Zosimos of Panopolis

Zosimos of Panopolis (Greek: Ζώσιμος; also known by the Latin

name Zosimus Alchemista, i.e. "Zosimus the Alchemist") was an
Egyptian[2][3][4][5] alchemist and Gnostic mystic who lived at the end
of the 3rd and beginning of the 4th century AD. He was born in
Panopolis, present day Akhmim, in the south of Roman Egypt, and
flourished ca. 300. He wrote the oldest known books on alchemy,
which he called "Cheirokmeta," using the Greek word for "things
made by hand." Pieces of this work survive in the original Greek
language and in translations into Syriac or Arabic.He is the father of
alchemy. He is one of about 40 authors represented in a compendium
of alchemical writings that was probably put together in
Constantinople in the 7th or 8th century AD, copies of which exist in
manuscripts in Venice and Paris. Stephen of Alexandriais another. Distillation equipment of Zosimos, from the 15th
century Byzantine Greek manuscript Codex
Arabic translations of texts by Zosimos were discovered in 1995 in a Parisinus 2327.[1]
copy of the book Keys of Mercy and Secrets of Wisdom by Ibn Al-
Hassan Ibn Ali Al-Tughra'i', a Persian alchemist. Unfortunately, the
translations were incomplete and seemingly non-verbatim.[6] The famous index of Arabic books, Kitab al-Fihrist by Ibn Al-Nadim,
mentions earlier translations of four books by Zosimos, however due to inconsistency in transliteration, these texts were attributed to
names "Thosimos", "Dosimos" and "Rimos"; also it is possible that two of them are translations of the same book. F. Sezgin has
found 15 manuscripts of Zozimos in six libraries, at Tehran, Cairo, Istanbul, Gotha, Dublin and Rampur. Michèle Mertens analyzes
what is known about those manuscripts in her translation of Zozimos, concluding that the Arabic tradition seems extremely rich and
promising, and regretting the difficulty of access to these materials, until translated editions are available.

Contents
Alchemy
Carl Jung and the Visions of Zosimos
The Book of Pictures
The Book of the Keys of the Work
Surviving works
See also
References
Bibliography
Fragments
Arabic works
Studies

Alchemy
In about 300 AD, Zosimos provided one of the first definitions of alchemy as the study of "the composition of waters, movement,
[7]
growth, embodying and disembodying, drawing the spirits from bodies and bonding the spirits within bodies."
In general, Zosimos' understanding of alchemy reflects the influence ofHermetic and Gnostic spiritualities. He asserted that thefallen
angels taught the arts of metallurgy to the women they married, an idea also recorded in the Book of Enoch and later repeated in the
Gnostic Apocryphon of John.[8] In a fragment preserved bySyncellus, Zosimos wrote:

The ancient and divine writings say that the angels became enamoured of women; and, descending, taught them all
the works of nature. From them, therefore, is the first tradition,chema, concerning these arts; for they called this book
[9]
chema and hence the science of chemistry takes its name.

The external processes of metallic transmutation—the transformations of lead and copper into silver and gold (see the Stockholm
papyrus)—had always to mirror an inner process of purification and redemption. Wrote Zosimos in Concerning the true Book of
Sophe, the Egyptian, and of the Divine Master of the Hebr
ews and the Sabaoth Powers:

There are two sciences and two wisdoms, that of the Egyptians and that of the Hebrews, which lfatter is confirmed by
divine justice. The science and wisdom of the most excellent dominate the one and the other. Both originate in olden
times. Their origin is without a king, autonomous and immaterial; it is not concerned with material and corruptible
bodies, it operates, without submitting to strange influences, supported by prayer and divine grace.

The symbol of chemistry is drawn from the creation by its adepts, who cleanse and save the divine soul bound in the
elements, and who free the divine spirit from its mixture with the flesh.

As the sun is, so to speak, a flower of the fire and (simultaneously) the heavenly sun, the right eye of the world, so
copper when it blooms—that is when it takes the color of gold, through purification—becomes a terrestrial sun,
[10]
which is king of the earth, as the sun is king of heaven.

Greek alchemists used what they called ὕδωρ θεῖον, meaning both divine water, and sulphurous water.[11] For Zosimos, the
alchemical vessel was imagined as a baptismal font, and the tincturing vapours of mercury and sulphur were likened to the purifying
waters of baptism, which perfected and redeemed the Gnostic initiate. Zosimos drew upon the Hermetic image of the krater or
mixing bowl, a symbol of the divine mind in which the Hermetic initiate was "baptized" and purified in the course of a visionary
ascent through the heavens and into the transcendent realms. Similar ideas of a spiritual baptism in the "waters" of the transcendent
Pleroma are characteristic of the Sethian Gnostic texts unearthed at Nag Hammadi.[12] This image of the alchemical vessel as
baptismal font is central to hisVisions, discussed below.

Carl Jung and the Visions of Zosimos

One of Zosimos' texts is about a sequence of dreams related to Alchemy, and presents the proto-science as a much more religious
experience. In his dream he first comes to an altar and meets Ion, who calls himself "the priest of inner sanctuaries, and I submit
myself to an unendurable torment." Ion then fights and impales Zosimos with a sword, dismembering him "in accordance with the
rule of harmony" (referring to the division into four bodies, natures, or elements). He takes the pieces of Zosimos to the altar, and
"burned (them) upon the fire of the art, till I perceived by the transformation of the body that I had become spirit." From there, Ion
cries blood, and horribly melts into "the opposite of himself, into a mutilated anthroparion"—which Carl Jung perceived as the first
concept of the homunculus in alchemical literature.

Zosimos wakes up, asks himself, "Is not this the composition of the waters?" and returns to sleep, beginning the visions again—he
constantly wakes up, ponders to himself and returns to sleep during these visions. Returning to the same altar, Zosimos finds a man
being boiled alive, yet still alive, who says to him, "The sight that you see is the entrance, and the exit, and the transformation ...
Those who seek to obtain the art (or moral perfection) enter here, and become spirits by escaping from the body"—which can be
regarded as human distillation; just as how distilled water purifies it, distilling the body purifies it as well. He then sees a Brazen Man
(another homunculus, as Jung believed any man described as being metal is perceived as being a homunculus), a Leaden Man (an
"agathodaemon" and also a homunculus, but see also Agathodaemon the alchemist). Zosimos also dreams of a "place of
punishments" where all who enter immediately burst into flames and submit themselves to an "unendurable torment."
Jung believed these visions to be a sort of Alchemical allegory, with the tormented homunculi personifying transmutations—burning
or boiling themselves to become something else. The central image of the visions are the Sacrificial Act, which each Homunculus
endures. In alchemy the dyophysite nature is constantly emphasized, two principles balancing one another, active and passive,
masculine and feminine, which constitute the eternal cycle of birth and death. This is also illustrated in the figure of the uroboros, the
dragon that bites its own tail (and which appears earliest in the Chrysopoeia). Self-devouring is the same as self-destruction, but the
unison of the dragon's tail and mouth was also thought of as self-fertilization. Hence the text of "Tractatus Avicennae" mentions "the
dragon slays itself, weds itself, impregnates itself." In the visions, circular thinking appears in the sacrificial priest's identity with his
victim and in the idea that the homunculus into whom Ion is changed devours himself—he spews fourth his own flesh and rends
himself with his own teeth. The homunculus therefore stands for the uroboros, which devours itself and gives birth to self. Since the
[13]
homonculus represents the transformation of Ion, it follows that Ion, the uroboros, and the sacrificer are essentially the same.

The Book of Pictures

This book is divided into 13 chapters, each of them being introduced by a separate image. Two chapters contain a whole series of
[14]:19
images, which - according to Zosimos’ statements - are meant to be pondered upon in order to better understand his teaching.

The whole text gives a lively dialogue between an alchemical couple: i.e. Zosimos and his female student Theosebeia, revolving
about Zosimos' teaching. It reports Theosebeia's complaining about unclear statements of Zosimos as well as Zosimos' anger about
her inability to understand his statements. At first sight, the dialogue deals with question upon how to understand statements of
alchemical philosophers like Agathodaimon, Democritos, Isis, Moses, Maria, Ostanes, as well as with questions about technical
aspects of the alchemical work. But again and again, Zosimos emphasises that he does not talk about the substances and processes as
such, as matter, but that they have to be understood symbolically. Zosimos describes the alchemical work by means of a series of
images and says to Theosebeia: "What I wrote and told you, and with the picture I made for you with me in it, I gave you what you
need to know, and this should be enough for you."[14]:fol.38b.3-5 . He also states, that these images depict his own innerpsychic
process of transformation.[14]:33-37, 68f.

Zosimos' teaching is based on the one hand on his own dream visions, reported in the text. Another source for his teaching was his
suffering of a passionate love relationship to Theosebeia, being not allowed to be simply lived out physically. This led him to
understand the alchemical work as psychic transformation, enabling the adept to hold and contain the fire of attraction.
Correspondingly, Zosimos drew symbolic images of his own death and resurrection as explanation for
Theosebeia.[14]:29f., 80f., 68f., 135 Following Abt, the book can be regarded as the earliest historical description of an alchemical
work based on a psychic transformation.“ And it “is a testimony of the painstaking quest to understand not only the problem but also
the meaning of attraction, repulsion and ultimate reconciliation between the outer male and female as well as the inner fire and water”
[14]:69, 137
a process that “is described […] with basic substances, mirroring the very elemental, collective character of this process.”

In this book, we find fragments of writings from „The Sulfurs“, which are ascribed to Zosimos and from his “Letters to Theosebeia”.
In the course of the dialogue, those fragments seem to be interrupted by Theosebeias questions and by further explanations. By this,
, as Abt holds.[14]:115-6
Zosimos’ teaching is presented in an easier and more understandable way

With regard to content and style, there are similarities between both books, "the Book of Pictures" and the "Book of Keys" (see
there).

Up to now, only one single Arabic manuscript of the "Book of Pictures" is extant. In the fourth part of the "Book of the Rank of the
Sage (Rutbat al-Ḥakīm) its author Maslama al-Qurțubī (formerly wrongly assigned to Maslama al-Magriti)[15][16] quotes extensively
from the “Book of Pictures”. He is the first author quoting it[16]:10f. , but using another Greek original than the one published in
2015[17] than the version published 2015 (CALA III, by Th. Abt)[18] and has influenced several alchemists like the early Arabic
alchemist Ibn Umail, the "Kitab al-Habib" (Book of the Friend/Lover; including a dialogue between a so-called Rusam and
Theosebeia) and the alchemist "Hermes of Dendera", author of "Risalat as-Sirr" (Epistle of the Secret; including a similar dialogue
between Hermes Budasir und Amnutasiya). Other traits of Latin symbolic alchemy, like the traditional division of the work in 12
parts or the representation of inner and outer relationship between adept and soror mystica (e.g. in "Rosarium Philosophorum" and in
"Mutus Liber") can be traced back to this book and seem to be influcend by it. Fragments of the text of the "Book of Pictures" can be
found in "Rosarium Philosophorum" and "Artis Auriferae".[14]:p.68f., 136 (e.g. titled "Tractatus Rosini ad Euticiam" (="Treatise of
Rosinus to Euticia").[19]:162

The Book of Pictures itself is influenced by Ancient Egyptian thinking, its iconography showing relations to pharaonic iconography
and having motifs paralleling Egpytian books of the underworld like Amduat, which was known until Greek-Roman times.
Regarding the inner and outer relationship between man and woman or between psychic male and female aspects, the "Book of
.[14]:108f., 136
Pictures" forms a cultural bridge between pharaonic thoughts and European medieval alchemy

The Book of the Keys of the Work

This book is written as commentary in 10 chapters on "the Book of the 10 Keys", a work ascribed to Democritus (Democritus of
Abdera or Pseudo-Democritus).[19]:163 As at the beginning of the book (fol. 41a.3-4) is written, this commentary was Zosimos’ last
text written for Theosebeia. According to Abt, the book gives an essence of Zosimos’ teachings, as the preamble says, that the book
[20]:12-3
is so clear and understandable, that after its reading, Theosebeia "understood the [alchemical] work".

There are many parallels between the "Book of the Keys of the Work" and "The Book of Pictures“ in terms of subject and style: Both
books are written "to my lady" and mainly "in dialogue form, [... have] the same emphasis on the fact that there is just one alchemical
operation [...], the alchemical work is one and emphasises the same central role for Democritus, 'the head of the sages of his time'
[...]. The operation in both books centres on a composition of vapours [...]. It has the same essential feature of extracting the subtle
with 'gentleness' [...] from all four natures, the mixture of like with like, and the need to bind the fugitive spirit. They have analogies
in common, for example that of copper with the human being.[14]:45f. As in the "Book of Pictures", one can trace motives and
symbols of Zosimos' teachings that go back to the worldview of pharaonic Egypt. Integrating these motives allows a better
understanding of the text.[20]:20-53

Surviving works
Authentic Memoirs
The Book of the Keys of the Work(Kitāb Mafātīḥ aṣ-ṣan'a)
The Book of Pictures (Muṣḥaf aṣ-ṣuwar)
Concerning the true Book of Sophe, the Egyptian, and of the Divine Master of the Hebrews and the Sabaoth Powers
(French translation)
The Final Quittance (French translation)
Letters to Theosebeia
On the Evaporation of the Divine Water that fixes Mercury (French translation )
On the Letter Omega (English excerpt translated by G.R.S. Mead; French translation)
The Sulfurs
Treatise on Instruments and Furnaces(French translation)
The Visions of Zosimos (English translation)
The complete (as of 1888) "Œuvres de Zosime" were published in French by M. Berthelot in Les alchimistes grecs. English
translations remain elusive; English translations of the Arabic The Book of the Keys of the Work (Kitāb Mafātīḥ aṣ-ṣan'a) and The
Book of Pictures (Muṣḥaf aṣ-ṣuwar) have been published by Th. Abt and W.Madelung.

See also
Alchemy and chemistry in medieval Islam
Mary the Jewess

References
1. Marcelin Berthelot, Collection des anciens alchimistes grecs(https://archive.org/details/collectiondesanc01bert)(3
 vol., Paris, 1887–1888, p.161); F. Sherwood Taylor, "The Origins of Greek Alchemy," Ambix 1 (1937), 40.
2. Emsley, John (2005). The Elements of Murder. Oxford University Press. p. 2. ISBN 0-19-280599-1.
3. "Zosimos of Panopolis (Egyptian alchemist)"(http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/658160/Zosimos-of-Panop
olis). Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2010-03-06.
4. S. La Porta, D. Shulman, David Dean Shulman (2007).The poetics of grammar and the metaphysics of sound and
sign. Brill Publishers. p. 189. ISBN 90-04-15810-3.
5. Norris, John A. (March 2006). "The Mineral Exhalation Theory of Metallogenesis in Pre-Modern Mineral Science".
Ambix. Maney Publishing. 53 (1): 43–65. doi:10.1179/174582306X93183(https://doi.org/10.1179%2F174582306X9
3183).
6. Prof. Hassan S. El Khadem (September 1996)."A Translation of a Zosimos' Text in an Arabic Alchemy Book"(http://
washacadsci.org/Journal/Journalarticles/ZosimosT
ext.H.S.ElKhadem.pdf)(PDF). Journal of the Washington
Academy of Sciences. 84 (3): 168–178.
7. Strathern, P. (2000). Mendeleyev’s Dream—the Quest for the Elements (https://books.google.com/books?id=qCzoF9
sjTkAC&pg=PA34&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ydI6T-LFO6ro2QW75Jm_Cg&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAg# v=onepage&f=false). New
York: Berkley Books.
8. Stroumsa, Gedaliahu A. G. (1984).Another Seed: Studies in Gnostic Mythology. Volume 24 of Nag Hammadi
Studies. Brill Archive. pp. 139ff. ISBN 9004074198.
9. Imuth, quoted in Syncellus, Chron. Drummond, William. "On the Science of the Egyptians and Chaldeans"(https://bo
oks.google.com/books?pg=PA299&id=bQF6Wz-u4yYC). The Classical Journal. London: A. J. Valpy. 18: 299.
"September and December, 1818"
10. Carl Gustav Jung; Elizabeth Welsh; Barbara Hannah (1960). Modern Psychology: November 1940-July 1941:
Alchemy, vol. 1-2. University of California: K. Schippert & Co. pp. 44–45.
11. Schorlemmer, Carl (1894). The Rise and Development of Organic Chemistry(https://books.google.com/?id=pJj5tJHc
L0sC&pg=PA6#v=onepage&q&f=false). London: Macmillan and Company. p. 6.
12. Fraser, Kyle (2004). "Zosimos of Panopolis and the Book of Enoch: Alchemy as Forbidden Knowledge".Aries:
Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism. 4.2.
13. Jung, Carl (1983). "The Visions of Zosimos". Alchemical Studies. Princeton University Press.ISBN 0-691-01849-9.
14. Abt, Theodor (2006), "Introduction", in Zosimos, of Panopolis,The Book of Pictures. Muṣḥaf as-suwar, Corpus
Alchemicum Arabicum (CALA) II.2, Living Human Heritage Publications, Zurich (published 2011),
ISBN 9783952260876
15. For the discussion on the authorship, see W
. Madelungs English "Introduction" to the Arabic edition:The Book of the
Rank of the Sage. Rutbat al-Ḥakīm by Maslama al-Qurṭubī. p. 9-24.
ṭubī, Maslama, The Book of the Rank of the Sage.
16. Madelung, Wilferd (2016), "Introduction of the editor", in al-Qur
Rutbat al-Ḥakīm. Arabic Text edited with an English Introduction by Wilferd Madelung, Corpus Alchemicum
Arabicum (CALA) IV, Living Human HeritagePublications, Zurich, ISBN 978-3-9523880-0-6
17. The Greek authorship has been debated, see the introduction of the English translation of 'The Book of Pictures' by
Th. Apt. P. Lory states that Th. Abt has convincing arguments on the Greek authorship of the Book of Pictures. See
his review on Th. Abt's Zosimos of Panapolis. The Book of Pictures. Mushaf as-suwar . In: Bulletin critique des
Annales Islamologiques, BCAI28 (2012), Institut français d’archéologie orientale (IF
AO), Le Caire, p. 133.
18. For a list of such fragments see Manfred Ullmann:Die Natur- und Geheimwissenschaften im Islam. Handbuch der
Orientalistik I. Abteilung, Ergänzungsband VI, zweiter Abschnitt. p. 161f. On the Risalat as-Sirr
, see p.162f. On the
Kitab al-Habib, see p.179.
19. Ullmann, Manfred (1972), "Introduction of the editor", in Madelung, Wilferd,
Die Natur- und Geheimwissenschaften
im Islam. Handbuch der Orientalistik: I. Abteilung, Ergänzungsband VI, zweiter Abschnitt, Brill, Leiden, ISBN 90-04-
03423-4
ṣ-
20. Abt, Theodor (2016), "Introduction", in Zosimos, of Panopolis,The Book of the Keys of the Work. Kitāb Mafātīh a
ṣan'a, Corpus Alchemicum Arabicum (CALA) III, Living Human Heritage, Zurich, ISBN 9783952388068

Bibliography

Fragments
Berthelot, Marcelin (1888). Collection des Anciens Alchimistes Grecs (in French). Paris: Steinheil.
Vol. I (introduction) p. 119, 127—174, 209, 250; vol. II (Greek text) p. 28, 117—120; Vol. III
(trans.) p. 117—242.
H. D. Saffrey & Zosime de Panopolis (trans. M. Mertens). Les alchimistes grecs, vol. IV.1:
Mémoires authentiques (in French). Les Belles-Lettres. pp. CLXXIII–348. ISBN 2-251-
00448-3. p. 1—49: I = Sur la lettre oméga; V = Sur l'eau divine; VI = Diagramme
(ouroboros); VII = Sur les appareils et fourneaux

Arabic works

Zosimos, of Panapolis (2007). Abt, Theodor; Warburton, David, eds. The Book of Pictures. Mushaf
as-suwar by Zosimos of Panapolis. Facsimile edition. Edited with an introduction by
Theodor Abt. Corpus Alchemicum Arabicum (CALA) II.1. Zurich: Living Human Heritage
Publications.
Zosimos, of Panapolis (2011). Abt, Theodor, ed. The Book of Pictures. Mushaf as-suwar by
Zosimos of Panapolis. Edited with an introduction by Theodor Abt. Translated by Salwa
Fuad and Theodor Abt. Corpus Alchemicum Arabicum (CALA) II.2. Zurich: Living Human
Heritage Publications. ISBN 3-9522608-7-8.
Zosimos, of Panapolis (2016). Abt, Theodor, ed. The Book of the Keys of the Work. Kitāb Mafātīh
aṣ-ṣan'a by Zosimos of Panopolis. Arabic Facsimile and English Translation. Edited with an
Introduction by Theodor Abt. Translated by Salwa Fuad and Theodor Abt. Corpus
Alchemicum Arabicum (CALA) III. Zurich: Living Human Heritage Publications. ISBN 978-
3-9523880-6-8.

Studies

Abt, Theodor (2011). "Introduction to the Facsilmie Edition, Introduction to the Translation," in:
Zosimos, of Panapolis (2011). Abt, Theodor, ed. The Book of Pictures. Muṣḥaf aṣ-ṣuwar
by Zosimos of Panapolis. Edited with an introduction by Theodor Abt. Translated by Salwa
Fuad and Theodor Abt. Corpus Alchemicum Arabicum (CALA) II.2. Zurich: Living Human
Heritage Publications. ISBN 3-9522608-7-8. p. 17-139.
Abt, Theodor (2016): "Introduction", in: Zosimos, of Panapolis (2016). Abt, Theodor, ed. The Book
of the Keys of the Work. Kitāb Mafātīh aṣ-ṣan'a by Zosimos of Panopolis. Arabic Facsimile
and English Translation. Edited with an Introduction by Theodor Abt. Translated by Salwa
Fuad and Theodor Abt. Corpus Alchemicum Arabicum (CALA) III. Zurich: Living Human
Heritage Publications. ISBN 978-3-9523880-6-8. p. 11-53.
Berthelot, Marcelin (1885). Les Origines de l'alchimie (in French). Paris: Steinheil. pp. 177–187.
Berthelot, Marcelin (1888). Collection des Anciens Alchimistes Grecs (in French). Paris: Steinheil.
Vol. I (introduction) p. 119, 127—174, 209, 250.
Berthelot, Marcelin (1893). La Chimie au Moyen Âge (in French). Paris: Steinheil. Vol. II, p. 203—
266; Vol. III, p. 28, 30, 41.
Mead, G.R.S (1906). "Zosimus on the Anthropos-Doctrine". Thrice Greatest Hermes: Studies in
Hellenistic Theosophy and Gnosis. III. London and Benares: The Theosophical Publishing
Society. pp. 273–284.
Jung, C. G. (1943). Psychology and Alchemy.
Lindsay, Jack (1970). The Origins of Alchemy in Graeco-Roman Egypt. ISBN 0-389-01006-5.
Jackson, A. H. (1978). Zosimos of Panopolis. On the letter Omega. Missoula (Montana).
Knipe, Sergio, "Sacrifice and self-transformation in the alchemical writings of Zosimus of
Panopolis," in Christopher Kelly, Richard Flower, Michael Stuart Williams (eds), Unclassical
Traditions. Vol. II: Perspectives from East and West in Late Antiquity (Cambridge,
Cambridge University Press, 2011) (Cambridge Classical Journal, Supplemental Volume
35), 59-69.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zosimos_of_Panopolis&oldid=825102705

"
This page was last edited on 11 February 2018, at 14:18.

Text is available under theCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this
site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of theWikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.