Hermetica

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The Hermetica or Corpus Hermeticum are texts attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, some of them possibly remains of gnostic traditions, dealing with magic, philosophy, and related concepts. These scriptures were rediscovered and repopularized in Italy during the Renaissance and have had profound influence over alchemy and modern magic, as well as impacting philosophers such as Giordano Bruno and Marsilio Ficino.

In the late Roman Empire and during the Renaissance, these texts were all believed to be of ancient Egyptian origin, some are believed to be even today to date from History of Ancient Egypt. However, by studying the vocabluary of the texts, the classical scholar Isaac Casaubon showed in 1614 that some of the texts (mainly those dealing with philosophy) betrayed a vocabulary too recent to be so old. Recent research suggests some of these texts may be of pharaonic Egyptian origin, although most of the "philosophical" Hermetica can be dated to around 300 A.D. and these texts are generally seen as closely related to Neoplatonism.

Parts of the Hermetica appeared in the gnostic library found in Nag Hammadi.

Table of contents

1 Contents of the Hermetica
2 References
3 External Links

Contents of the Hermetica

Poemandres, the Shepherd of Men
To Asclepius
The Sacred Sermon
The Cup or Monad
Though Unmanifest God Is Most Manifest
In God Alone Is Good And Elsewhere Nowhere
The Greatest Ill Among Men is Ignorance of God
That No One of Existing Things doth Perish, but Men in Error Speak of Their Changes as Destructions and as Deaths
On Thought and Sense
The Key
Mind Unto Hermes
About the Common Mind
The Secret Sermon on the Mountain

References

Hermetica: The Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius in a New English Translation, with Notes and Introduction by Brian P. Copenhaver (Editor) ISBN 0521425433