Splendor Solis author

Pseudonym of the author of Splendor Solis, one of the most beautiful of all alchemical illustrated books, the earliest surviving copy of which dates from 1532. Trismosin is also held by some to have instructed Paracelsus. 

From the seventh through the thirteenth centuries, the study of alchemy flourished openly in the Islamic world. The first Muslim with an interest in alchemy may have been Khalid Ibn Yazid (d. 704), a Umayyad prince. He reputedly was tutored in alchemy by a student of Stephanos, Morienus of Alexandria (who is quoted by the author of the Splendor Solis). Whether or not this account is accurate, it is clear that Alexandria was the primary influence on Islamic alchemy The Islamic alchemists quoted Zosimos, Democritos, and Stephanos, as well as other Alexandrian alchemists such as Ostanes and Maria Prophetissa (second to third century often referred to as Mary the Jewess ). In addition, the Muslim alchemists also absorbed influences from Persia and Syria. 

THE SYMBOLISM OF THE first painting of the Splendor Solis, which is the frontispiece of the illuminated manuscript, informs us that this work does not concern itself with methods for the practical, concrete transformation of base metals into gold. For the author of the Splendor Solis, alchemy was a practice for the healing and transformation of the human soul. 

The title page of the Aureum Vellus (Rorschach, 1598) makes the claim that the author of the Splendor Solis was Paracelsus teacher, but we have not established the basis of this claim. 

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