Asclepius (treatise)

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Hermetic writings Liber Hermetis (astrological) Definitions of Hermes Trismegistus Corpus Hermeticum Poimandres Asclepius Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth Prayer of Thanksgiving Korē kosmou Cyranides The Book of the Secrets of the Stars The Secret of Creation Emerald Tablet Kitāb al-Isṭamākhīs Liber Hermetis de alchemia
Historical figures Ancient and medieval Zosimos of Panopolis Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (may be legendary) Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi Ibn Umayl Maslama al-Qurṭubī Aḥmad al-Būnī Early modern Marsilio Ficino Lodovico Lazzarelli Giovanni da Correggio Pico della Mirandola Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa Paracelsus John Dee Giordano Bruno Jakob Böhme Robert Fludd Christian Rosenkreuz (legendary, see Rosicrucianism)
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The Asclepius, also known as the Perfect Discourse (from the Greek Logos teleios),^[a] is a religio-philosophical Hermetic treatise. The original Greek text, which was likely written in Alexandria between 100 CE and 300 CE,^[1] is largely lost and only a few fragments remain. However, the full text is extant in an early Latin translation, and fragments from a Coptic translation have also been found among the documents discovered in Nag Hammadi.^[2]

Contents

The text takes the form of a dialogue, set in the sanctuary of an Egyptian temple, between Hermes Trismegistus and three of his students: Asclepius (a grandson of the Greek god and physician Asclepius), Tat, and Hammon.^[3]

Legacy

Medieval Latin readers had access to many Hermetic treatises of a 'technical' nature (

The text of the Asclepius was used by the philosopher Peter Abelard (1079–1142) and his student Robert of Melun (c. 1100–1167) as a means to prove that knowledge of the Trinity was naturally available to pagans.^[7] Albertus Magnus (c. 1200–1280) praised the idea developed in the Asclepius that the human being forms a link between God and the world, uniting in themselves both the spiritual nature of divine beings and the corporeal nature of the material world.^[8]

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

Translations and editions

• Brashler, James; Dirkse, Peter A.; Parrott, Douglas M. (1990). "Asclepius 21–29 VI,8". In
  ISBN 978-0060669355
  . (English translation of the Coptic fragments)
• ISBN 0-521-42543-3
  . (English translation of the Latin text)
• Gall, Dorothee, ed. (2021). Die göttliche Weisheit des Hermes Trismegistos: Pseudo-Apuleius, Asclepius. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.
  ISBN 978-3-16-160108-8
  . (German translation of the Latin text by Gall and of the Coptic fragments by Joachim F. Quack)
• ISBN 9782251006321
  . (edition of the Coptic fragments, with French translation)
• critical edition
  of the Latin text)
• Salaman, Clement (2007). Asclepius: The Perfect Discourse of Hermes Trismegistus. London: Bloomsbury.
  ISBN 9780715635643
  . (English translation of the Latin text)
• Stefani, Matteo (2019). Pseudo-Apuleius (Hermes Trismegistus): Asclepius. Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis. Vol. 143. Turnhout: Brepols.
  ISBN 978-2-503-58477-5
  . (new critical edition of the Latin text)

• Burnett, Charles (2004). "The Arabic Hermes in the Works of Adelard of Bath". In Lucentini, P.; Parri, I.; Perrone Compagni, V. (eds.). La tradizione ermetica dal mondo tardo-antico all'umanesimo. Atti del Convegno internazionale di studi, Napoli, 20–24 novembre 2001 [Hermetism from Late Antiquity to Humanism]. Instrumenta Patristica et Mediaevalia. Vol. 40. Turnhout: Brepols. pp. 369–384.
  ISBN 978-2-503-51616-5
  .
• Ebeling, Florian (2007). The Secret History of Hermes Trismegistus: Hermeticism from Ancient to Modern Times. Translated by Lorton, David. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
  JSTOR 10.7591/j.ctt1ffjptt
  .
• Gall, Dorothee (2021). "Einführung in die Schrift". In Gall, Dorothee (ed.). Die göttliche Weisheit des Hermes Trismegistos: Pseudo-Apuleius, Asclepius. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. pp. 3–28.
  ISBN 978-3-16-160108-8
  .
• Gilly, Carlos (2000). "Die Überlieferung des Asclepius im Mittelalter". In
  ISBN 978-90-71-60810-0
  .
• ISBN 9781009127936
  .
• Lucentini, Paolo (2004). "Il problema del male nell'Asclepius". In Lucentini, P.; Parri, I.; Perrone Compagni, V. (eds.). La tradizione ermetica dal mondo tardo-antico all'umanesimo. Atti del Convegno internazionale di studi, Napoli, 20–24 novembre 2001 [Hermetism from Late Antiquity to Humanism]. Instrumenta Patristica et Mediaevalia. Vol. 40. Turnhout: Brepols. pp. 25–44.
  ISBN 978-2-503-51616-5
  .
• ISBN 978-2-503-51616-5
  .
• Matton, Sylvain (2004). "Hermès Trismégiste dans la littérature alchimique médiévale". In Lucentini, P.; Parri, I.; Perrone Compagni, V. (eds.). La tradizione ermetica dal mondo tardo-antico all'umanesimo. Atti del Convegno internazionale di studi, Napoli, 20–24 novembre 2001 [Hermetism from Late Antiquity to Humanism]. Instrumenta Patristica et Mediaevalia. Vol. 40. Turnhout: Brepols. pp. 621–649.
  ISBN 978-2-503-51616-5
  .
• ISBN 978-3-16-160108-8
  .
• Parri, Ilaria (2004). "Tempo ed eternità nell'Asclepius". In Lucentini, P.; Parri, I.; Perrone Compagni, V. (eds.). La tradizione ermetica dal mondo tardo-antico all'umanesimo. Atti del Convegno internazionale di studi, Napoli, 20–24 novembre 2001 [Hermetism from Late Antiquity to Humanism]. Instrumenta Patristica et Mediaevalia. Vol. 40. Turnhout: Brepols. pp. 45–62.
  ISBN 978-2-503-51616-5
  .
• Parri, Ilaria (2011). "Tra ermetismo antico ed ermetismo medievale: l'Asclepius". In Arfé, Pasquale; Caiazzo, Irene; Sannino, Antonella (eds.). Adorare caelestia, gubernare terrena: Atti del Colloquio Internazionale in onore di Paolo Lucentini (Napoli, 6-7 Novembre 2007). Instrumenta Patristica et Mediaevalia. Vol. 58. Turnhout: Brepols. pp. 43–58.
  ISBN 978-2-503-53490-9
  .
• Polański, Tomasz (2006). "Literalism and Paraphrase as a Means of Preservation of Religious Textual Authority in the Coptic, Greek and Latin Asclepius' Apocalypse" (PDF). In Galewicz, Cezary (ed.). Texts of Power, the Power of the Text: Readings in Textual Authority Across History and Cultures. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Homini. pp. 87–98.
  OCLC 179545879
  .
• Quack, Joachim F. (2021). "Der Asclepius im Kontext der apokalyptischen Literatur". In Gall, Dorothee (ed.). Die göttliche Weisheit des Hermes Trismegistos: Pseudo-Apuleius, Asclepius. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. pp. 265–282.
  ISBN 978-3-16-160108-8
  .
• Quack, Joachim F. (2021). "Die koptische Version des Asclepius". In Gall, Dorothee (ed.). Die göttliche Weisheit des Hermes Trismegistos: Pseudo-Apuleius, Asclepius. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. pp. 309–331.
  ISBN 978-3-16-160108-8
  .
• ISBN 9780791436110
  .
• ISBN 978-90-71-60810-0
  .
• ISBN 978-0060669355
  .
• Roig Lanzillotta, Lautaro (2021). "The Discourse on the Eighth and the Ninth (NHC VI,6), the Prayer of Thanksgiving (NHC VI,7), and the Asclepius (NHC VI,8): Hermetic Texts in Nag Hammadi and Their Bipartite View of Man". Gnosis: Journal of Gnostic Studies. 6 (1): 49–78.
  doi:10.1163/2451859X-12340102
  .
• Sternberg‐el Hotabi, Heike (2021). "Ägyptische Religion und Hermetismus am Beispiel des Asclepius". In Gall, Dorothee (ed.). Die göttliche Weisheit des Hermes Trismegistos: Pseudo-Apuleius, Asclepius. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. pp. 223–263.
  ISBN 978-3-16-160108-8
  .
• Tornau, Christian (2021). "Platonische Philosophie im Asclepius". In Gall, Dorothee (ed.). Die göttliche Weisheit des Hermes Trismegistos: Pseudo-Apuleius, Asclepius. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. pp. 171–222.
  ISBN 978-3-16-160108-8
  .
• Van Bladel, Kevin (2009). The Arabic Hermes: From Pagan Sage to Prophet of Science. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  ISBN 978-0-19-537613-5
  .