The Secret History of Hermes Trismegistus: Hermeticism from Ancient to Modern Times

by Florian Ebeling, Jan Assmann (Foreword), David Lorton (Translator)

"Perhaps Hermeticism has fascinated so many people precisely because it has made it possible to produce many analogies and relationships to various traditions: to Platonism in its many varieties, to Stoicism, to Gnostic ideas, and even to certain Aristotelian doctrines. The Gnostic, the esoteric, the Platonist, or the deist has each been able to find something familiar in the writings. One just had to have a penchant for remote antiquity, for the idea of a Golden Age, in order for Hermeticism, with its aura of an ancient Egyptian revelation, to have enjoyed such outstanding success."―from the Introduction Hermes Trismegistus, "thrice-great Hermes," emerged from the amalgamation of the wisdom gods Hermes and Thoth and is one of the most enigmatic figures of intellectual history. Since antiquity, the legendary "wise Egyptian" has been considered the creator of several mystical and magical writings on such topics as alchemy, astrology, medicine, and the transcendence of God. Philosophers of the Renaissance celebrated Hermes Trismegistus as the founder of philosophy, Freemasons called him their forefather, and Enlightenment thinkers championed religious tolerance in his name. To this day, Hermes Trismegistus is one of the central figures of the occult―his name is synonymous with the esoteric. In this scholarly yet accessible introduction to the history of Hermeticism and its mythical founder, Florian Ebeling provides a concise overview of the Corpus Hermeticum and other writings attributed to Hermes. He traces the impact of Christian and Muslim versions of the figure in medieval Europe, the power of Hermeticism and Paracelsian belief in Renaissance thought, the relationship to Pietism and to Freemasonry in early modern Europe, and the relationship to esotericism and semiotics in the modern world.

Genres: History, Religion, Nonfiction, Alchemy, Esoterica, Philosophy, Spirituality

176 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Sienna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very interesting read, providing a glimpse into contemporary German-language Hermetic scholarship. Ebeling suggests that the Hermetic 'tradition' ought to be made plural, rightly pointing out that Ficino's translation of the Corpus Hermeticum only constituted a resurrection in Italy, where Neoplatonists and humanists embraced its philosophical and theological aphorisms. The more technical Hermetic texts (like the Tabula Smaragdina) had persisted through the medieval period in northern climes. Paracelsus and his followers exemplify the latter tradition, although Ebeling never really defines what he means by a Paracelsist (I assume iatrochemistry is involved), and we only get the namesake's background fifty pages after first encountering that word. This chronological account suffers a bit from both structural and translation issues, with confusing references to the Renaissance in the chapter on antiquity, Martin Luther's 1526 work on fanaticism worryingly dated to the late seventeenth century (p. 109), and a bunch of X-Y descriptors that must have worked brilliantly in German, the language of endless compound nouns, but serve only to muddle in English simply because there are so many of them (alchemo-Paracelsist, philosophical-theological, Hermetic-Platonic, magical-cabalistic, etc., etc.). Add inconsistent spelling (Pimander, Poemander, Pymander?) and use of the possessive apostrophe and my inner editor was apoplectic. Plenty of good stuff within these pages if you can put up with the editorial flaws, though.

[Heather Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: I obtained this book to do research for a historic fantasy novel. My opinions should not necessarily be taken as an academic evaluation.

Hermes Trismegistus was the legendary attributed author of a collection of mystical texts covering alchemy, astrology, medicine, and mysticism. This relatively brief guide (140pp not counting back matter) reviews the history and chronology of the various components of that tradition, both the philosophical branch centered in Italy and the more practical alchemical/medical branch, with an infusion of Arabic sources, that developed further north. The core of the Heremetic corpus was of genuine antiquity, but the iconic status of its putative author encouraged the accretion of other texts as well as “rediscoveries” of texts whose original composition is questionable. Ebeling follows the tradition all the way up through 20th century interpretations. The briefness and readability of this work encourages me to place it in my serious “to be read” pile (not my hypothetical “to be read” pile).

[Gregory · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well documented and insightful history of perhaps one of the most enigmatic characters in myth and ancient history. Ebeling gives a great review of literature and documents prepared over time, including a breadth of sources from ancient Greece, Arabia, Florence and the enlightnment and church scholars. An outstanding reference book.

[DAJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Books on Hermeticism tend to focus on one particular time period or set of texts. Ebeling's book is apparently the first to cover the development of Hermeticism from ancient to modern times. He admits in his introduction that he can't cover the entire history of Hermetic thought in equal depth, and he focuses on the discussion of Hermeticism among intellectuals in western Europe. For that reason, the section on Hermetic texts in the Islamic world is short and mainly discusses the few texts that strongly influenced the West. (Fortunately, The Arabic Hermes discusses Hermetica in the Islamic world in much greater depth). The Hermetic influence among 19th- and 20th-century occultists, most of whom probably don't count as intellectuals, is mostly overlooked.

Ebeling gives a solid description of ancient Hermeticism. I particularly appreciate that in one place he lists all the major groups of ancient Hermetic texts—the other sources I've read have left me unclear about what texts there were outside the Corpus Hermeticum proper. Whereas earlier authors tended to assume that medieval Europe shunned Hermeticism, Ebeling shows that there was interest in Hermetic texts at the time, though there was not yet a coherent "Hermetic tradition" where authors developed their own interpretations of the ancient texts and built upon each other's work.

Such a tradition did develop in the late 15th century. It is usually traced back to Marsilio Ficino's translation of the Greek Corpus Hermeticum into Latin. But Ebeling points out that the philosophical Hermetic tradition that Ficino inspired in Italy was largely separate from the tradition in northern Europe, which drew upon magical and alchemical texts translated from Arabic. Only in the 17th century did the two traditions intermingle. The sections covering the 15th through 19th centuries are the strongest in the book, because they describe in detail how these Hermetic traditions evolved and how they interacted with an unexpected variety of currents in European thought, like Pietism.

"This is not the history of Hermeticism but rather only one," as Ebeling says, but if you want to understand Hermeticism as a whole, this is a good place to start learning.

[Chronics]

An academic study on the history of Hermticism, it's basically an in-depth chronology.Very well researched, the author makes a lot of assertations but he backs them up through what I presume to be recent academic research and discoveries. It's not an easy read or a "page turner" and it doesn't try to be, rather, it attempts to characterise Hermticism through each historical period (early history, Middle Ages, Renaissance, 17, 18 and 19, and 20 centuries) with critical analysis of the major texts, individuals, movements and theologies of the period. By contextualising the history of Hermeticism with Christianity, Islam and major western historical events Ebelling allows the reader to clearly discern the impact of those events on the courses Hermticism subsequently takes.

If you are interested in Theology and Religious Studies, on the influence of Greece and North Africa and on modern Christianity or simply how we humans can manipulate facts and fiction to our benefit then it's a really good read, if not then you may/probably will find it boring.

[Auntiecatherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

The history of philosophy is never an easy read, but the history of philosophy clumsily translated from the German is much, much worse. For an overview, it was hardly easy reading and unfortunately it mostly covered philosophical Hermes and hermeticism rather than the technical hermetica of alchemy, which is my primary interest. It also focuses on German writers in the subject once Ficino and Pico are out if the way.
I also refuse to believe there is any excuse for the phrase, “contentually from the text”.

[Paul Girdler · Rating 4 out of 5]

A concise and very clear but scholarly overview of the various historical views of Hermetic texts. It explained clearly how Hermeticism sits alongside and juxtaposed to alchemy, freemasonry, philosophy, religion and the occult. An excellent introduction tot he topic.

[Hasham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the obscurity of thousands of years, Hermes/Thoth can be identified in the Qur'an as a true prophet if one looks carefully and deeply at the evidence...

[Cass Coste · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative but dry.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great historiography work on Hermeticism. The interpretations and influences of the philosophical and technical Hermetic writings are traced chronologically through time in a mostly clear manner. There are some confusing references, and some lack of context in some areas, but on this subject, this is about as concise and easy of an introduction as you will find. Nice bibliography too for further reading.

[Mitchell26 McLaughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not much new information other than that he reviews some more obscure Hermeticists and carries a fresh yet scholarly perspective throughout. A good read for those interested in the behind the scenes of Hermetic lore.

[Jeffrey Kupperman · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://www.jwmt.org/v2n13/history.html

[Richard Cabe · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting yet inconclusive history of the infamous hermetic texts.

[Daniel Bicknell]

This book traces the history of Hermes Trismegistus from the origins of his conception to his fading into the concept of hermeticism. The earliest texts are identified as coming from many different authors and times. But the Corpus Hermetiva cab roughly be divided into two categories : that of philosophical texts and that of alchemical texts. Though many believe the teddy's to have beer lost until the end of the middle ages, the author argues that the alchemical text persisted and were the basis of Paracelcius thought. Both branches were revived in the Renaissance. With the growth of science and the public nature of its knowledge, hermeticism became a hidden knowledge only the initiated could understand. As we near the modern day, the figure of Hermes Trismegistus fades into myth but the concept of hermeticism persists.