation of the threefold great Hermes: Key. Key indicates that the text is a summary of Hermetic teachings. This dialogue between Hermes and Tat summarizes several Hermetic doctrines: the essence of God, the cosmos, man, knowledge of God, and the way to God.

• XI. The Spirit speaks to Hermes. The Spirit (Nous) is presumably the same being as Poimandres. In a dialogue, the Spirit and Hermes discuss the relationship between God and the cosmos. The cosmos moves and is orderly, and so there must be a God as the source of it that moves and coordinates. God can be experienced when man detaches himself from space and time, and recognizes that all is one.

• XII. The Spirit that pervades the All: conversation of the threefold great Hermes with Tat. God reveals himself in the cosmos, and it is a living unity full of order in which there is no death. The stars influence earthly life, but because the human spirit comes from God, man is not entirely subject to the stars. Through spiritual access to God, man is above all other beings. The spirit is simultaneously present in the cosmos and in individual man, who can also receive it as a gift of grace from God.

• XIII. The threefold great Hermes speaks to his son Tat. The secret revelation on the mountain about rebirth and the commandment of secrecy. In this dialogue between Tat and Hermes, Tat is initiated into Hermetic knowledge. That event leads to rebirth, after which a cosmic experience is described.

• XIV. The Being of the All. The Triune Great Hermes writes this letter to Asclepius. He greets him and wishes him good, spiritual health. This letter contains a brief summary of previously discussed teachings. Of importance is to know the Maker of all things.

• XVI. Aphorisms. A letter from Asclepius to King Ammon. The title does not fit well with the contents, for this is not a collection of aphorisms. Possibly it is a later addition. The central theme is the relationship between God and the cosmos.

• XVII. Images. This is a short excerpt from a dialogue between the priest Tat and an Egyptian king, which focuses on the worship of images.

• XVIII. Praise of kingship. Why the soul is so inhibited by the shortcomings of the body. The subtitle does not refer to the content. The treatise is constructed according to the rules of Greek rhetoric. Love moves the universe, and the body is presented as hindering the soul and its development, after which God and the king are praised for their greatness.

Origins

The seventeen anonymous tracts of the Corpus Hermeticum were written in Egypt in a Hellenistic milieu, probably in Alexandria. The 2nd and 3rd centuries are a plausible period of origin based on knowledge of other hermeticists, references to the tracts by other authors, and content, philosophical, and religious characteristics. Possibly the tracts were already circulating in collection form in antiquity.

As a collection

The tracts do not form chapters of one book, but are original, separate works. The selection criteria for the compilation are not known. The tracts contain no references to magic or alchemy, and hardly any to astrology.[4] Since the Corpus Hermeticum was handed down through Byzantines, there is therefore a hypothesis that Byzantine scholars primarily compiled philosophical hermetica. Another hypothesis is that Byzantine scholars purged the tracts of suspicious, occult elements. One argument for this is that in other philosophical hermetics, such as the Asclepius, magic and astrology are prominent,[5] and in other philosophical hermetic treatises, such as the Corpus Hermeticus, magic and astrology are prominent.

Bundles such as the Corpus Hermeticum have existed in late antiquity. Among others, C.H. V, X, XIII, and XIV refer to them. As a result, it is possible that the tracts of the Corpus Hermeticum or parts thereof circulated as collections in late antiquity,[6] but the earliest mention of the Corpus Hermeticum as such is by the Byzantine scholar Michael Psellus in the 11th century. It is uncertain whether I-XIV formed a whole with XVI-XVIII, since in the former group Hermes speaks, and in the latter group Asclepius, Tat, and a feast speaker.[7]

Authors

Authorship is relative, as some authors may have used older material. The authors of the individual tracts are entirely unknown. It is possible that C.H. I and VII have a common author due to shared characteristics, such as the image of ignorance as drunkenness (C.H. I §27, C.H. VII §1).[8] The Greek of tract III is flawed and suggests that the author was not Greek.[9] The Jewish influence may indicate a Jewish author.[10]

Location

Hermeticism, in all its variations, originated in Egypt. The atmosphere in the tracts is also Egyptian. The knowledge given in C.H. XVI §1 was, according to the author, translated from Egyptian,[p 1] and the dialogue of C.H. XVI takes place in an Egyptian temple. Perhaps both were a literary topos, due to the belief that in the temples ancient knowledge was handed down. Greco-Egyptian syncretism[p 2] was particularly strong in the most Hellenized parts such as Alexandria and Fayyum, and Hermetism itself is the result of syncretism. Egypt, especially Alexandria, was also the place where Greek philosophy was known, Judaism was prevalent, and thoughts and forms of expression lived that were acceptable to early Christians and Gnostics.[11]

It is likely that the tracts originated in Alexandria. At the beginning of the Christian era, the city probably had a population of 800,000. It was ethnically heterogeneous. In addition to Egyptians and Greeks, there was a Jewish community of 150,000.[12] The city had two major libraries, the Museion and the Serapeion, which held Greek fiction and non-fiction, as well as Egyptian, Hebrew, Mesopotamian, and possibly Oriental works. The region counted several intellectual and religious movements, such as the therapeutae and Neoplatonism with their esoteric traditions. Among the works published in Alexandria were the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) and orfica, occult or mystical works attributed to Orpheus. These traditions, religions, and philosophies influenced the Corpus Hermeticum.[13]

Dating

A more precise dating than the 2nd and 3rd centuries is not possible, a period when the concept of gnosis was widespread.[14] From antiquity, the tracts were believed to be ancient, but the Swiss classicist Isaac Casaubon showed in 1614 that the Corpus Hermeticum should be dated on philological grounds to the first centuries AD. Indeed, before that time, hermetics are not cited and Hermes Trismegistus is not mentioned in Greek literature. Furthermore, the tracts contain words and (philosophical) concepts that were often only used by Greek authors of late antiquity,[15] the first authors to refer to the Corpus Hermeticum were active in the late 3rd century and later.[16]

The content of the tracts supports the dating. There is influence from Middle Platonism, which was eclectic between the 1st century BCE and the 3rd century and integrated elements from Stoic and Jewish philosophy (such as Philo of Alexandria). The Romans exterminated Alexandrian Judaism during the Jewish revolt of 115-117. Therefore, the influence of traditionally Jewish and Jewish-esoteric ideas in C.H. I, III, and VII suggests that these texts predate the revolt.[17] In addition, the character Hermes Trismegistus fits with late Classical religious trends, as at that time people were well acquainted with unclearly defined, deified persons or demigods, such as Orpheus, Heracles, Dionysus, Apollonius of Tyana, Mithras, and Asclepius.[18]

In what order the tracts appeared is unclear. Cross-references and borrowings may exist in the texts, but this remains uncertain.[19] Tract IX §1 states that it is a continuation of the Perfect Doctrine (Teleios logos), which is also known through the philosophical-hermetic Asclepius, but a precise dating of this does not exist. Various dating dates for the individual tracts have been proposed, but not generally accepted. It is assumed, however, that C.H. I is among the oldest. Possibly C.H. IX dates from the period 280-300 and C.H. X and XIII are also of late date.[20] Development of the tracts

Ideas or parts of the Corpus Hermeticum may date from the 1st century or earlier. For example, the tracts contain aphorisms and hymn passages, and it is known that hermetic hymns circulated separately, but it is uncertain whether those hymns were copied from the tracts[21] or whether loose hymns were included in the tracts.[22] In Egyptian texts, aphorism (sbayt mtrw, "wisdom spell") was a well-known way of transferring knowledge between a "father" and a "son", since intellectual functions were mostly hereditary. Thus, collections of aphorisms or propositions arose: gnomologia.[p 3] Aphoristic knowledge transfer was more common in late antiquity.[p 4] The Corpus Hermeticum also has an aphoristic character, with propositions whose content is independent of surrounding text or around which treatises are written.[23] C.H. XIV and C.H. XVI, for example, are the result of commented aphorisms.[24]

Hermetic Definitions IX, 4

He who with his mind contemplates himself, knows himself, and he who knows himself, knows the All.

Poimandres 18

Let the spiritual man understand that he himself is immortal and that sensual love Is the cause of death, and let him know all that is.[25]

Form and style

Because the Corpus Hermeticum was not originally intended as a unit, there is no preconceived plan. This results in varied style, structure, and subject matter. In general, however, the tracts are of a philosophical-religious nature and thus not practically oriented.

Text Genres

The Corpus Hermeticum contains various text genres. Many tracts are a didactic dialogue in which the teacher teaches the student. Hermeticist researcher A.J. Festugière believed that platonic dialogue underlay this, but that view is outdated. Didactic dialogues traditionally occurred outside of Greece. There are also argumentative sections, hymn-like pieces, and aphorisms that sometimes stand alone. Hymns occur in C.H. I §31-32, V §10-11, XIII §17-19 and XIII §21, and are in the Egyptian tradition.[26] Finally, C.H. XIV and XVI are letters, and C.H. VII is a sermon.

Style

The authors used arguments and technical-philosophical terms borrowed from Greek philosophy, but did so in unusual ways. No tract forms a logical argument, for in terms of argumentation, propositions remain philosophically mediocre, and in terms of structure, the transition between points is sometimes associative and abrupt. Also, contradictions occur within the same text. Therefore, the goals of the hermetic authors are not logical-philosophical, but religious.[27] One possible purpose of the incoherence, contradiction, and illogical exposition is to give the hermeticist a sense of transcendence: the truth lies beyond the various logical positions.[28]

Concise, instructive statements are typical of the Corpus Hermeticum. These aphorisms are often philosophical propositions that appear platonic and are often not explained. Nor is their position always logical. As a result, these hermetic key points become religious sayings. They explain nothing, but associate themes with each other, evoke a certain mood, make the hermeticist focus, and require more interpretive work.[29] An example is C.H. XI §15:

• Eternity is an image of God, the Cosmos is an image of Eternity, the sun of the Cosmos, man of the sun.

Some sections of text are repetitive in nature, such as a series of rhetorical questions. Often the language is concise and the tone priestly. Sometimes paradoxes are also used. The sermons are typified by addressing a group, rhetorical questions, and priestly wording.[p 5] Tract V §10-11 is an example of repetition and paradoxes:

• Who, then, could praise you [God] according to value and adequacy? Whither should I direct my gaze, when I wish to praise you, upward, downward, inward or outward? For around you is no mode of being or space, nor anything else that exists. All is in thee, all proceeds from thee. Thou givest all and takest nothing, for thou hast all and there is nothing thou hast not.

Some parts of the Corpus Hermeticum have a hymn-like character. Hymn-like parts are: the entire C.H. III, C.H. V §10-11, C.H. IV §10-11, XI §5-8 and §20-22, XII §20-21, XIII §6 and §11, XIV §3-4. The hymns do not involve classical verse, but rather accent placement and a fixed number of syllables per line.[30]

Themes

The seventeen tracts reveal philosophical-religious knowledge and aim to assist the Hermeticist in his spiritual growth. This should result in the outgrowth of the material world and in salvation.[31] To this end, theology, cosmogony, anthropogony, ethics, doctrine of salvation and eschatology are treated.[32] These subjects are intermingled in the Corpus Hermeticum, which does not offer a conclusive, consistent doctrine. Hermeticism is therefore heterogeneous in nature and does not constitute a clearly defined religion. Contradictions occur both between and within tracts. For example, sometimes the cosmos is presented as essentially good, but sometimes it is presented as evil (for example, in tract IV). Another example is that in tract I sensual love is considered the cause of death, while in tract II procreation is seen as a "godly occupation."[33]

One explanation for the diversity is to refer to the views of the individual authors as monism, dualism, optimism or pessimism respectively. An alternative explanation is that the tracts belong to different stages of initiation. According to this view, the hermeticist is initiated into the hermetic mysteries step by step, and thus each tract is a preparation for the next stage. A positive view of the cosmos then fits an early stage, when the hermetic's bodily needs are still great, while a negative view of the cosmos fits an advanced stage, in which the liberation of the spirit from the body is sought.[34]

Philosophical Hermetics

Technical hermetics deal with magic and astrology, for example, but the Corpus Hermeticum does not contain any practical, technical elements, and thus belongs to philosophical hermetics. Those hermetics are influenced by Stoicism and Platonism in particular. Philosophy, however, serves a religious purpose, namely spiritual growth, the pursuit of a pure life and the acquisition of gnosis. Reason helped with this, but the ultimate truth, according to the authors, could not be found through philosophical reasoning, but through divine revelation. This is why, for example, the first tract, Poimandres, begins with a vision.[35]

Unity

The stoics developed the concept of sympathy, which points to the living, indivisible coherence of the cosmos. The Middle Platonists and Hermeticists adopted this concept. In hermetics, God, the cosmos, and human beings are hierarchically and inseparably connected,[p 6] interacting with each other and forming a unity. Therefore, for example, stars and planets would affect earthly existence. Man is represented in the hierarchy as an image of God, indicating Jewish influence, while everything that exists is represented as imbued with divine life force (pneuma).[36] Yet the word sympathy itself appears only once in the Corpus Hermeticum.

God

The Hermetic God is transcendent, androgynous, and the source of everything. He contains everything in Himself,[p 7] is uncreated and, because of His androgyny, is in a permanent state of becoming,[p 8] therefore He cannot help but create. Because of these properties, he counts as the One and as the Good.[37] His exaltedness makes him essentially unknowable, and therefore he has several names. He does not create from nothing, but forms and orders the matter at hand. Thus the cosmos flows from him and becomes alive through him. The hermeticist can thus come to know God by acquiring knowledge of the cosmos. In some tracts the cosmos is presented as the negative opposite of the absolutely good God. However, this duality is not as strong as in Gnosticism. The cosmos is not an inferior product of a Demiurge (platonic lower creator god), but is generally described as beautiful and perfect.[38]

Man

Man is connected to God and the entire cosmos. He is the most important among the living beings on earth, and although he is not perfect, he can become so through his spiritual abilities. His spirit, therefore, is his true being, which, unlike the body, is immortal and inclined to good.

Gnosis and salvation

The acquisition of gnosis is central. Gnosis means "knowledge," which here stands not for rational, philosophical knowledge, but for religious and mystical knowledge that is revealed. Gnosis is knowledge of the divine, the nature of the human soul, and the path to individual salvation. Man is considered drunk and sleepy, for his senses bind him to the material world and take away his sight of the good and divine. This state can be broken through with self-examination and contemplation. This, unlike Gnosticism, does not involve strict asceticism. During his spiritual growth, the hermeticist is said to have divine knowledge revealed and to be freed from the influences that demons, fate (heimarmenē) and the superhuman (stars and planets) have on the earth. This involves a spiritual rebirth. He is elevated and shares in the creativity of God.[39]

• Because now God the Spirit is androgynous [...] he brought forth by a word another Spirit as Maker, who [...] made a seven Governors [the planets], which comprise the observable Cosmos with their spheres. Their government is called Decision [heimarmenē].
  • - C.H. I, §9.

Influences and similarities

The Corpus Hermeticum shows many influences of or similarities with contemporary philosophical and religious movements. This eclectic nature aligns it with trends of late classical antiquity, when philosophy advanced toward religion, religion advanced toward philosophy, and various mystery cults flourished. What this means for the Corpus Hermeticum is that hermeticists saw the various philosophical and spiritual views merely as means to the same end. Christian influence, however, is not present.[40] Characteristic of Hermeticism is the promise of and quest for gnosis. This religious concept widespread in the Roman imperial period and was not limited to Hermeticism.[41] Gnosis was also central to the various Christian Gnostic movements, Mandeism and Manichaeism.

Greek philosophy

The Corpus Hermeticum was influenced by Platonism and Stoicism. Platonism developed into Middle Platonism and then Neoplatonism in the centuries after Christ. Therefore, until the mid-20th century, researchers examined the tracts entirely and interpreted them in the light of Greek philosophy,[42] there would be no Egyptian influence. This view has since been considered exaggerated.[43]

The Greek philosophical traditions were known in Egypt within intellectual circles, but acquired an eclectic character there.[44] The Platonism that influenced the Hermeticists had been developed by the Alexandrian philosopher Eudorus (1st century BCE). His Middle Platonic philosophy linked Platonism with theories of Aristotelians, Stoics and Neopythagoreans. However, this Greek thought was not deeply studied by Hermeticists, as the Corpus Hermeticum shows a superficial knowledge. They used philosophical concepts to express religious ideas,[44] but they did not use the Platonic concepts.

Platonic examples include nous ("spirit"), demiurge ("creator"), Anthropos (the middle Platonic Idea of man), and the Neoplatonic idea that there is no greater punishment than one's own wickedness (C.H. X, §20: guilt is the greatest punishment, not physical suffering). Stoic examples include Logos (a kind of all-encompassing divine power), pneuma (not "spirit," but subtle, "higher" matter that makes life, movement, and thought possible), sympathy (everything in the cosmos is connected to each other), and heimarmenē (fate, predestination). An example of a Stoic doctrine is C.H. I, §5, which speaks of a divine Logos that separates the elements and sets them in motion.[45]

• From the light, however, a holy Word descended upon the substance, and pure fire leaped up from the moist substance. [...] But they [earth and water] were in motion, because the breeze of the Word audibly passed over them.

Judaism

Alexandria had a large Jewish community that was partially Hellenized. The first, third, fourth, and seventh tracts of the Corpus Hermeticum clearly show Jewish influence, but other tracts do not. It is possible that secularized Jews were part of Hermeticism, at least for the Jewish revolt of 115-117.[46]

Formulations such as "the eyes of the heart" in C.H. VII §1 are Biblical (Ephesians 1:18, II Corinthians 4:6; II Peter 1:19).[47] In the same tract, formulations akin to Biblical interpretations of Philo of Alexandria occur. Here the flood is reinterpreted as the soul being overwhelmed by sin and suffering,[48]

• For the evil of ignorance floods the whole earth. As a result, the soul, which is imprisoned in the body, perishes with that body, without an opportunity to enter the harbors of preservation.
  • - C.H. VII §1

• Even though I am swamped by a flood, I am not swallowed up. But I open the eyes of my soul, which I thought were already blinded, when I had given up all hope of a good outcome, and I am irradiated by the light of wisdom.
  • - Philo, De specialibus legibus III, 6.

There are borrowings in content as well. For example, the creation myth in C.H. I has parallels with that in Genesis. The same tract states that earthly man was created by a heavenly man (Anthropos). This one counts as the divine prototype and was in turn created by a "Maker. This reflects the image of the heavenly Son of Man in Daniel and the Gospels. Ezekiel 1:26 reads, "And above the firmament that was over their heads, [...] resembled a throne. And on that which looked like the throne was something that looked like someone who looked like an earthly man."[49] Yet the Anthropos has also been interpreted as the middle Platonic Idea of Man.

Egyptian elements

The Corpus Hermeticum shows Egyptian influences in terms of names, formulations, style and ideas.[50] The names Ammon, Tat, Trismegistus and Poimandres are of Egyptian origin. Trismegistus goes back to the form of address of Thoth. Poimandres is often translated as "human shepherd", but seems to go back to the Egyptian p-eime nte-re, "knowledge of Re" the sun god.[51] Furthermore, the figures Hermes Trismegistus and Agathodaimon are a fusion of Greek and Egyptian elements.[52] Also, the expression "the One and Only" occurs as a designation for the highest divine power. This is an Egyptian form of address for the supreme god,[p 9][53] and it is also an Egyptian form of address.

The literary dressing is Egyptian: dialogues take place in Egyptian temples, and hieroglyphics are referenced. The intimate but hierarchical teacher-student relationship that results in initiation is also typically Egyptian. In addition, text forms go back to Egyptian traditions, namely wisdom literature and letters from, for example, priests and prophets to a king, communicating an admonition or prophecy. The fifth tract §6-7 bears similarities to the Egyptian Hymn to Khnum,[52] and the fifth tract §6-7 is the first one to be written.

Finally, there are substantive aspects. First, the praise of procreation is Egyptian. Second, the androgyny of a god is typically Egyptian, and Amon-Ra, for example, is presented in this way.[p 10] This conception appears in tracts I, V, and VIII of the Corpus Hermeticum.[p 11] There, the god is the one who brought himself into being, moves himself, and must constantly create, because in this way he is eternal and whole.[54] Finally, there is the conception that the world arises spontaneously from God the primal source and is therefore not created. One thing arises naturally from another. This is called emanation.[55]

Gnosticism

Hermeticism existed simultaneously with various Christian and non-Christian Gnostic movements. These were not the origin of it, but an interaction took place. Like Hermeticism, initiation, individual development, and gnosis are central to Gnosticism,[56] which is why Hermeticism appears in the Nag Hammadi scriptures alongside Gnostic texts. An example of parallels between the Corpus Hermeticum and gnostic texts is C.H. V §11: "For thou art all things, and nothing else exists, and that which does not exist thou art also! The Gnostic Three Gestalts of the First Thought (Nag Hammadi Codex XIII, 35, 30-32) has, "I [God] am the All, for I exist in everyone and in every thing."[57]

Nevertheless, one difference between Hermeticism and Gnosticism is that the former lacks the notion of a power separate from God that can prevent man from attaining gnosis. Also, gnostics know a savior who fights the forces of evil.[58] Another difference is that the material world is predominantly seen as evil among gnostics, while it is generally seen as positive among hermeticists.[39]

Orphism

Orphism had no direct influence on the Corpus Hermeticum, but there are cursory similarities.[59] The only Greek example of an androgynous god is the orphic Phanes, but that representation may be Egyptian.[60] The description of God as light-bringer and too big to have a name in C.H. V §10 has parallels in orphic sources. [61] The same is true of the depiction of the cosmos as a sphere with hands and feet in C.H. X §11.[62] The concept of eternity (Greek: aiōn) occurs thirty times in the Corpus Hermeticum, but with a divine connotation: 'Thus then is Eternity in God, the Cosmos in Eternity, time in the Cosmos, becoming in time.' This is akin to divine Aiōn in Mithraism, Time in Zurvanism, Heimarmenē (Fate) in Stoicism, and the concept of aiōn among the Orphics.[63] Finally, in C.H. XII §8, God has the epithet first-born. This was used for the Egyptian divinities Khnum and Tum, but also for Phanes.[64]

Theurgy

Theürgie was an Egyptian tradition whose goal was to manipulate divine forces. This tradition consisted of highly ritualized magical practices with liturgical elements. It is related to the Chaldean oracles and was practiced by a select group of intellectuals from the social upper class. Although theurgy was little known to the general public, it influenced esoteric circles, including Gnosticism, movements within Judaism and Hermeticism. Through Gnosticism, people strove for salvation, which meant deification during life. This is also shown in C.H. I. Theurgy would help with this. Passages like C.H. X §7 and the short C.H. XVII show this background.[65]

Tradition and reputation

Antiquity

No manuscripts of the Corpus Hermeticum have survived from antiquity. However, quotations from a few tracts have survived in the works of some classical authors. The most important source is Johannes Stobaeus' Anthologium ('Anthology', circa 500),[66] the work has forty Hermetic excerpts, ten of which come from tracts II, IV and IX, but there is nothing to show that Johannes knew all seventeen tracts as a collection.

The name "Trismegistus" is used in the 2nd century and later, and the first quotation from theoretical hermetics is by Tertullian, who was active in the early 3rd century. It is only at the end of the 3rd century and later that more references to hermetics occur, in the Cohortatio ad Graecos (once attributed to Justin the Martyr), with Neoplatonists such as Jamblichus (On the Egyptian Mysteries), the alchemist Zosimos of Panopolis (who knew C.H. I and IV), and with the church father Lactantius.[67]

Middle Ages

The Corpus Hermeticum had not been handed down in Latin and remained unknown in western Europe during the Middle Ages, unlike the Asclepius. The collection was also unknown in Arab countries, including similar texts.[68] The Corpus Hermeticum as it is known today originated in the Byzantine period. The scholar Michael Psellus refers to it in the 11th century, while the oldest known manuscripts date from the 14th century. Some of these contain only the first fourteen tracts, while others contain all seventeen. Presumably Byzantines purged the tracts of occult elements.[5] For the hymns, similarities have been found in early Byzantine literature.[30]

Italian Renaissance

In the 15th century, some manuscripts ended up in Italy. The Greek cardinal Bessarion obtained a nearly complete copy in 1458 at Florence.[p 12] Also in Florence, Cosimo de Medici obtained another Greek manuscript from the monk Leonardo of Pistoia in 1460.[p 13] This copy contained only the first fourteen tracts. Cosimo commissioned the humanist and Neoplatonist Marsilio Ficino to translate them into Latin. The translation was completed in 1463 but not published until 1471 under the title Pimander, after the title of the first treatise.[5]

Ficino had previously been commissioned to translate Plato's oeuvre for Cosimo, but that task had to be interrupted for the Corpus Hermeticum. The reason for this was the notion of philosophia perennis, "eternal philosophy. This implied that similarities existed between various philosophies and religious traditions, and that they contained traces of an ancient, revealed wisdom. Humanists compared hermetics such as the Corpus Hermeticum and the Asclepius, for example, with the Pentateuch of Moses, the Chaldean oracles, Kabbalah, sayings attributed to the sibyls and Orpheus, and the thinking of Zarathustra, Pythagoras, Plato and the Neoplatonists. The alleged author of hermetics, Hermes Trismegistus, was thus considered a sage who had revealed his knowledge in ancient times and thus influenced later thinkers and prophets. This alleged lore was called prisca theologia, "ancient theology."[69]

Early modern period

Ficino's edition was reprinted several times as Pimander or a variant, such as Pymander and Poimandres. Up to 1641, 24 editions appeared, along with fragments in other books. From 1505 the Corpus Hermeticum was also regularly published together with the Asclepius. In the course of the 16th century the Hermetic excerpts from the Anthologium of Johannes Stobaeus were sometimes added. Translations of the Corpus Hermeticum appeared in vernacular languages such as French, Italian (1548), Dutch (1607), English (1650), and German (1706).[70]

The Corpus Hermeticum became an important part of early modern esotericism. Intellectuals such as Francesco Giorgio, Giordano Bruno, Agrippa von Nettesheim, John Dee, and Robert Fludd associated Hermeticism with magic, astrology, alchemy, paracelcianism, Kabbalah, Rosicrucians, and Neoplatonism. Together with other hermeticism, it was at the basis of the so-called Alexandrian neo-hermeticism (hermeticism). This found spread especially in Italy, France, Germany and England. Neoplatonists such as Francesco Patrizi argued that (neo-)Platonism and hermeticism should be given more importance, which in time came at the expense of Aristotelianism.[71]

The book was especially considered a source of ancient, Egyptian wisdom until the early 17th century. Its authenticity was doubted by some. The decisive factor was Isaac Casaubon's judgment in 1614. In his De rebus sacris et ecclesiasticis exercitationes XVI he argued on philological and theological grounds that the Corpus Hermeticum could not be ancient. Moreover, he found it inconceivable that God had already predicted the coming of Christ to pagan prophets such as Hermes. Finally, similarities with Platonism pointed to its influence on Hermeticism, according to him, and not the other way around. Despite this, the Corpus Hermeticum continued to enjoy authority with some,[72] and there are three translations in Dutch.

There are three translations into Dutch. The first was commissioned by the Antwerp printer Christoffel Plantijn, based on a French version from 1574. The translation was not printed, however, for fear of the Spanish occupiers hunting heretics.[p 14] Another translation, Wonder-vondt van de eeuwighe bewegingh, was printed in 1607 by Jacob de Meester in Alkmaar. Another translation followed in 1643 by printer Nicolaes van Ravesteyn for publisher Abraham Willemsz van Beyerland in Amsterdam: the Sesthien boecken van den Voor-treffelijcken Ouden Philosooph Hermes Trismegistus. This edition was reprinted in 1652. The theosopher Van Beyerland based his translation on Patrizi's edition. Earlier he had translated and edited the work of theosopher Jacob Boehme, and he added extensive theosophical commentaries to the Sestien boecken. Enlightenment and modern times

Beyerland's translation formed the basis for the first German translation in 1706. During the Enlightenment, new German translations followed, including more scientific ones. Jacob Brucker, for example, published Kurze Fragen aus der philosophischen Historie (Ulm, 1730-1736) and Historia critica philosophiae (Leipzig 1743), in which he described Hermetic, Theosophical, Alchemical, and Rosicrucian literature up to the beginning of the 18th century. Many libraries in Europe offered the survey work Historia critica philosophiae, so that knowledge about the movements became and remained known. In the same period, however, Hermeticism was hardly alive,[73] and the literature was not very well known.

From the mid-19th century onwards, editions of the Corpus Hermeticum reappeared, but they are mainly of an academic nature. That was also the period of the "occult revival" (revival of occultism) in England in particular, in which esoterics and theosophists drew inspiration from hermetics and other sources. In France and Italy, the revival was minimal. In Germany, new editions appeared alongside reprints of other occult works.[74]

Printing history

The printing history is as follows.[75]

• 1471: De potestate et sapienta dei. Translated by Marsilio Ficino. Ferrara: Andreas Belfortis.
  • Reprinted in 1472, 1481, 1491, 1493 and 1503.
• 1494: De potestate et sapienta dei. Paris: Johannes Higman & Wolfgang Hopy. Edited by Jacques Lefèvre d'Etaples.
  • Possibly reprinted in Venice, 1517.
• 1505: Ludovico Lazzarelli. Crater Hermetis. Paris: Henri I Estienne. Together with the Asclepius.
• 1512: Apuleius. De asino aureo libelli XI. Florence: Filippo Guinta. Contains the Asclepius and the Corpus Hermeticum translation by Ficino. The reason that The Golden Ass of Apuleius (circa 150 AD) appears at the same time as both Hermetic texts is because Apuleius himself was already associated with hermetics. Thus, he was thought to be the author, one thought, of the Asclepius. This was because in The Golden Ass he alludes to magic and rites, among other things, but also explicitly took on magic in his Apologia.
• 1516: Iamblichus. De mysteriis Aegyptiorum. Contains the Corpus Hermeticum and the Asclepius. Venice: Aldus Manutius and Andrea Torresano.
  • 1549, 1552, 1570, 1577 and 1607: reprints by Jean de Tournes, Lyon. Again in 1607, Geneva.
  • 1556: reprinted by Antonio Blado, Rome.
• 1532: Iamblichus. De mysteriis Aegyptiorum. Proclus. In Alcibiadem. De sacrificio. Basel: Michael Isengrin. Edited by Jacques Lefèvre d'Etaples.
• 1538: Sebastian Franck. Die Guldin Arch. Augsburg: Heinrich Steiner. Contains a German-language paraphrase of C.H. I.
• 1548: Il Pimandro, tradotto da Tommaso Benci in lingua Fiorentina. Florence: Lorenzo Torrentino.
  • Reprinted in 1549.
• 1549: De la puissance et sapience de Dieu. Paris: Estienne Groulleau.
  • Reprinted in 1557.
• 1554: Poimandres/Poemander, seu de potestate ac sapienta divina. Paris: Guillaume Morel for Adrien Turnebus.
• 1554: Poimandrès. Asklepiou horoi pros Ammona basilea [...] Poemander, seu de potestate ac sapientia divina. Aesculapii. Paris: Adrien Turnebus.
• 1560: Sebastian Franck. Die gulden arcke. Emden: Willem Gaillard. Dutch translation of the 1538 edition.
• 1574: Pimandras utraque lingua restitutus, D. Francisci Flussatis Candellae industria. Bordeaux: Simon Millanges.
• 1574: Le Pimandre nouvellement traduict de l'exemplaire grec restitue en langue francoyse par F. de Foyx. Bordeaux: Simon de Millanges.
• 1579: Le Pimandre. Traduit par François Foix de Candalle. Bordeaux: Simon de Millanges. Revised version of Foix de Candalle's previous edition.
  • Reprinted by Abel l'Angelier in Paris, 1587.
• 1584-1590: Pymander. Krakow: Lazarus. Edited by Hannibal Roselli. Based on the text of Ficino. Six volumes.
  • Reprinted by Peter Cholinus in Cologne, 1630.
• 1591: Francesco Patrizi. Nova de universis philosophia. Contains the Corpus Hermeticum and the Asclepius. Ferrara: Benedetto Mammarelli.
  • 1593: reprinted twice in Hamburg.
• 1607: Wonder-vondt of de eeuwighe bewegingh. Alkmaar: Jacob de Meester. First Dutch translation in print.
• 1643: Sesthien boecken van den Voor-treffelijcken Ouden Philosooph Hermes Trismegistus. Amsterdam: Nicolaes van Ravesteyn. Second Dutch translation in print.
  • Reprinted in 1652.
• 1650: John Everard. The divine Pymander. London: Thomas Brewster & Gregory Moule. English translation of Patrizi's edition.
  • Reprinted in 1657 and in 1884.
  • 1894: reprint. W. Wynn Wescott. The Pymander of Hermes. Volume two of the Collectanea Hermetica.
• 1706: Wolf Freiherr (Alethophilo). Erkäntnüss der Natur Und Des darin sich offenbarhenden Grossen Gottes. Hamburg: Samuel Heyl & Gottfried Liebezeit. First complete translation of the Corpus Hermeticum into German.
  • Reprinted in 1786 and in 1855.
• 1723: Michiel Vinke. The silver ark. Haarlem: Izaäk Enschedé.
• 1737: Hermann von der Hardt. Antiquitatis gloria. Helmstedt: Paul Dietrich Schnorr. Contains a paraphrase of C.H. I.
• 1781: Dieterich Tiedemann. Poemander. Berlin and Szczecin: Friedrich Nicolai. German translation of the Corpus Hermeticum, independent of Freiherr's version of 1706.
• 1854: G. Parthey. Poemander. Berlin. New Latin translation after various Greek editions.
• 1866: Louis Ménard. Hermès Trismégiste Traduction complète. Paris. French translation of C.H. I-XIV and other hermetics.
  • Reprinted in 1867.
• 1882: John David Chambers. Hermes Trismegistus. The theological and philosophical works. Edinburgh.
• 1904: Richard Reitzenstein. Poimandres. Studien zur Griechisch-Ägyptischen und frühchristlichen Literatur. Leipzig: 1904. First critical edition of C.H. I, VII and XVI-XVIII.
• 1906: G.R.S. Mead. Thrice-Greatest Hermes. Studies in Hellenic Theosophy and Gnosis. London. Three volumes.
• 1920: Georges Gabory. Le Pimandre. Translation of C.H. I-XIV.
• 1924-1936: Walter Scott. Hermetics. Oxford. Four volumes.
• 1945-1954: A.D. Nock & A.J. Festugière. Corpus Hermeticum. First critical edition to include other hermetics. For research, their edition is a standard work.[5]
• 1960-1965: J. van Rijckenborgh. The Egyptian primal gnosis and Her call in the Eternal Now. Haarlem. Four volumes. Discussed in the light of the Lectorium Rosicrucianum.
• 1974: M. Lietaert Peerbolte. Poimandres. Deventer. Translation of C.H. I in the light of transpersonal psychology.

Sources

Primary sources

1. See, for example, the letter that Syncellus attributed to Manetho, in which Thoth, the first Hermes, composes his books in hieroglyphics after the flood, after which they are translated into Greek by Agathodaimon. Compare Nag Hammadi codex VI 6.61, where Hermes urges Tat to affix his book in hieroglyphs to the temple of Diospolis on steles of turquoise.
2. As with the cults of Serapis and Hermanubis
3. Examples are fragments of Stobaeus and the Hermetic definitions.
4. Two examples are the letter (circa 300) of the Neoplatonist Porphyrius to his wife constructed from sayings of other authors, and the early Christian Lessons of Silvanus from the Nag Hammadi writings.
5. For example, C.H. VII §1: "Whither hast thou hurried, men, drunken as thou art? Ye have drunk out the unadulterated doctrine of ignorance, but ye cannot bear it, and are already about to vomit it out again.'
6. For example, C.H. VIII, §1 and 5: 'The utter first of all is God. He is eternal and uncreated and is the Supreme Builder of the All. The second is he who is made in his image by the first [...] The third living being, man, is made in the image of the cosmos.'
7. C.H. V, §8: 'His operation consists precisely in that he is Father. [...] Then I say that it is his being to be pregnant with everything and to make everything.'
8. C.H. VIII, §2: 'God did not come into being by another; if he came into being at all; he did so by himself. He has not, however, come into being at all at any particular time, but is eternally in a state of becoming.'
9. C.H. §5 and §8. The Greek formula corresponds to the Egyptian wc wcw, literally 'the one of the only one'. For example, the Ammon hymn of Kairo (Papyrus Kairo 58038 VI, 2.3) reads, 'You [Amon-Ra] are the One who made everything, the absolutely only One who created everything that exists.'
10. In a Theban tomb text of 1250 B.C., for example, Amon-Ra is the god "who came into being by himself, who bore his mother, who begot his father, who came into being when the gods had not yet come into being.
11. Also Gnostics sometimes depicted the creator as androgynous: Eugnostos the Blessed (76), The Wisdom of Jesus Christ (III.4), The Gospel of the Egyptians (III.42) in the Nag-Hammadi scriptures.
12. Reserved in the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Cod. Marc. Gr. Z. 242 [= 993].
13. Reserved in the Bibliotheca Medicea Laurenziana, Plut. 71, 33, ff. 123r-145r.
14. The manuscript is kept in the Museum Plantijn-Moretus, under signature M40.

Secondary sources

Quotes from the Corpus Hermeticum are taken from the Dutch-language edition by R. van den Broek and G. Quispel.

1. Copenhaver 2002, p. 133
2. R. van den Broek, in Hanegraaff (ed.) 2006, p. 489; Van den Broek 2006, p. 11.
3. Salaman, Van Oyen, Wharton & Mahé 2000, p. 79. The summary is based on that of Van den Broek & Quispel 1991.
4. The depiction of hermetics as a magical theory/practice or as strongly associated with it has been brought into the world primarily by Frances Yates, with her influential but outdated study Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition. See Infinite Fire Webinar V - Prof. Dr. Wouter J. Hanegraaff on The Real Hermetic Tradition.
5. R. van den Broek, in Hanegraaff (ed.) 2006, p. 489.
6. R. van den Broek, in Hanegraaff (ed.) 2006, p. 489; Copenhaver 2002, p. xl-xliii.
7. Van den Broek 2006, p. 11.
8. Van den Broek & Quispel 1991, p. 98, note 1; Copenhaver 2002, p. 145, note to VII §1.
9. Copenhaver 2002, p. 129.
10. Van den Broek & Quispel 1991, p. 23.
11. Van den Broek & Quispel 1991, pp. 23-25; Fowden 1993, pp. 19-20.
12. Geljon 2014, p. 13. Philo of Alexandria speaks of a million inhabitants (In Flaccum 43). This number is followed by J. Slavenburg, in Van Schaik (ed.) 2002, p. 28. Copenhaver speaks of half a million: 2002, p. xx.
13. With particular reference to the Rapsodic theogony. Copenhaver 2002, p. xxviii.
14. Van den Broek 2013, p. 2.
15. Van den Broek 2006, pp. 27-28.
16. Copenhaver 2002, p. xliii, p. xxxiv.
17. Van den Broek 2006, p. 30; Van den Broek & Quispel 1991, p. 25, pp. 60-61, p. 95.
18. Fowden 1993, p. 29.
19. Copenhaver 2002, p. xliv, pp. 192-193. Fowden 1986, p. 11. Chlup 2007, p. 139.
20. Copenhaver 2002, p. xliv, p. 180 (note to title), pp. 192-193; Fowden 1986, p. 11.
21. The hymn in C.H. I (Poimandres) appears in a Christian prayer book of about 300.
22. Van den broek 2006, p. 59.
23. Van den Broek & Quispel 1991, p. 17; J.P. Mahé, in Eliade (ed.) 1987, vol. 6, p. 290; Copenhaver 2002, p. 176 (first note to C.H. XIII, §8); Van den Broek 2006, pp. 11-12. Hermetics scholar Garth Fowden, however, rejects this developmental model in The Egyptian Hermes 1993 (first edition: 1986), p. 72.
24. Copenhaver 2002, p. 176: first note to C.H. XIII, §8; p. 200. R. Chlup, however, argues an opposite development: treatises would have been condensed into aphorisms (2007, p. 140).
25. J.P. Mahé, in Eliade (ed.) 1987, vol. 6, p. 289.
26. Salaman, Van Oyen, Wharton & Mahé 2000, p. 84.
27. Chlup 2007, p. 134.
28. Chlup 2007, p. 148.
29. Chlup 2007, pp. 137-141.
30. Zuntz 1955, p. 68.
31. Hanegraaff 2013, p. 19.
32. Copenhaver 2002, p. xxxii.
33. Ebeling 2007, p. 18. Contradictions also occur in other hermetics, such as the Korè kosmou.
34. Copenhaver 2002, p. xxxix. W. Hanegraaff (2008) also argues that the hermetic authors distinguished several stages of gnosis, with the highest level only attainable in ecstasy.
35. R. van den Broek, in R. van den Broek & W.J. Hanegraaff (ed.) 1998, p. 5; Hanegraaff 2013, p. 19, p. 90.
36. Van den Broek 2006, pp. 31-34.
37. Van den Broek 2006, pp. 35-37.
38. Van den Broek & Quispel (ed.) 1991, pp. 20-21.
39. Van den Broek & Quispel 1991, pp. 22-23.
40. R. van den Broek, in Van Schaik & Spaink (ed.) 2006, pp. 55-56.
41. Van den Broek 2013, pp. 2-3.
42. Such as Walter Scott, Arthur D. Nock and André-Jean Festugière. They published extensively commented, multi-volume editions of Hermetics in 1924-1936 and 1946-1954, respectively.
43. Van den Broek 2006, pp. 29-30.
44. Van den Broek 2006, p. 72.
45. Van den Broek & Quispel 1991, p. 40, notes 4 and 5; Copenhaver 2002, p. 98.
46. Van den Broek 2006, pp. 73-74; R. van den Broek, in Van Schaik & Spaink (ed.) 2006, p. 55.
47. Van den Broek & Quispel 1991, p. 98, note 2; Copenhaver 2002, p. 146.
48. Van den Broek & Quispel 1991, p. 98, note 3; Copenhaver 2002, p. 146.
49. R. van den Broek, in Van Schaik & Spaink (ed.) 2006, pp. 51-52.
50. J. Zandzee, in Quispel (ed.) 2003, pp. 97-174.
51. F.L. Griffith, described in Kingsley 1993, p. 4. R. van den Broek, in Van Schaik & Spaink (ed.) 2006, p. 49.
52. Copenhaver 2002, p. 141, note to V §6-7.
53. Salaman, Van Oyen, Wharton & Mahé 2000, p. 83.
54. R. van den Broek, in Van Schaik & Spaink (ed.) 2006, pp. 49-50.
55. R. van den Broek, in Van Schaik & Spaink (ed.) 2006, pp. 50-51. Also Van den Broek & Quispel 1991, pp. 24-25. Emanation also plays a role in Plotinus' Neoplatonism, and it came from Egypt.
56. This is how Hippolytus of Rome calls them. Refutatio V, 23, 3.
57. Van den Broek & Quispel 1991, p. 84, note 14.
58. Von Stuckrad 2014, pp. 40-41.
59. Herrero de Jáuregui, pp. 100-103.
60. R. van den Broek, in Hanegraaff (ed.) 2006, p. 560; Copenhaver 2002, p. 103.
61. Copenhaver 2002, p. 141. West 1984, p. 255.
62. Copenhaver 2002, p. 160.
63. Copenhaver 2002, p. 167. West 1984, pp. 219-220, pp. 230-231. See also Van den Broek & Quispel 1991, p. 138, note 5.
64. Copenhaver 2002, p. 176.
65. Von Stuckrad 2014, pp. 42-43; Salaman, Van Oyen, Wharton & Mahé 2000, p. 83; J.F. Finamore & S. Iles Johnson, in Gerson (ed.) 2010, p. 162.
66. Van den Broek 2006, p. 87.
67. Copenhaver 2002, p. xliii, p. xxxiv. Ebeling 2007, pp. 19-21, 26.
68. P. Lory, in Hanegraaff (ed.) 2006, pp. 530-531.
69. A. Faivre, in Hanegraaff (ed.) 2006, pp. 533-534. Stuckrad 2005, pp. 3-11.
70. A. Faivre, in Hanegraaff (ed.) 2006, p. 534.
71. A. Faivre, in Hanegraaff (ed.) 2006, pp. 534-536.
72. R. van den Broek, in Hanegraaff (ed.) 2006, pp. 497-498.
73. A. Faivre, in Hanegraaff (ed.) 2006, pp. 537-540.
74. A. Faivre, in Hanegraaff (ed.) 2006, pp. 540-541.
75. The text history is described in Van Lamoen 1990.

Bibliography

• Broek, R. van den. De hermetische code. Red. J. van Schaik en R. Spaink. Kampen: Ten Have, 2006, blz. 39-56.
• Broek, R. van den. Hermes Trismegistus. Inleiding, teksten, commentaren. Amsterdam: In de Pelikaan, 2006.
• Broek, R. van den. 'Gnosticism and Hermetism in Antiquity: Two Roads to Salvation' In: Gnosis and Hermeticism From Antiquity to Modern Times. Red. R. van den Broek & W.J. Hanegraaff. New York: State University of New York Press (SUNY Series in Western Esoteric Traditions), 1998.
• Broek, R. van den. Gnostic Religion in Antiquity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
• Broek, R. van den & G. Quispel (red.). Corpus hermeticum. Amsterdam: In de pelikaan, 1991.
• Chlup, R. 'The Ritualization of Language in the Hermetica.' In: Aries, jaargang 7 (2007), blz. 133-159.
• Copenhaver, B.P. Hermetica. The Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius in a new English translation, with notes and introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002 (eerste uitgave: 1992).
• Ebeling, F. The Secret History of Hermes Trismegistus. Hermeticism from Ancient to Modern Times. Vert. D. Lorton. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2007 (2005).
• Eliade, M. (red.). The encyclopedia of religion, volume 6. New York: MacMillan, 1987.
• Finamore, J.F. & S. Iles Johnston. 'The Chaldaean Oracles.' In: The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity, Volume I. Geëditeerd door L.P. Gerson. Camrbidge: Camrbidge University Press, 2010, blz. 161-173.
• Fowden, G. The Egyptian Hermes. A Historical Approach to the Late Pagan Mind. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986.
• Philo van Alexandrië. Het leven van Mozes. Red. A.K. Geljon. Budel: Damon, 2014.
• Hanegraaff, W.J. Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism. Leiden: Brill, 2006.
• Hanegraaff, W.J. 'Altered States of Knowledge: The Attainment of Gnōsis in the Hermetica.' In: The International Journal of the Platonic Tradition, jaargang 2 (2008), deel 2, blz. 128-163.
• Hanegraaff, W.J. Western Esotericism. A Guide for the Perplexed. London: Bloomsbury, 2013.
• Kingsley, P. 'Poimandres: The Etymology of the Name and the Origins of the Hermetica.' In: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, jaargang 56 (1993), blz. 1-24.
• Salaman, C., D. van Oyen, W.D. Wharton & J.-P. Mahé (red.) The Way of Hermes. New Translations of The Corpus Hermeticum and The Definitions of Hermes Trismegistus to Asclepius. Rochester: Inner Traditions, 2000.
• Slavenburg, J. 'Alexandrië: joodse, christelijke en hermetische esoterie.' In: Het beeld van Jezus Christus door de eeuwen heen in gnosis, mystiek en esoterie. Red. J. van Schaik. Zeist: Christofoor, 2002, blz. 21-45.
• Stuckrad, K. von. Esoterie. De zoektocht naar absolute kennis. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2014.
• West, M.L. The Orphic Poems. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984.
• Zuntz, G. 'On the Hymns in Corpus Hermeticum XIII.' In: Hermes: Zeitschrift für klassische Philologie. Jaargang 83 (1955), deel 1, blz. 68-92.

---