Hermetica: The Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius in a New English Translation, with Notes and Introduction [Paperback]

Brian P. Copenhaver (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521425433 | ISBN-13: 978-0521425438 | Publication Date: November 24, 1995

The Hermetica are a body of mystical texts written in late antiquity, but believed during the Renaissance (when they became well known) to be much older. Their supposed author, a mythical figure named Hermes Trismegistus, was thought to be a contemporary of Moses. The Hermetic philosophy was regarded as an ancient theology, parallel to the revealed wisdom of the Bible, supporting Biblical revelation and culminating in the Platonic philosophical tradition. This new translation is the only English version based on reliable texts, and Professor Copenhaver's introduction and notes make this accessible and up-to-date edition an indispensable resource to scholars.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...the only reliable English translation of the eighteen tractates of the Greek Corpus Hermeticum....Students of Gnosticism and Greco-Roman religion and philosophy will consult this book with great profit." Religious Studies News

"Brian Copenhaver's very welcome translation of the Hermetica is able to draw on these important advances [of modern scholarship]....Copenhaver's industry is exemplary, digesting many years' research in many different areas and languages into a dense but comprehensive introduction which ties together dynastic, social and philosophical history, and adding a full and detailed commentary....Copenhaver's edition and commentary is fully abreast of the main lines of contemporary research, and can be confidently recommended to all scholars seeking precise guidance on these difficult works....[T]his is a remarkably useful edition sure to serve as a focal point and catalyst in our understanding of the Hermetic treatises." Brian Vickers, Ambix

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Greek, Latin --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (November 24, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521425433
• ISBN-13: 978-0521425438
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #192,179 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

97 of 102 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In the footsteps of the 'Thrice Greatest' Hermes, August 14, 2000

By 

Simon John Kyte (Ely, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hermetica: The Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius in a New English Translation, with Notes and Introduction (Paperback)

This translation of the Greek 'Corpus Hermeticum' and the Latin 'Asclepius' has been specifically undertaken for English-speakers. However, the real benefits of the translation are the excellent introduction and in excess of 260 pages of notes on the text making significant references to previous translations such as those of Zielinski, Reitzenstein, Festugiere, Mahe and Fowden. 'Hermetica' will be a fascinating journey for all those interested in Egypto-Hellenistic philosophy or for those searching for an alternative to the rigid orthodoxy of some other religious systems. However, there is little here for those who seek to become a spell-casting magus - this is Hermetism, rather than populist Hermeticism! In the thanksgiving at the end of Asclepius, the spells which were present in the Papyrus Mimaut and also in Nag Hammadi Codex VI.6 are omitted. These central texts of Hermetism are learned, philosophical treatises as opposed to popular, occultist writings - "a blend of theology, cosmology, anthropology, ethics, soteriology and eschatology."

Most readers will probably find some degree of confusion within the Corpus Hermeticum. Different authors of the various treatises appear to have taken part in Peripatetic-Platonic-Stoic debate within the surviving texts. Much of the previous criticism however has focussed on the Egyptian - Hellenic argument; Hermes Trismegistus being a syncretic fusion of the Greek messenger of the gods with the Egyptian Thoth (pr. something akin to T-HO-TI). Just to be confusing, the character 'Tat' is also a variant of Thoth is some of the Corpus' texts. Linked with this Peripatetic-Platonic debate is the Corpus' attitude towards dualism which should be a distinguishing feature between Hermetism and early Gnostic Christianity - but sometimes isn't all that clear-cut. Further complications arise through Copenhaver's extensive references to the Chaldean Oracles.

The texts open with POIMANDRES, 'the shepherd man' (poimen aner) although some still search for a Coptic root. The nature of 'true reality' (see Plato's 'Timaeus') establishes itself as the central focus in the very first line of CH I. It is Mind which will free the soul from the fleshy darkness of its bodily incarceration. The texts then move on to the universal discourse between Hermes and Tat opening up a Stoic - Peripatetic debate on whether there is a void or non-entity without the Cosmos. A third alternative is presented : that the surrounding space both encircles and moves the Cosmos.

The most Peripataetic of texts according to Zielinski is CH IV in which activity is clearly seen as positive and passivity as negative. There are some indications of common authorship between I and VII although a number of Western translators have found evidence of strong Judaic influences in VII. CH VII also introduces the metaphor of the 'chiton' (vestment, cloak, shawl) as a symbol of the body which fed through into the writings of Philo, Plotinus and the Valentinian Gnostics - this must be shed for the soul's ascent. The tenth discourse introduces another image of the chiton. Unlike the chiton of CH VIII, this garment must be acquired to rise and to take on a demonic cloak. With a good mind the soul can pass on to something greater, but to nothing lesser.

Within the 17 Greek treatises the Stoic concept of 'sumpatheia' (the organic unity of the Cosmos) is only mentioned specifically once in CH VIII although its influence can be elsewhere. Scott suggested that one of the latest of the extant logoi was XIII, the diexodikos logos, on account of its dependence on CH I and XI. This is essentially concerned with `palingenesia' which Buchsel sees as the Stoic opposite of ekpurosis - the great conflagration into which the currently existing Cosmos would disappear only to be restored under apokatastasis.

The historical development of translations of the texts has given them rather illogical numberings. In theory CH IX should take place immediately after the Latin Asclepius - as the latter is a translation of the 'perfect discourse', the 'teleios logos' rendered by Lactantius as the 'Sermo perfectus'. It is an exposition of the discourse on sensation which clearly rejects the Platonic position in favour of a more Stoic interpretation. Thanks to Adrien Turnebus' translation in 1554 there is no Corpus Hermeticum XV (Ficino's translation ended at XIV).

Mind only appears as interlocutor in CH I and XI. CH XI is also distinctive in that aion (eternity) appears 27 times within the text and only 3 times elsewhere. Aion was the supreme deity of Westernised Mithraism and is connected with Zrvan Akarana, Saturnus and Kronos, with Orpheism, in philosophical terms with the Stoic heimarmene (which appear elsewhere in the Corpus), perhaps even with the Phoenician Ba'al Shamin, and - in astro-magical texts - with the 'holy Agathos Daimon'. There is also the Aion of the Chaldean Oracles, which - according to Lewy - is 'not only a divinity, but also a noetic hypostasis'. Here, as in CH XIV, there is only one maker. This is a direct rebuttal of the Gnostic position and, internally, of the position outlined by I and XIII.

Asclepius (or Imhotep in the original Egyptian) is most likely a collection of fragments from other texts. The Hermetic praise of human dignity stops distinctly short of the physical and sexual aspects of the human condition. Asclepius is far more apocalyptic and laden within divine retribution than the Corpus. Copenhaver finds references to the Egyptian apocalyptic story of Potter's Oracle in his predecessors' translations centred around a Khnum, a ram-headed creator-god. But the message in Asclepius is clear, Egypt - this `image of heaven' - will forget its Hermetic ways and "will be filled completely with tombs and corpses" and "the reverent will be thought mad".

We should all try to learn something from Hermetica, for beneath the complexities is real truth.

Then he said to me : "Keep all in mind that you wish to learn, and I will teach you." Saying this, he changed his appearance and everything was immediately opened to me... (Corpus Hermeticum I)

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth a lifetime of study, January 19, 2004

By 

lucifer-dianus "lucifer-dianus" (Louisville KY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hermetica: The Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius in a New English Translation, with Notes and Introduction (Paperback)

This is a fantastic translation of the Pymander or Corpus Hermeticum and Asclepius. Since it's the only one I've read, I don't know how to compare it to others. This text was apparently rediscovered by the court of Cosimo di Medici in the 1400's, probably obtained from some source in Harran. Texts such as this were at the forefront of the syncretic mysticism and platonic/classical revival of the Italian Renaissance. This text might be something like a pagan hellenistic answer to scriptures or very obscure mystical and gnostic texts which describe very esoteric ideas that can only be understood through some kind of experience. On many levels it is very compatible with Christianity, Judaism or Islam because it may represent a kind of philosophical precursor of these religions from late antiquity. Even many of the early patriarchs of the orthodox christian tradition understood this compatibility and considered this text to represent a kind of sanctified pagan tradition or philosophy of sorts, which they actually used as proof of the validity of christianity. They did this by arguing that since pagans could come up with ideas so close to christianity, that this supported a belief in the new faith. For this reason, on the level of mundane theological and philosophical history, this text is very important for an understanding of how early christians and other monotheists viewed their relationship to paganism in a world that was still very pagan. The notes in this book are also extremely helpful and worthwhile.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well-researched edition of a vital document, April 1, 2003

By 

"mythologue" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hermetica: The Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius in a New English Translation, with Notes and Introduction (Paperback)

Much like the Chaldean oracles, the Corpus Hermeticum is a vital document for all those who have an interest in the eclectic thought of the period covering the first centuries AD; this recent edition is certainly worthy of being added to the library of the scholar and curious reader alike. It includes the seventeen Greek treatises which have been brought together over the centuries as the Corpus Hermeticum, in addition to the Latin `Asclepius', which is by far the longest piece of them all. No Greek or Latin text accompanies the translation, but Copenhaver provides extensive notes, many of which directly address specific points of the translation and pick up where studies in hermetism had left off. In these notes, there are numerous references to previous editions of the Hermetica, especially to the work of A.D. Nock/A.-J. Festugière (in French) and of W. Scott (in English). The introduction also does a good job of describing both the context in which these pieces emerged, and the way they have been read and edited in the following centuries.