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HERMES TRISMEGISTUS (" the thrice gre...

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 371 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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HERMES
HERMES, GEORG (1775-1831)

HERMES TRISMEGISTUS (" the thrice greatest Hermes ") , an honorific designation of the See also:

EGYPTIAN

Egyptian Hermes, i.e. See also:

THOTH

Thoth (q.v.), the See also:

god of See also:

WISDOM, BOOK OF, or WISDOM OF SOLOMON (Sept. Io4ia IaXwµwvos; Lat. Vulg. Liber sapientiae)

wisdom. In See also:

LATE

late hieroglyphic the name of Thoth often has the epithet " the twice very See also:

GREAT

great," sometimes " the thrice very great "; in the popular See also:

LANGUAGE (adapted from the Fr. langage, from langue, tongue, Lat. lingua)

language (See also:

DEMOTIC (Gr. Srlµorucos, of or belonging to the people)

demotic) the corresponding epithet is " the five times very great," found as See also:

early as the 3rd See also:

CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century n.c. See also:

Greek See also:

TRANSLATIONS

translations give 6 peyas Kai peyas and peyrrros: rpiQµeyas occurs in a late magical See also:

TEXT (Lat. textum, woven fabric, from texere, to weave)

text. 6 TpuvpeywQTOS has not yet been found earlier than the 2nd century A.D., but there can now be no doubt of its origin in the above Egyptian epithets. Thoth was " the See also:

SCRIBE, AUGUSTIN EUGENE (1791-1860, French dramatist, was born in Paris on the 24th of December 1791. His father was a silk merchant, and he was well educated, being destined for the bar. But, having a real gift for the theatre, a gift which unfortunately

scribe of the gods," " See also:

Lord of divine words," and to Hermes was attributed the authorship of all the strictly sacred books generally called by Greek authors Hermetic. These, according to Clemens Alexandrinus, our See also:

SOLE (Solea)

sole See also:

ancient authority (Strom. vi. p. 268 et seq.), were See also:

FORTY

forty-two in number, and were subdivided into six divisions, of which the first, containing ten books, was in See also:

charge of the " See also:

PROPHET (Irpo4i ri7s)

prophet" and dealt with See also:

LAWS

laws, deities and the See also:

EDUCATION

education of priests; the second, consisting of the ten books of the stolistes, the See also:

OFFICIAL (Late Lat. QJicialis, for class. Lat. apparitor, from officium, office, duty)

official whose See also:

DUTY (from " due," that which is owing, O. Fr. deu, dil, past participle of devoir; Lat. debere, debitum; cf. " debt ")

duty it was to See also:

DRESS (from the Fr. dresser, to set out, arrange, formed from Lat. directus, arranged, dirigere, to direct, arrange)

dress and See also:

ORNAMENT (Lat. ornare, to adorn)

ornament the statues of the gods, treated of sacrifices and offerings, prayers, See also:

HYMNS

hymns, festive processions; the third, of the " hierogrammatist," also in ten books, was called " See also:

HIEROGLYPHICS (Gr. iepos, sacred, and'yXv ni, carving)

hieroglyphics," and was a repertory of cosmographical, See also:

GEOGRAPHICAL

geographical and topographical See also:

INFORMATION (from Lat. informare, to give shape or form to, to represent, describe)

information; the four books of the " horoscopus " were devoted to See also:

ASTRONOMY (from Gr. &arpov, a star, and v ,usiv, to classify or arrange)

astronomy and See also:

ASTROLOGY

astrology; the two books of the " chanter " contained respectively a collection of songs in See also:

HONOUR (Lat. honos or lwnor, honoris; in English the word was spelled with or without the u indifferently until the 17th century, but during the 18th century it became fashion-able to spell the word " honor "; Johnson's and Webster's Dictionaries stereoty

honour of the gods and a description of the royal See also:

LIFE

life and its duties; while the See also:

SIXTH

sixth and last See also:

DIVISION (from Lat. dividere, to break up into parts, separate)

division, consisting of the six books of the " pastophorus," was medical. Clemens's statement cannot he contradicted. See also:

WORKS

Works are extant in papyri and on See also:

temple walls, treating of See also:

GEOGRAPHY (Gr. yil, earth, and ypiickty, to write)

geography, astronomy, See also:

RITUAL (from Lat. ritus, a custom, especially a religious rite or custom)

ritual, myths, See also:

MEDICINE

medicine, &c. It is probable that the native priests would have been ready to ascribe the authorship or See also:

INSPIRATION (Lat. inspirare, breathe upon or into)

inspiration, as well as the care and See also:

PROTECTION

protection of all their books of sacred See also:

lore to Thoth, although there were a goddess of See also:

writing (Seshit), and the ancient deified See also:

SCRIBES

scribes Imuthes and Amenophis, and later inspired doctors Petosiris, Nechepso, &c., to be reckoned with; there are indeed some definite traces of such an attribution extant in individual cases. Whether a See also:

CANON

canon of such books was ever established, even in the latest times, may be seriously doubted.

We know, however, that the See also:

VIZIER

vizier of Upper See also:

EGYPT

Egypt (at See also:

Thebes) in the eighteenth See also:

DYNASTY (Gr. &vvaareta, sovereignty, the position of a hevnori7r, lord, ruler, from SuvaaBay to be able, Suvaµas, power)

dynasty, had 40 (not 42) See also:

PARCHMENT

parchment rolls laid before him as he sat in the See also:

hall of See also:

AUDIENCE (from Lat. audire, to hear)

audience. Unfortunately we have no hint of their contents. Forty-two was the number of divine assessors at the See also:

JUDGMENT

judgment of the dead before See also:

OSIRIS

Osiris, and was the See also:

standard number of the nomes or counties in Egypt. The name of Hermes seems during the 3rd and following centuries to have been regarded as a convenient See also:

PSEUDONYM (Gr. >l ev&,vuµos, having a false name, ¢Evirls, false and ovoµa, name)

pseudonym to See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place at the See also:

head of the numerous syncretistic writings in which it was sought to combine Neo-Platonic See also:

PHILOSOPHY (Gr. gthos, fond of, and vo4 (a, wisdom)

philosophy, Philonic Judaism and cabalistic See also:

THEOSOPHY (from Gr. Oe6s, god, and vogbta, wisdom)

theosophy, and so provide the See also:

WORLD

world with some acceptable substitute for the See also:

CHRISTIANITY

Christianity which had even at that See also:

time begun to give indications of the ascendancy it was destined afterwards to attain. Of these pseudepigraphic Hermetic writings some have come down to us in the See also:

ORIGINAL

original Greek; others survive in Latin or Arabic translations; but the See also:

MAJORITY (Fr. majorite; Med. Lat. majoritas; Lat. major, greater)

majority appear to have perished. That which is best known and has been most frequently edited is the HotµavSplls sive De potestate et sapientia divina (Hotµav&prlc being the Divine Intelligence, rotµily avbpwv), which consists of fifteen chapters treating of such subjects as the nature of God, the origin of the world, the creation and fall of See also:

man, and the divine See also:

ILLUMINATION

illumination which is the sole means of his deliverance. The editio princeps appeared in See also:

Paris in s554; there is also an edition by G. Parthey (1854); the See also:

WORK

work has also been translated into See also:

German by D. See also:

TIEDEMANN, FRIEDRICH (1781-1861)

Tiedemann (1781). Other Hermetic writings which have been preserved, and which have been for the most See also:

PART

part collected by Patricius in the Nova de universis philosophia (1593), are (in Greek) 'Iarpoµafhguartica srpos "Aµµwva Atyiirrtov, Ilepl xaraKMC!EWS voa'ouvrwv aeptyvwartxa, 'Ex rift AaBrfµartxils E>rtvrifµrls rpos Aµµwva: (in Latin) Aphorismi sive Centiloquium, Cyranides ; (in Arabic, but doubtless from a Greek original) an address to the human soul, which has been translated by H. L. See also:

FLEISCHER, HEINRICH LEBERECHT (1801-1888)

Fleischer (An See also:

die menschliche Seek, 1870).

The connexion of the name of Hermes with See also:

ALCHEMY

alchemy will explain what is meant by hermetic sealing, and will See also:

account for the use of the phrase " hermetic medicine " by See also:

PARACELSUS (c. 1490-1541)

Paracelsus, as also for the so-called " hermetic See also:

FREEMASONRY

freemasonry " of the See also:

MIDDLE

middle ages. Besides Thoth, See also:

ANUBIS (in Egyptian Anap, written Inpw in hieroglyphs)

Anubis (q.v.) was constantly identified with Hermes; see also See also:

HOST

Host-us. See See also:

URSINUS, ZACHARIAS (1534-1583)

Ursinus, De Zoroastre, Hermete, &c. (See also:

NUREMBERG (Ger. Nurnberg)

Nuremberg, 1661); See also:

Nicolas Lenglet-Dufresnoy, L'Histoire de la philosophie hermetique (Paris, 1742); See also:

Baumgarten-See also:

CRUSIUS, CHRISTIAN AUGUST (1715–1775)

Crusius, De librorum hermeticorum origine atque See also:

INDOLE

indole (See also:

JENA

Jena, 1827); B. J. Hilgers, De Hermetis Trismegisti Poemandro (1855); R. M6nard, Hermes Trismegiste, traduction See also:

COMPLETE

complete, precedee d'une etude sur l' origine See also:

des livres hermetiques (1866) ; R. Pietschmann, Hermes Trismegzstus, nach dgyptischen, griechischen, and orienlalischen fberlieferungen (1875); R. Reitzenstein, Poimandres, Studien zur griechisch-agyptischen and fr2lhchristlichen Literatur (See also:

LEIPZIG

Leipzig, 1904) ; G. R. S. See also:

Mead, Thrice Greatest Hermes (1907), introduction and See also:

TRANSLATION

translation.

(F. Le.

End of Article: HERMES TRISMEGISTUS (" the thrice greatest Hermes ")

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