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Cicero enumerates several deities referred to as "Hermes": a "fourth [[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], 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 Theyt." 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 religion|Egyptian gods]] (the ''Hermetica'' refer most often to [[Thoth]] and [[Amun-Ra]]). | Cicero enumerates several deities referred to as "Hermes": a "fourth [[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], 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 Theyt." 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 religion|Egyptian gods]] (the ''Hermetica'' refer most often to [[Thoth]] and [[Amun-Ra]]). | ||
The Hermetic literature among the Egyptians, which was concerned with conjuring spirits and animating statues, inform the oldest Hellenistic writings on Greco-Babylonian astrology and on the newly developed practice of alchemy. In a parallel tradition, Hermetic philosophy rationalized and systematized religious 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. | The Hermetic literature among the Egyptians, which was concerned with conjuring spirits and animating statues, inform the oldest Hellenistic writings on Greco-Babylonian astrology and on the newly developed practice of alchemy. In a parallel tradition, Hermetic philosophy rationalized and systematized religious [[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. | ||
=="Thrice-Great"== | =="Thrice-Great"== | ||
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During the Renaissance, it was accepted that Hermes Trismegistus was a contemporary of Moses. However, after Casaubon's dating of the Hermetic writings as being no earlier than the second or third century AD, the whole of Renaissance Hermeticism collapsed. | During the Renaissance, it was accepted that Hermes Trismegistus was a contemporary of Moses. However, after Casaubon's dating of the Hermetic writings as being no earlier than the second or third century AD, the whole of Renaissance Hermeticism collapsed. | ||
==Islamic tradition== | |||
The star-worshipping [[Islam]]ic sect known as the [[Sabians|Sabians of Harran]] believed that their doctrine descended from Hermes Trismegistus. | |||
Hermetic fragments are also found in the works of Muslim [[alchemy|alchemists]] in their commentaries on the [[Emerald Tablet]] such as Jabir ibn Hayyan (died c. 806–816) and Ibn Umayl (c. 900 – c. 960). | |||
==External links== | |||
* [http://www.hermeticinstitute.org/index.html Mark Stavish's Institute for Hermetic Studies] | |||
[[Category:People]] | [[Category:People]] | ||
[[Category:Occultists]] | [[Category:Occultists]] | ||
[[Category:Alchemy]] | |||