Greek alchemists

The Turba Philosophorum, or, Assembly of the Sages Called Also the Book of Truth in the Art and the Third Pythagorical Synod an Ancient Alchemical Treatise Translated From the Latin, the Chief Readings of the Shorter Codex, Parallels From the Greek Alchemists, and Explanations of Obscure Terms, by Arthur Edward Waite. Edited by Arthur Edward Waite. London Redway, 1896. 

The Turba philosophorum, or, Assembly of the sages called also The Book of truth in the art and the third Pythagorical Synod an ancient alchemical treatise translated from the Latin, the chief readings of the Shorter codex, parallels from the Greek alchemists, and explanations of obscure terms, by Arthur Edward Waite, f http //www.ebrarv.com1. 1992. 

The earliest alchemical work in existence is probably the Physica et Mystica of Democritus.13 Its authenticity rests on the fact that it is cited with great respect by the early Greek alchemists. The earliest manuscript in which it is known is the manuscript of St. Marks of the tenth or eleventh century,14 though manifestly existing certainly before the fourth century, and probably in some form much earlier. Berthelot has published the text of this work from the manuscript of St. Mark with translations.1 ... 

The Greek alchemists have given us several treatises on the nomenclature of the egg they do not agree entirely, but are nevertheless similar enough to show their common origin. One of these is in the earliest manuscript, that of St. Mark s, in the tenth or eleventh century. The following is from a different manuscript copied in 1478.88 Nomenclature of the Egg. This is the mystery of the art. 

It is Arabian alchemy that preserved the traditions and literature of the Alexandrian-Greek alchemists, derived from the Syrians during the long period when the culture of Christian Europe was inhospitable to its development. From such Syrian and Arabian manuscripts as have been preserved and examined, it does not appear that during the centuries of their alchemical activity any very notable additions were made to the practical chemistry known to the ancients of the times of Pliny, Dioscorides or the writers of the Theban papyri. Nor was the development of the theories of matter and its changes in the direc-... 

A Latin manuscript preserved in Liittich has been published by Valentin Rose.44 This is an early fourteenth century copy of a version edited with elaboration and additions by a Spanisli-Arabian writer probably not earlier than the twelfth century.4 The content of this work is naturally quite different from that of the laboratory manuals above described. It is a catalogue of minerals and precious stones, with a summary of their more obvious physical properties, their virtues—medicinal, or occult—for the ancient habit of assigning mystical and supernatural properties to all kinds of materials in nature—so well illustrated in Pliny s records—was well maintained in Arabian natural science, as it was by the early Greek alchemists. Though... 

In the noble metals and in many minerals the elements were believed to be so well combined that heat could not separate them. Other minerals, as sulphur, orpiment, asphalt, etc., when heated in the air are partly broken down, the aerial element, not being so firmly united to the earth, being driven off as vapor and mingling with the particles of the atmosphere. This process was interpreted by the Greek alchemists and their Arabian successors as the separation of the spirit from the body, and such substances as were volatilized or burned with formation of gaseous products—as sulphur, arsenic (sulphides), sal ammoniac, quicksilver—were called spirits, while the metals and minerals which, when heated in the air did not volatilize nor disappear in gaseous products, were called bodies (corpora). 

The work of Theophilus the Monk, as he is called to distinguish him from the early Greek alchemist Theophilus, is very notable among medieval writings for the clear and exact descriptions of the many processes which he describes. As a source of specific information on many technical chemical operations, it has no parallel until the pseudo-Geber at the beginning of the fourteenth century, and in clearness and definiteness it is not excelled by him. 

Paracelsus, the crusader, did not stop with Europe. Like Bernard Trevisan, he went to the East and visited Constantinople, the seat of a world-famous medical practice. Trevisan had come here in search of the secret of gold, but Paracelsus came to seek the secret of long life. He travelled to Egypt and Tartary, and accompanied the son of the Grand Khan in search of the tincture of life possessed by a Greek alchemist. 

The development of our knowledge of solutions reflects to some extent the development of chemistry itself [3], Of all known substances, water was the first to be considered as a solvent. As far back as the time of the Greek philosophers there was speculation about the nature of solution and dissolution. The Greek alchemists considered all chemically active liquids under the name Divine water . In this context the word water was used to designate everything liquid or dissolved. 

At the time of the Renaissance, Greek sources became more directly available. For example, the Hermetic Corpus of the legendary Greek alchemist, Hermes Trismegistus (already known through translations from the Arabic), was translated from the Greek by the Neoplatonist philosopher Marcilio Ficino (1433-99) at the behest of Cosimo de Medici.61... 

See CW 13, 195, for parallels between this plate and the golden head and dismemberment in the visions of Zosimos. Jung suggested that, the golden head referred originally to the head of Osiris... and that. The Greek alchemists styled themselves as Children of the Golden Head (CW 12, ][530). 

The earliest view of the interaction between bodies was that this occurs most easily between closely related substances — like assorts with like , an idea which goes back to Hippokrates [pixolov cpx rai npos to opLolov). The same idea4s found in Plato, Aristotle, the Greek alchemists. Medieval authors such as Albertus Magnus, and the later alchemists (see Vol. I). 

Chemical engineering emerged as a discipline in the 1890s, as a science that employed empirical methods. However, the "new" discipline had a long history. The first distillation system (apparatus) was used by Babylonian alchemists in Iraq (Mesopotamia) in 2000 BCE. Large-scale (spirits) distillation was practiced by Greek alchemists in 100 AD. Detailed instructions for a distillation process were written by an Alexandrian named Zosimos in the fourth century CE. Other significant contributions included those of ... 

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