8/2/2019 Inventory and Chronology of Hermetic Literature
1/2
I n v e n t o r y a n d C h r o n o l o g y o f H e r m e t i
c
L i t e r a t u r e
To Thoth, the inventor of writing, the ancient Egyptians
attributed all sorts of books, especially magical writings,
secrettechniques employed in temple workshops, and theological
writings recopied or composed by the priests in the "house of
life"(pransh; NagHammadicodex 6.61.20). Thus the Greek Hermetica
that has come down to us can be divided into two
categories: works of occult sciences and philosophical
works.
1. Among the works of occult sciences, A.-J. Festugiere
(1942-1953, vol 1, pp. 77, 240, 280) distinguishesthree kinds: (1)
astrology, beginning in the third or second century BCE; (2)
alchemy, beginning in the
second or first century BCE; and, (3) magic, recorded in papyri
of the fourth to seventh centuries CE that
reproduce sources obviously much more ancient.
2. The philosophical works were originally grouped as
collections of the discourses of Hermes with hisvarious disciples
or of them among themselves. Of this undoubtedly once abundant
literature, still
preserved are only some fragments and the texts of a few
discourses that have come to us through
subsequent intermediaries. These may be grouped into
chronological order as follows:
i.FragmentaHermetica 1-36 (Nock and Festugiere, 1945-1954, vol.
4): various fragments quoted inGreek, Latin or Syriac by several
authors, from Tertullian (second-third century CE) to Bar
Hebraeus (1226-1286). To these fragments should be added the
papyri VindobonensesGraecae
29456r and 29828r,as well as an Armenian fragment[1] and several
Syriac fragments.[2]
ii.Asclepius 1-41: a Latin adaptation ofLogos Teleios, finished
probably after 320 and before 410.
iii.NagHammadi codex 6 (c. 340-370 CE) containing Coptic
translations of three treatises:a. NagHammadi codex 6.6, preserved
without title and currently called The Discourse on
the Eight and Ninth;
b. NagHammadi codex 6.7, The Prayer That They Spoke, parallel
toAclepius 41 and to the
Papyrus Mimaut of Paris;c. NagHammadi codex 6.8, without title,
a fragment ofLogos Teleios parallel to Asclepius
21-29 and to three Greek quotations cited by Lactantius around
320, Cyril of Alexandriaaround 435, and Joannes Stobaios around
500. The allusions of John Lysdus(sixth
century CE) to this same text can hardly be regarded as mere
quotations.
iv.Stobaei Hermetica 1-29: fragments or treatises quoted in
Greek by Joannes Stobaios in hisFlorilegium, which he compiled
around 500 for the education of his son.
v.Definitions of Hermes Trismegistos for Asclepius, translated
from Greek into Armenian, probably inthe second half of the sixth
century CE Definitions 10.7 repeats Stobaei Hermetica 19.1;
Definitions 11 is an interpolation drawn from Nemesius (c. 390
CE)
vi.Corpus Hermeticum 1-14 and 16-18: a compilation of Hermetic
treatises done after Stobaios andbefore Michael Constantine Psellus
(eleventh century CE).
As for dating the various treatises, the Logos Teleios
(Asclepius, Nag Hammadi codex 6.7, 6.8) is scarcely older than
thethrid century CE Most of the Greek texts seem to have been
written in the second century BCE, yet they seem to rest oneven
older sources. Indeed, it is sometimes a case of works or
compilations which we no longer possess, such as theSayings of
Agathodemon, the General Discourses, or the Diexodica. The Papyri
VindobonensesGraecae, copied at the endof the second century CE,
informs us that at that a time a collection of the logoiof Hermes
to Tat, comprising at least ten
treatises, had already been made. Strabo on a visit to Egypt in
24-20 BCE, mentions some Hermetic literature that was notonly
astrological but philosophical. Finally, since the Corpus
Hermeticum 1.31 contains precise allusions to Jewish liturgy,
itprobably precedes the expulsion of Jews from Egypt after the
revolt of 115-117. Yet since Definitions of Hermes Trismegistosfor
Asclepius 9.4 is the source ofCorpus Hermeticum 1.18, it dates at
the latest from the first century CE and could well go
back even further.[3]
