This is the first major study devoted to the early Arabic reception
and adaption of the figure of Hermes Trismegistus, the legendary
Egyptian sage to whom were ascribed numerous works on astrology,
alchemy, talismans, medicine, and philosophy. The ancient Greek
Hermetica, with which the tradition begins, are products of Roman
Egypt of the second and third century CE. Thereafter, in late
antiquity, they found a wide readership, both among pagans and
Christians. Their ongoing popularity depended on the notion that
Hermes had lived in extremely ancient times, perhaps before the
Deluge, and his antiquity endowed him with a pristine intellectual
priority and made him attractive as an authority in religious
arguments. Early Arabic literature beginning in the eighth century
also includes detailed discussions of Hermes Trismegistus, both as
a teacher of ancient legend and as the alleged author of works on
the apocryphal sciences, especially astrology. Moreover, Hermes is
imagined in Arabic as a prophet, lawgiver, and the founder of
ancient religion. This book shows how the Arabic Hermes developed
out of the earlier Greek and other late antique traditions into
something new, which would in turn form the background to the later
reception of the Greek Hermetica in the Italian Renaissance.
Assembling information in Greek, Arabic, Syriac, and Coptic primary
sources, The Arabic Hermes will be of great interest to scholars in
many fields, including Classics, Arabic Studies, Iranian Studies,
Egyptology, and Medieval Studies.
General
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