APPENDIX A

Timeline of Developmental Alchemy

c. 200,000 BP: Sometime during the Middle-Pleistocene, man

encountered the first ternary alchemical reaction in the form of fire.
c. 26,000 BP: Around 26,000 years ago, this new chemical technology
ga e ise to hu a it s fi st g eat al he i al t a s utatio ; with the
aid of fire man learned that he could magically transmute soft wet
clay into dry hard stone and thus developed earthenware pottery and

the use of kilns and ovens.

c. 9,000 to 8,000 BCE: The earliest evidence of native copper
exploited by humans in Sumeria and southern Anatolia, modern
Turkey, at the Neolithic settlement of ayn Tepesi, situated at the
foot of the Taurus Mountains near the upper Tigris River. During this
period, copper metallurgy reached technological breakthroughs in
basic cold and heat hammering, annealing, melting and casting. The
word for copper in Sumerian is urudu, which was also the name of
the Euphrates River (Copper River). The word for stibnite makeup in
Sumerian was e

meaning to appl e

i, whereas gnu or gn was the verb form

i to the eyes or face.

7,000 to 1,500 BCE: Copper thoroughly dominated metallurgy.

7,000 BCE: Evidence of the earliest use of lead in the Near East.

Turkey and the Middle East.

6,000 BCE or earlier: Evidence of the earliest gold technology in

c. 5,000 BCE or earlier: Crucible smelting developed in Iran, Northern
Mesopotamia, Central Europe, the Balkans and Greece. Silverantimonial bronzes from the Bell-Beaker culture of the Carpathian
region were some of the recurrent prehistoric bronzes and were
likely precursors to gold-antimonial bronze and Corinthian bronze of

APPENDIX A

Greek traditions. Antimony-bearing arsenical bronze craft appeared

on the Iranian plateau. The earliest evidence for the use of silver in

the Middle East and iron in Egypt dates to this period.

c. 4,500 BCE: Copper smelting and foundry sites began to crop up in
Jordan and around the Dead Sea ushering in complex crucible

technologies.
c. 4,200 BCE: Egyptians began mining malachite copper ore by
exploiting Midianite and Amalekite labor at Timna in the Sinai. Near
the high place of offering at Timna, the earliest furnaces for reducing

malachite to copper were established.

c. 4,000 BCE: Refined copper smelting and solid glass beads were
manufactured in Egypt. The area from the Dead Sea in the East to
Gaza in the west and south into the Sinai as far as Timna became the
homeland of proto-industrial bronze metallurgy. Early copper finds in
Mesopotamia at Tepe Gawra and slightly later in Iran at Tepe Yahya

date from this period.

c. 3,750 BCE: Prestige and ceremonial antimonial bronze artifacts
from the Nahal Mishmar horde, possibly linked to the Ghassulian
Temple of Ein Gedi contain up to 12% antimony. Ghassulian antimony
was sourced from Ghebi in the southern Caucasus Mountains,
intentionally imported and specifically employed to create the 416
cupreous religious artifacts for use in Ghassulian rituals. The earliest
evidence for the use of carbon in metallurgy in Mesopotamia and

Egypt dates to this period.

c. 3,500 BCE: Artisanal crucible smelting gave way to the more
industrial bowl-furnace. Earliest examples of the deliberate tin-

o ze p odu tio appea ed ea U of Chaldea at al U aid.

3,000 BCE: Evidence of Babylonian gilding technologies found at the
Royal Tombs at Ur date from this period.
c. 2,500 BCE: The oldest trace of occupation at the Hathor Temple at
Serabt el-Khdim includes a statue date back to the reign of Sneferu
from this period.

574

TIMELINE OF DEVELOPMENTAL ALCHEMY

c. 1,700 BCE: Earliest Assyrian glassmaking cuneiform tablets from

this period reveal an interrelationship between the priesthood,
glassmaking as a temple craft, a guild of workers with specialized

knowledge and the use of jargon and cover-terms.

1,833 to 1156 BCE: Hathor Temple at Serabt el-Khdim was active
with mining and metallurgy. Each Pharaoh enlarged the complex,
beginning with Amenemhat III and concluding with inscriptions from
the Ramses VI reign. Biblical Moses is hypothesized to have practiced

antimonial bronze technology sometime during this period.

alchemy diverged or branched off from utilitarian tin-bronze.

c. 1,500 BCE: Arsenical and antimonial bronze as it pertains to

1,549 1,297 BCE: The most accomplished Egyptian glasses from the
18th dynasty were very nearly transparent indicating an already high

degree of sophistication.
1,450 to 1,200 BCE: Canaanite literature from Ugarit, modern Syria,
preserved a poem that provides insight into ritualized gold and silver
making with references to the Canaanite (Kenite) god of metallurgists

and their supreme deity El-Elyon.

668 to 626 BCE: Glassmaking manuals existed alongside Assyrian
chemical dictionaries. Some glassmaking texts were copies of
originals kept at the Royal Library at Nineveh and the adjacent
Temple of Nabu. Included in these was a recipe for the production of
[bah]-ri-e, interpreted by R. Campbell Thompson to be a type of
decorative crystallin glass or artificial gem called Red Coral. Use of

gold and antimony together first recorded in this recipe.

7th century BCE: Hesiod mentions aurichalcum in a Homeric hymn,
interpreted here as an early term synonymous with antimonial or
Corinthian bronze. By this time, antimonial bronze technology in
Europe, around the Mediterranean, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, the

Iranian plateau and the Levant was already over 2,000 years old.
5th century BCE: Herodotus wrote Histories in which he recorded an
account of the Libyan salt trade in connection with the established
575

APPENDIX A

trans-Saharan caravan route linked by a series of oases. The first two

stops were famed for salt of Amun and Augila, known historically and
today as sal ammoniac. Biblical Ezra describes a fi e bright bronze

as p e ious as gold during this period.

early 5th to late 4th centuries BCE: Ostanes, Persian magus who
accompanied Xerxes on his invasion of Greece, reputedly introduced
the Magic Arts to the Greeks. His tradition was typically credited as
being studied by traveling Greek scholars such as Pythagoras,

Empedocles, Democritus and Plato among others.

and established the Temple of Amun.

400 BCE: Wenamun recorded his travels, populated the Siwa Oasis
c. 460 to c. 370 BCE: Democritus, Greek polymath and philosopher,
traveled to Egypt and extensively throughout ancient Near East and
Persia, and according to Cicero and Strabo as far as India to the east
and Ethiopia to the south. He is typically portrayed as having studied
Chaldean Magic in the tradition of Ostanes. He is credited as
formulating the first atomic theory of the universe and according to

Celsus and Hippocrates as being the teacher of Bolus of Mendes.

356 to 323 BCE: Aristotle, student of Plato for nineteen years, left
Athens and tutored Alexander the Great. He is credited as the first
genuine scientist in history. His five-element theory, four-cause
theory, and metaphysics of abstraction and change as it relates to
substance, potentiality and actuality were influential to all alchemical

traditions.
332 BCE: Alexander the Great liberates Egypt, consulted the oracle at
the Temple of Amun at Siwa and established Alexandria and the

Ptolemaic dynasty.
3rd century BCE: Bolus of Mendes worked in Ptolemaic Egypt and
wrote of magic, natural medical remedies and astronomical
phenomena. He is typically portrayed as having studied with
Democritus.

576

TIMELINE OF DEVELOPMENTAL ALCHEMY

20 BCE: Herod completely rebuilt and enlarged the Second Temple of

Jerusalem and outfitted it with massive pillars that featured pillarcaps and gates of Corinthian bronze manufactured and shipped from

Alexandria.

le a d ia at He od s o

1st century CE: Josephus described Corinthian bronze crafted in

st

1 to 3

rd

a d a d shipped to Je usale .

centuries CE: Ma ia He ea s Judeo-Egyptian school of

chrysopia flourished during this period. Zosimus attributed the

discovery of numerous alchemical equipment, the production of
divine water and the secret of gold-making to her. Most of her
original works are non-extant. Other alchemists in this tradition such
as Comarius, Moses, Cleopatra and Isis among others (all alchemical
pseudonyms) were active during this period. The Tincture of the
Philosophers, the archetypal Ars Brevis and Ars Magna recipes to
o fe t the Philosophe s to e o igi ated

ith this s hool. The

Philosophe s to e du i g this pe iod as alued p i a il as a t ade

secret and essential ingredient to creating alchemical gold and silver,

Corinthian Bronze.
2nd century CE: Pseudo-De o itus Pe sia -Egyptian style gilding
school flourished. He authored Physical and Mystical Matters that
preserved recipes for the manufacture of imitation gold and silver by

surface-treatment and alloying technologies.

2nd to 3rd centuries CE: The Hermetica, an intellectually eclectic
collection of Greco-Egyptian texts also known as the Corpus
Hermeticum, was compiled and addressed divinity, mind, nature,
alchemy, astrology and spiritual transcendence. The Emerald Tablet
of Hermes a d the a het pal White to e of He

es / Philosophe s

Mercury may have either influenced or originated with this

movement.
269 CE: Zenobia proclaimed herself Queen of Egypt. She was
defeated and taken hostage by Emperor Aurelian five years later in
274 CE.
577

APPENDIX A

292 to 298 CE: Diocletian secured control of Alexandria and issued an

edict to destroy all works and books that addressed the Chi ea of
gold and silver Corinthian bronze making, and violently suppressed

the Art.
c. 300 CE: The Papyrus Graecus Holmiensis, also known as the
Stockholm Papyrus, preserved craft recipes for dying, coloring
gemstones, cleaning (purifying) pearls, and the manufacture of
imitation gold and silver. Democritus was mentioned by name in this
text, suggesting a style typified by the Persian-Egyptian gilding
tradition of Pseudo-Democritus. The Leyden Papyrus X likely written
by the same scribe as the Graceus Holmiensis, preserved recipes for
precious metal extraction, counterfeit precious metals, gems, and
the manufacture of artificial Tyrian purple dye. In addition, it detailed
the manufacture of textiles, and gold and silver inks. The end of the
text included short extracts from the Materia Medica of Dioscorides.
The notion of Greek medicine having anything to do with early
Alexandrian alchemy derives from this movement typified by the

Pseudo-Democritan school of alchemy.

c. 300 CE: Zosimus of Panopolis, mystic and alchemy anthologist,
attempted to rescue, catalogue and preserve alchemical texts
banned by Diocletian. He was the first to clearly present alchemy as
reflecting Hermetic and Gnostic spiritualty. Much of what is known
of pre-Diocletian alchemy derives f o

hat e ai s of )osi us

writings and fragments.

389-391 CE: Theodosian Decrees established a practical ban on nonChristians, forbade visitation to non-Christian temples, non-Christian
holidays were abolished. This marked the beginning of strict and

violent Christian subjugation.

391 CE: Synesius initiated Dioscorus, Alexandrian priest of the Temple
of Serapis, by tutoring him on cover-names that encrypted the
primary material, finally revealed by Synesius as o a a ti o
for creating divine water and philosophe s

578

e u

He

es . He

TIMELINE OF DEVELOPMENTAL ALCHEMY

e a e H patia s dis iple t o ea s late . The True Book of Synesius

and the Epilogue According to Hermes are attributed to him. These
texts closely parallel the methods of operation preserved in the
Cleopatra frag e ts a d )osi us

iti gs On the Evaporation of

Divine Water that Fixed Mercury and Authentic Memoirs on Divine

Water. The Philosophe s to e

as

alued du i g this pe iod

primarily as a cosmological model of Hermetic, Gnostic and

Neoplatonic philosophical currents.

415 CE: H patia s t agi

u de

a ks the s

oli e d of the Golden

Age of classical antiquity typified by a cultural and intellectual climate

that fostered free and open scientific inquiry and philosophical

expression.
491 CE: Anastasius was forced to sign a written declaration of
orthodoxy prior to his crowning, Christianization of the Roman

Empire completed.
564 CE: Olympiodorus, the last Neoplatonic teacher of the
Alexandrian School, delivered a series of lectures during May-June in
Alexandria on astrology. An alchemical text is attributed to him and
his teachings and approach to unified philosophy and mysticism

influenced Stephanos of Alexandria.

617 CE: Stephanos of Alexandria travelled to Constantinople to cast a
horoscope for the Emperor, where he remained and lectured on
Plato and Aristotle, the Quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music,
and astronomy) along with astrology, medicine and alchemy at the
court of Heraclius. He was tutor to Morienus, and became known as
Istafan or Adfar of Alexandria in the Islamic tradition of alchemy. A
series of alchemical lectures titled Ch sopia (gold-making) and a
highly alchemical Letter to Theodoros are attributed to him. The
Philosophe s to e
e pedie t

as alued du i g this pe iod p i a il as a

ea s of i itiatio

i to tepha os u ified

isdo

tradition and as a material monument or memorial of psychospiritual

579

APPENDIX A

redemption. His approach to alchemy influenced Islamic and

European alchemical traditions.

beginning of the Islamic Empire.

632 CE: Death of Muhammad (salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) and the
c. 683 to 704 CE: Morienus al-u i tuto ed Khlid i

Yazd in

alchemy in Damascus, thus transmitting late-Alexandrian / Byzantine

alchemy to the Islamic Empire. The transmission was recorded as an
eyewitness a ou t
Mo ie us

Khlid s o -Arabic Muslim retainer, Ghalib.

a d of al he

as highl p a ti al et also elied deep

spiritual foundations inherited from Stephanos. The book of the

is attributed to Morienus and his personal

Composition of Al-K

i st u tio s to Khlid. This te t

as the fou datio al Isla i

alchemical text and was among the first alchemical texts translated
to Latin in Europe. Morienus' methodology highly influenced the
sulfur-mercury theory of confecting the Philosophe s

to e

medieval Islamic alchemy. His particular recipe to confect the

Philosophe s to e se ed as the a het pal te plate o

luep i t

for Islamic and foundational European traditions of alchemy. The

Philosophe s to e as i he ited
J i i

Ha

l al-usa

Ge e , Muha
i

Isla i alchemy as typified by

ad i

d llh i

)aka i z (Rhazes) and

l-Hasa

li i

(Avicenna) was valued primarily as an ingestible therapeutic or

curative medicine known as the al-Iksir (elixir).

10th to 13th centuries: The transmission of Alexandrian /

Byzantine alchemy to the Islamic Empire marked the end of

developmental Alexandrian alchemy. European alchemy developed
following the Crusades, particularly after the fall of Constantinople in
1204 when scholars began to have access to Greek manuscripts
containing important theological, philosophical and scientific
learning previously unknown to the West. The second wave of
alchemical influence resulted from Islamic alchemy imported

580

TIMELINE OF DEVELOPMENTAL ALCHEMY

through Spain and Sicily with Islamic immigration into Europe. Early
European alchemy was largely a rediscovery or restoration effort that
matured into highly experimental proto-chemistry. The Philosophe s
Stone became valued during the period of European alchemy
primarily as riddle or test that secured access to a fellowship of
alchemical insiders and served as an object of quest, the pursuit of
which catalysed what might be described as experimental chemistry.
It also became symbolic or representative of renaissance to earlymodern humanist movements and occult sciences.

581