Hermetica

Hermetica is a category of popular Late Antique literature purporting to contain secret wisdom, and generally attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, "thrice-great Hermes", a syncretism of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian Thoth. A collection of several such Greek texts from the second and third centuries, survivors from a more extensive literature, were compiled into a Corpus Hermeticum by Italian scholars during the Renaissance. Other Hermetic works, however, existed in Syriac, Arabic, Armenian, Coptic, and other languages.

The Corpus Hermeticum in the Renaissance

Although they were still popular enough in the 5th century to be argued against by St. Augustine in the City of God vii.23–26, Hermetic texts were lost to the West during the Middle Ages. They were, however, rediscovered from Byzantine copies and popularized in Italy during the Renaissance. The impetus for this revival came from the Latin translation by Marsilio Ficino, a member of Cosimo de Medici's court, who published it in 1471, as De potestate et sapientia Dei. The availability of Hermetica provided a seminal force in the development of Renaissance thought and culture, having had a profound influence over alchemy and modern magic, as well as having an impact on philosophers such as Giordano Bruno and Pico della Mirandola, Ficino's student.

Related Topics:
Augustine - City of God - West - Middle Ages - Italy - Renaissance - Latin - Marsilio Ficino - Cosimo de Medici - 1471 - Alchemy - Giordano Bruno - Pico della Mirandola

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

John Everard's historically important 1650 translation into English of the Corpus Hermeticum, entitled The Divine Pymander in XVII books (London, 1650) was from Ficino's Latin translation.

Related Topics:
John Everard - English

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~