Wicked Angels and the Good Demon: the Origins of Alchemy According to the Physica of Hermes

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Gnosis: Journal of Gnostic Studies 3 (2018) 3–33

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Wicked Angels and the Good Demon: The Origins of Alchemy According to the Physica of Hermes

Christian H. Bull University of Oslo and Princeton University [email protected]

Abstract

The alchemist Zosimus of Panopolis, writing around 300 CE, is our only source for a series of treatises by Hermes called the Physica, which reportedly spoke about angels who had intercourse with women, as in 1 Enoch, and which credited the revelation of alchemy to an enigmatic figure called Chemeu. The present contribution aims to show that Zosimus has in fact harmonized the account of 1 Enoch with the Physica of Hermes, identifying the Watchers of the former treatise with wicked angels who perverted the authentic art of alchemy, originally revealed to Hermes by Chemeu, who should be identified with Agathodaimon. It is further argued that the Physica likely served as a source for the Hermetic treatises the Perfect Discourse (Ascl. = NHC VI,8) and Kore Kosmou (Stob. herm. 23). This indicates that the literary relationship between the technical and theoretical Hermetica is tighter than hitherto assumed.

Keywords hermetism – Zosimus of Panopolis – alchemy – perfect discourse – Kore Kosmou – letter of Isis

The corpus of Hermetic literature is conventionally divided into two groups. By far the most well-known group is called the philosophical, or theoretical. This group consists of the Corpus Hermeticum, the Hermetic excerpts from Stobaeus, the Latin Asclepius, the three Coptic Nag Hammadi Hermetica (NHC VI,6–8), the Greek and Armenian Definitions of Hermes to Asclepius, as well as a number of fragments and excerpts. The second group, called popular or technical, is less well known, indeed little work has been done on this group

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2018 | doi 10.1163/2451859X-12340046Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 03:10:53AM via free access 4 Bull since the appearance of the first volume of André-Jean Festugière’s monumen- tal La révélation d’Hermès Trismégiste. The topic matter of this group would fall under the rubrics of astrology, alchemy, and magic, which Festugière referred to as the occult sciences. The relationship between the two groups is still unclear. Festugière was ready to admit that many of the “occult” texts stemmed from the Egyptian priesthood, while the philosophical treatises were ostensibly written by Greeks of mediocre culture.1 Despite the fact that the two corpora of texts share the same protagonists—Hermes, Agathodaimon, Asclepius, Isis, Horus, etc.—and project the same self-image of being secret Egyptian writings, taken from stelae hidden within the temples, quite different groups would be behind their production, according to Festugière.2 The question was raised again more recently by Garth Fowden, in his influ- ential The Egyptian Hermes.3 Fowden sees more of a continuity between the two corpora, but relegates the technical Hermetica—along with pagan cult practices—to the lower stages of the Way of Hermes, to be discarded when the disciple attains spiritual enlightenment.4 Yet, despite the lack of attention given in the theoretical Hermetica to the occult sciences and traditional cult, there is no evidence that such practices were thought to be superseded as the disciple advanced. Indeed, we should not ignore the fact that in the epilogue of the Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth (NHC VI,6), in which the summit of the Way of Hermes is reached through an ecstatic visionary ascent, Hermes instructs Tat to inscribe the treatise in hieroglyphic letters on a stela to be erected in the temple of Hermes in Diospolis. Although this is a literary fic- tion, it was likely written at a time when this temple, probably the one located in Qasr el-Agouz, was still active, and should be taken as an endorsement of traditional cultic activity.5 Furthermore, the stela was to be raised at a specific astrological juncture, which demonstrates that astrological computation was not considered to be superfluous by Hermetists who had completed their initiation. Since the text contains mysteries only to be related to the initiated, the stela should also be protected with a curse against uninitiated readers, invok- ing the uncreated, self-created, and created god, as well as the seven essence- rulers and the elements. Such features recur in the technical Hermetica. It is the aim of the present contribution to demonstrate that a technical treatise

1 Festugière 1944–54, 1:85–86, 102, 115–18, 2:33. 2 Festugière 1944–54, 1:362. 3 Fowden 1986, 75–94, on the occult sciences. 4 Fowden 1986, 116–17. 5 Klotz 2012, 215–18.

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(or series of interrelated treatises) called the Physica of Hermes, to which the alchemist Zosimus of Panopolis testifies, was likely used as a source in the Perfect Discourse (known as the Asclepius in its Latin translation) and the Kore Kosmou. This indicates that the distinction between the technical and theoretical Hermetica is not as clear-cut as previously supposed, and that there existed technical treatises strongly affiliated with the theoretical corpus.

The Wicked Angels in the Perfect Discourse of Hermes Trismegistus

In the famous apocalypse in the Perfect Discourse, Hermes describes how in the future, when the Egyptians no longer maintain the true religion, the gods will leave their temples in Egypt and only the “wicked angels” will remain. “Only the wicked angels,” Hermes says, “will remain behind with humankind, mingling with them and brazenly leading them into evil deeds, and into godlessness, wars, and banditry, by teaching them what is contrary to nature (ⲡⲁ[ⲣ]ⲁⲫⲩⲥⲓⲥ/naturae contraria).”6 Marc Philonenko has proposed that this is an allusion to the myth of the Watchers in 1 Enoch, where the “sons of God” in Genesis are said to be wicked angels who took human women as wives, begot giants as offspring with them, and taught humankind illicit arts, like metallurgy, root cutting, and magic.7 If there is indeed an undeniable resemblance, it is nevertheless important to recognize the differences between the myth of Hermes and that of Enoch. Already before the flood, the rebel angels of 1 Enoch descended and were vanquished by the loyalist angels of God, who bound them in valleys and des- erts until the day of judgement, when they will be destroyed in the confla- gration.8 Only the evil spirits of their children, the giants, remain on earth to plague humans.9 In the prediction of Hermes, on the other hand, the wicked angels are here on earth in the narrative present, and when the gods leave earth in the future the angels will have free rein to lead humankind astray. The wicked angels in the Perfect Discourse are the counterparts of the benevolent

6 Perf. Disc. NHC VI,8 73.5–12 //Ascl. 25. Synoptic edition in Mahé 1978–1982, 2:88, 239. All translations are mine unless otherwise stated. 7 1 En. 7–8. Cf. Philonenko 1975. For the Hermetic and alchemical use of the legend of the fallen Watchers and their secret revelations, see Scott 1924–1936, 4:149–50; Festugière 1944–1954, 1:254–60. 8 1 En. 15.8–11 9 1 En. 15.8–11.

Gnosis: Journal of Gnostic Studies 3 (2018) 3–33 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 03:10:53AM via free access 6 Bull demons, who inhabit the statues in the Egyptian temples.10 In Hermetic demonology, these two kinds of demons are not separated by an unbridgeable gulf, but they are in fact both “energies” or “effects” (ἐνέργεια) of the astral gods.11 Thus, they are the agents of fate, which can be either good or bad, de- pending on the astral conjunctions. The wise man, according to Asclepius in his discourse to king Ammon, is free from the effects of the demons who are responsible for everything else that happens in the sublunary world, for good or bad.12 In fact, the Perfect Discourse of Hermes and Asclepius’s discourse to king Ammon were conflated by Lactantius, who in his Divine Institutes wrote: “They each declare ‘Demons are enemies and tormentors of men’, which is why Trismegistus calls them ‘wicked angels’ (ἀγγέλους πονηρούς); he was well aware that they turned into earthly creatures upon corruption of their celestial nature.”13 Lactantius goes on to relate the wicked inventions of these demons, one of which is the creation of statues for worship. Our scant information about the wicked angels in the Hermetica is thus that they are connected to astral fatalism and that they teach, or at least will teach when the gods leave Egypt, unnatural arts to humankind.

Wicked Angels in the Physica of Hermes, according to Zosimus of Panopolis

It is possible that the motif of the wicked angels in the Perfect Discourse owes something to 1 Enoch, as Philonenko proposed, though they have then been embedded into the essentially Middle-Platonic demonology of Hermes.14 There was another Hermetic work in antiquity concerned with alchemy, now lost to us, that contained more information on these angels.15 Our witness to this Hermetic work is Zosimus, the late third- or early fourth-century alchemist from Panopolis in Upper Egypt, who refers to both technical and

10 Philanthropic demons: Ascl. 5; Daimon Agathos: NHC VI,8 75.3–5. 11 Corp. herm. 16.13; Stob. herm. 6.9–10. Cf. Greenbaum 2016, 209–13. 12 Corp. herm. 16.16. 13 Lactantius, Div. inst. 2.15.8 (Bowen and Garnsey 2003, 162). 14 On Platonic demonologies, see Timotin 2012, frequently citing the Hermetica. 15 Alchemical works attributed to Hermes are listed by Festugière 1944–1954, 1:251; Letrouit 1995, 81.

Gnosis: Journal of GnosticDownloaded Studies from Brill.com10/02/2021 3 (2018) 3–33 03:10:53AM via free access Wicked Angels and the Good Demon 7 theoretical Hermetica in his extant works.16 In a treatise addressed to a fellow alchemist, Theosebeia, he conflates the angels of Hermes and 1 Enoch. This text is preserved in a Syriac translation, but a Greek excerpt is also extant in the Chronographia of George Syncellus (ca. 800), which we follow here:

The holy scriptures, that is the books, say, my lady, that there is a race of demons who avail themselves of women. Hermes also mentioned this in his Physica, and nearly every book, esoteric and exoteric, makes mention of this. So the ancient and divine scriptures said this, that certain angels lusted after women, and having descended taught them all the works of nature. And since they stumbled thanks to these women, he says (φησί), they remained outside heaven, because they taught the humans everything wicked and nothing benefiting the soul. The same scriptures say that from them the giants were born. The first transmission from them regarding these arts is (by?) Chemeu (ἡ πρώτη παράδοσις Χημεῦ). He called (ἐκάλεσε) this the book of Chemeu, whence also the art is called chemeia, and so forth.17

The passage is dense, and it is not easy to know which texts Zosimus is refer- ring to in each instance. The “holy scriptures” in the first sentence likely refers to the Septuagint, and the sons of God in Genesis 6, whom Zosimus identifies as “a race of demons.” Zosimus then adduces Hermes to affirm the existence of such demons in his Physica, consisting of several books both esoteric and exoteric. The “ancient and divine scriptures” could refer to 1 Enoch and Jubilees, which both contain this information. The subject of “he says” (φησί) is likely Enoch, despite no explicit mentioning of his name.18 Indeed the Codex Panopolitanus recension of 1 Enoch states that the transgressing angels are imprisoned in an empty place “outside heaven” (ἔξω τοῦ οὐρανοῦ).19 Since this statement is not preserved in the Ethiopic version it is usually treated as a marginal note

16 Festugière 1944–1954, 1:261–82; Lindsay 1970, 323–57; Jackson 1978; Stroumsa 1984, 139–43; Fowden 1986, 120–26; Mertens 1990; 1995, xi–cxii; Letrouit 1995, 22–46. On allusions to philosophical Hermetica, cf. Edwards 1992; Fraser 2007; Bull forthcoming. 17 George Syncellus, Ecl. chron. 24 (Mosshammer 1984, 14); trans. Adler and Tuffin 2002, 18–9, slightly modified). Cf. Adler 1989, 148 n. 69; Fraser 2004, 125; Martelli 2013, 60–61; 2014b, 10–11; Martelli and Rumor 2014, 38–39. 18 Mertens 1983–1984, 67–8 n26, believes the subject of both φησί and ἐκάλεσε must be Zosimus, and that Syncellus is thus paraphrasing Zosimus. But the Syriac parallel proves this to be false. 19 1 En. 18:15.

Gnosis: Journal of Gnostic Studies 3 (2018) 3–33 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 03:10:53AM via free access 8 Bull later included in the text, but at any rate it indicates that the version read by Zosimus—with some likelihood an ancestor of Codex Panopolitanus— included this reference to a prison outside heaven.20 Finally, Zosimus refers to Chemeu (Χημεῦ). Since this name does not appear in Enochic literature, it must have been taken from the Physica of Hermes, and is likely both the title of a book and the name of the revealer of this book, as we shall see. The art “chemeia” (χημεία) has been explained etymologically from the Egyptian root km, meaning “black,” and could be a reference to the “black land” of Egypt, which is called Kemet in Egyptian (Hier. Km.t; Dem. Kmj; Copt. Sah. ⲕⲏⲙⲉ, Copt. Boh. ⲭⲏⲙⲉ), or a reference to the black, primal matter used in alchemy.21 It has also been proposed that the name Chemeu instead refers to the Middle Egyptian book Kemit, which was popular into the Ramesside era and might have reminiscences into the Hellenistic era.22 The title derives from an alternate meaning of the Egyptian root km, meaning “to complete,” and indicates that the work was a “completion,” or rather an anthology. The scanty remains indicate, however, that this book had to do with scribal education, and there are no similarities to the Chemeu mentioned by Zosimus. The subject for “he called” (ἐκάλεσε) must be Hermes, and we may infer that Chemeu is the title of one of the books of the Physica, named after the revealer. Chemeu is also a non-Greek personal name, and since we cannot know which case it is in, we do not know if “the first transmission” (ἡ πρώτη παράδοσις Χημεῦ) is “Chemeu” (nominative), is “from Chemeu” (genitive), or was “given to or made by Chemeu” (dative).23 We shall see, however, that Chemeu is likely the one who first revealed the art of chemeia to Hermes, and that the name likely refers to Kemet, the “black land” of Egypt, though a double entendre with km, “to complete,” might also be intended.

20 Cf. Olson 2013, who proposes that Zosimus himself or one of his disciples wrote the marginal note in an ancestor of Panopolitanus. But why would Zosimus claim that the ancient scriptures place the angels outside heaven, if it was he himself who added this sentence to the scriptures? 21 Festugière 1944–1954, 1:218, 235 n. 3. Some scholars derive the word alchemy from χύμα instead. Cf. also Herman 1954; Lindsay 1970, 70; Halleux 1979, 45–47; Oréal 1998; Bain 1999; Fraser 2004, 128. Recently Martelli and Rumor 2014, 56 have suggested that Zosimus took the word from the Akkadian verb kamû/kawû, meaning “to bake, to roast.” I agree that this is “not impossible,” but would consider the Egyptian derivation more plausible for Zosimus and Hermes. 22 Cf. Herman 1954. English translation in Wente 1990, 15–16. Cf. Letrouit 1995, 72–74. 23 Cf., however, Mertens 1983–1984, 67 and Martelli and Rumor 2014, 38 n. 9, who propose to omit the first reference to Chemeu, since it does not appear in the Syriac.

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Chemeu and Agathodaimon

From the passage of Zosimus we can deduce that the Physica contained a book on alchemy called Chemeu, which described demons or angels who had sexual intercourse with humans and taught them about these arts. Were the arts of Chemeu harmful to the soul, like those of the fallen angels in 1 Enoch? Likely not, for chemeia is a positive term in the work of Zosimus, to the degree that he once calls his book “chymeutic” (χυμευτικὴ), which is also the designation used for his books by Photius (χειμευτικῶν) and the Suda (χημευτικὰ).24 The various spellings (υ-ει-η) are no doubt due to iotacism, and the same variants occur in the spelling of χημεῖα and Χημευ.25 In 1 Enoch, it is Azael who teaches metallurgy (τὰ μέταλλα καὶ τὴν ἐργασίαν αὐτῶν) and tincturing (τὰ βαφικά) to the humans.26 Since tincturing is a favored term of Zosimus to refer to his art, it is unthinkable that this should be included in the arts that teach humans “everything wicked and nothing benefiting the soul” (πάντα τὰ πονηρὰ καὶ μηδὲν ὠφελοῦντα τὴν ψυχὴν). It is therefore fairly certain that Zosimus relied on the Physica of Hermes to develop a tradition of the art of tincturing different from that of 1 Enoch. The passage quoted by Syncellus is also found in a codex preserving a Syriac translation of Zosimus’s On the Letter Eta, where we learn more of the book called Chemeu.27 It is divided into twenty-four treatises, and each has a title that is either a word or a letter, such as Imouth, Face, and Key.28 It seems likely

24 Zosimus, On the divisions of the chemical art 7, Berthelot 1887–1888, 2:220; Photius cod. 170, 117a, l. 28; Suda ζ 168. Cf. Martelli 2014a, 192–93; 2014b, 11n32. 25 Halleux 1979, 45. 26 1 En. 8.1. 27 Berthelot and Duval 1893, 238–39; Martelli 2011, 131–35; 2014b 11–12. Syriac text in Martelli 2014b, 18–20. On the Syriac corpus of Zosimus, cf. Mertens 1995, lxx–lxxviii; Camplani 2000; Martelli 2014a, 199–211. 28 Cf. Fowden 1986, 125n39; Martelli 2014b, 12. Syncellus claims that his excerpt from Zosimus is from the ninth book of Imouth, whereas the Syriac text is called Eighth Treatise on the Working of Tin; Letter Het. Imouth is clearly derived from Imouthes, the Greek translit- eration of the Egyptian Imhotep, whom the Greeks identified with Asclepius, cf. Mertens 1995, xciv–xcvi. Zosimus also refers to a book called Imouth in the Syriac First Treatise, which he says contains the workings of the whole book of chemeia (Berthelot and Duval 1893, 214). In the Syriac Eighth Treatise, he likewise refers to the first and second book of Imouth (Berthelot and Duval 1893, 235). Syncellus—or more likely his source—thus must have mistakenly believed that the book Imouth, to which Zosimus refers, was the title of the work of Zosimus. Cf. Letrouit (1995, 35), who maintains that Imouth is a work by Zosimus, but disregards the Syriac section listing it as one of the titles of a book of Chemeu.

Gnosis: Journal of Gnostic Studies 3 (2018) 3–33 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 03:10:53AM via free access 10 Bull that the twenty-four treatises are identical to the Physica, and that Chemeu was the title of the first treatise, which could be used metonymically as a title for the whole, much as the Corpus Hermeticum for most of its history was known as the Poimandres (or Pymander etc.) after its first treatise, named after the primordial revealer. Later authors refer to a number of alchemical works of Hermes, and some of these works may have belonged to the Physica.29 Zosimus goes on to state that the book of Chemeu was hidden, and that later commentators drowned it with deceits. Theosebeia, we learn, has gath- ered around her a circle bound by mutual oaths, to whom she teaches chemeia in secret, whereas Zosimus feels that everyone should have a book of chemeia.30 The only other reference to chemeia in his extant work is in the True Book of Sophe the Egyptian, where he says that the symbol of chemeia (χημείας σύμβολον) is given from the creation of the world (κοσμοποιΐας) to those who save and purify the divine part of their soul, which is trapped in matter.31 This indicates that the book Chemeu cannot have been delivered by the wicked angels, but the wicked angels are perhaps the same as the “commentators” who have hidden the authentic books on chemeia from view, as we shall see. Accordingly, Chemeu cannot be the name of a wicked angel or a giant offspring of one of these angels. We can come closer to the identity of Chemeu from a later commentator of Zosimus, the alchemist Olympiodorus, who states that it was Agathodaimon, “the Good Demon,” who published “the chemeutic book” (βίβλον ἐκτίθησιν χημευτικὴν).32 This Agathodaimon, Olympiodorus says, was either an ancient Egyptian philosopher; an angel who is “mysterious,” “secret,” or “related to the mysteries” (μυστικώτερον ἄγγελόν); the guardian demon of Egypt; or heaven itself.33 An anonymous alchemical fragment also

29 List in Festugière 1944–1954, 1:240–60. Cf. Ruska 1926, 11–18; Letrouit 1995, 81. 30 Fowden 1986, 125. 31 Berthelot 1887–1888, 2:213. Cf. Frag. herm. 37: Ἔνθεν Ἑρμῆς ἐν τῇ Κοσμοποιΐᾳ τὰ μὲν ὑπὲρ ὀσφὺν ἄρρενα τῆς Ἀφροδίτης, τὰ δὲ μετ’ αὐτὴν θήλεα παραδίδωσιν. Cf. also Festugière 1944– 1954, 1:261–62; Fraser 2007, 40. Mertens 1995, lxvii–lxix notes that the attribution of this text to Zosimus is uncertain, but two of the four recensions she treats are clear in the authorial attribution, and moreover the subject matter of the harmony between Egyptian and Jewish wisdom is a good match for Zosimus. On the manuscript tradition of the alchemical corpus, cf. Festugière 1939; Mertens 1995, xx–xliii. 32 Berthelot 1887–1888, 2:80. There is some debate if this Olympiodorus is the same as the Neoplatonic commentator of Aristotle, cf. Letrouit 1995, 49–56. On Chemeu/Chymes, cf. Letrouit 1995, 72–74. On Agathodaimon, cf. Letrouit 1995, 80–81. 33 Lindsay 1970, 301. Cf. Berthelot 1887–1888, 1:10 on Pap. Leiden V col. 7, l. 30, praising Agathodaimon as a divine serpent.

Gnosis: Journal of GnosticDownloaded Studies from Brill.com10/02/2021 3 (2018) 3–33 03:10:53AM via free access Wicked Angels and the Good Demon 11 mentions adherents of Agathodaimon (οἱ Ἀγαθοδαιμονῖται).34 According to Olympiodorus, Agathodaimon conceived of the beginning of the cosmos as residing in the end, and vice versa, symbolized by the Ouroboros-snake that eats its own tail.35 Agathodaimon was himself regularly pictured as a snake, and as such often syncretized with the serpentine Egyptian gods Sarapis and Shay (Fate).36 The sacred scribes of Egypt, Olympiodorus adds, saw the Ouroboros as the image of the cosmos, and engraved it with hieroglyphic characters on obelisks. This corresponds to the image of the Ouroboros surrounding the Hermetic slogan “The all is one” (ἕν τὸ πᾶν) on a single page of alchemical im- ages in the Authentic Memoirs of Zosimus.37 A similar saying is attributed to Chymes in a work by Zosimus: “Indeed the all is one, and through it the all has come into being. The all is one. And if the all were not to contain all, the all would not have come to be.”38 Olympiodorus also quotes more or less the same saying: “Chemes, following Parmenides, says: ‘The all is one, and all is through the one; for if the one did not hold the all, the all would be nothing.’”39 Clearly the idea that Chemes followed Parmenides must be due to Olympiodorus: in the Physica and the work of Zosimus the primordial revealer Chemes/Chemeu must have been considered by far anterior to Parmenides.40 Chemeu, Chemes, Chymes, and Chimes are no doubt simply variant spellings due to iotacism, as mentioned above.41 In Corpus Hermeticum 12, a variant of the same saying is attributed to Agathodaimon:

34 Berthelot 1887–1888, 2:208. Festugière 1944–1954, 1:226 ascribes this fragment to Zosimus, whereas Mertens 1995, xxvii catalogues it as anonymous. 35 On the Ouroboros in alchemy, cf. Sheppard 1962. I omit here for space a discussion of an anonymous alchemical excerpt on the Ouroboros (Berthelot 1887–1888, 1:21–23), protect- ing a heavenly temple, which either derives from or has inspired the famous vision of Zosimus, Mem. auth. 10 (On Virtue). 36 Greenbaum 2016, 77–102. 37 Zosimus, Mem. auth. 6. One of the manuscripts have the legend “goldworking of Cleopatra” on this page of diagrams, but Mertens 1995, 175–78 has convincingly shown that it likely belongs to the work of Zosimus. For the diagrams, cf. Mertens 1995, 240–41. Incidentally, this is the very image of the Ouroboros that can be found on the cover of the present journal. Three alchemical works are attributed to Cleopatra, cf. Taylor 1930, 116–17. 38 Greek text in Berthelot 1887–1888, 2:169. The text is identified as part of the Chapters to Eusebius by Mertens 1995, xxvii. Zosimus also attributes certain alchemical recipes to Chymes, cf. Berthelot 1887–1888, 2:172. 39 Cf. Berthelot 1887–1888, 1:91; Berthelot 1885, 167–68; Festugière 1944–1954, 1:252–53. 40 On the saying of Parmenides, see Plato, Parm. 144c; Aristotle, Metaph. 3.4, 1001a 29. 41 Χίμης is listed as an alchemical authority along with Democrites, Hermes, Agathodaimon, Zosimus, etc. Cf. Berthelot 1887–1888, 1:111. On Chimes: Mesure de jaunissement 4 & 7 (Berthelot 1887–1888, 2:183–83): Οὕτως καὶ Χίμης εἰς πολλοὺς τόπους καίει μάλιστα τὴν δι’

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Therefore I always listened when Agathodaimon spoke, and if he had published it in writing it would have been of great help for humankind. For only he, my son, since he looked down on everything as first-born god, truly spoke divine words. Anyway, I once heard him say that “the all is one, and especially intelligible bodies.”42

We notice that there is an ambiguity here, as to whether Agathodaimon was a human teacher or a “first-born god,” similar to the different identities listed by Olympiodorus. Agathodaimon ostensibly did not publish anything himself, though Hermes seems to refer to a collection of sayings attributed to Agathodaimon.43 The all is one, we learn, and this is especially true of the noetic world, since there is no extension (διαστατὸν) there. Similarly, in the Hermetic treatise The Key, we learn that the one envelops and suffuses the all: “This is the administration of the all, which depends on the nature of the one and which extends through one mind … this is the Agathodaimon” (καὶ αὕτη ἡ τοῦ παντὸς διοίκησις, ἠρτημένη ἐκ τῆς τοῦ ἑνὸς φύσεως καὶ διήκουσα δι’ ἑνὸς τοῦ νοῦ … οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ ἀγαθὸς δαίμων).44 The attribution of the saying “the all is one” variously to Chemeu and Agathodaimon, together with the statement of Olympiodorus that Agathodaimon wrote the chemeutic book, indicates that these are variant names for the same figure, variously considered to be human or god-like, much like Hermes Trismegistus himself. Based on the information from Olympiodorus it is quite likely that Chemeu was identified with Agathodaimon in the Physica of Hermes, and that the name Chemeu reflects his role as the guardian demon of Egypt, Km.t in Egyptian.45 So in the Physica, Hermes probably attributed one of the books to his teacher called variously Chemeu or Agathodaimon, similar to how he in Corpus Hermeticum 12 refers to the sayings of Agathodaimon.

ἐλυδρίου…. Καὶ ὁ προφήτης Χίμης χορεύων, μετὰ ἐξεπιβολὰς ἔλεγεν δεὶς [ἔλεγεν] αὐτὸν ἄσκιον ξανθόν. Chimes the prophet might be a second Chemeu, as it is quite common with a re- duplication of divine figures into homonymous divine ancestors and human descendants in Hermetic literature; cf. Berthelot 1887–1888, 1:10. Two short extant alchemical excerpts are also attributed to Agathodaimon; cf. Taylor 1930, 118. 42 Corp. herm. 12.8. 43 Mahé 1978–1982, 2:307–10. 44 Corp. herm. 10.23. On Corp. herm. 10 and 12, cf. Nock and Festugière 1945–1954, 1:171–73. 45 For a contrasting view, see Fraser 2007, 38, who thinks Chemeu is one of the gigantic offspring of the angels.

Gnosis: Journal of GnosticDownloaded Studies from Brill.com10/02/2021 3 (2018) 3–33 03:10:53AM via free access Wicked Angels and the Good Demon 13

The Wicked Angels and Alchemical Tinctures

In the quote provided by Syncellus, Zosimus harmonizes the origins of alchemy in the Physica of Hermes with 1 Enoch based on his view of cultural transmission from Egypt to the Jews. Daniel Stolzenberg has argued that Zosimus’s myth of the origins of alchemy is taken from a gnostic work akin to the work of Nicotheos, whom Zosimus cites in On the Letter Omega.46 This hypothesis, however, disregards the references to the stelae of Hermes, which clearly indicate that the source of Zosimus was the Physica of Hermes. The Hermetic myth was however reworked by Zosimus, probably in line with the apocalypse of Nicotheos and 1 Enoch. But Zosimus gives the Egyptian Chemeu and Hermes chronological priority, before the Jewish sages received the art. In the time of Hermes, we learn in Zosimus’s Final Quittance, the tinctures used to transmute metals were natural, as described in Hermes’s Book of Natural Tinctures, which had been given to Isidorus (βὶβλος φυσικῶν βαφῶν Ἰσιδώρῳ δοθεῖσα).47 This book is likely one of the Physica of Hermes. Isidorus is otherwise unknown as a disciple of Hermes, and it is more likely that he is identical to the alchemical authority Petesis, and that Zosimus does not mean that Isidorus is an interlocutor in the book, but that he later received the book and based his alchemy on it.48 The Book of Natural Tinctures thus corresponds to the stelae that Zosimus says were given as an inheritance from the ancestors, which contained the craftworks that belonged to the kings of Egypt. The kings derived their wealth from these natural tinctures, and therefore maintained a strict monopoly of them.49 The friends of the king and the prophets of the first rank were thus forced to keep these arts hidden.50 In fact, the ancients and Hermes are blameworthy for not publishing these natural tinctures, according to Zosimus; instead “they carved them on stelae in the dark in the innermost parts (of the temples) with symbolic letters.”51 After the time of Hermes, some demons became jealous of the natural tinctures, and they kept them hidden

46 Stolzenberg 1999. 47 Zosimus, Final Quittance 4. 48 Petesis (or Petasius as he is often called) means the gift of Isis, as does Isidorus. Cf. Lindsay 1970, 141; Letrouit 1995, 47–48; Quack 2002, 86–87. Isidorus is also quoted by Zosimus in the Syriac Eighth Treatise, right after the passage discussing the Book Chemeu, which indicates that he was a commentator of the Physica. 49 Zosimus, Final Quittance 1. The parallel passage of Olympiodorus does not contain a reference to stelae, but does mention the inheritance of priests, cf. Festugière 1944–1954, 1:363–68, for parallel texts. 50 Prophet is the title of the highest Egyptian priesthood, cf. Merten 1989b. 51 Zosimus, Final Quittance 5.

Gnosis: Journal of Gnostic Studies 3 (2018) 3–33 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 03:10:53AM via free access 14 Bull and introduced so-called timely tinctures instead. These tinctures only work at specific times, when the demon wishes them to. The authentic tinctures, on the other hand, work naturally, independent of demonic influences, and the one who is initiated is able to repulse the demons and achieve the desired result.52 After hiding the natural tinctures, the demons proceeded to introduce their counterfeit timely tinctures instead, and they used them to trick humans into offering them sacrifice.53 It is unclear if this part derives from the Physica of Hermes or if it is an elaboration by Zosimus himself. In fact, as I have previously suggested, the events of chapter 7 closely correspond to the events that Hermes says will happen in the future in the Perfect Discourse: The gods will leave their statues and only the wicked angels will remain, who will teach humans all kinds of unnatural things (ⲡⲁ[ⲣ]ⲁⲫⲩⲥⲓⲥ/naturae contraria).54 This is portrayed as something that has already happened in the narrative of Zosimus, where indeed the demons teach humans about the “unnatural” (ἀφυσίκα) timely tinctures. The most likely scenario is that the Physica contained a prophecy of Hermes concerning a future departure of the gods from Egypt, correspond- ing to that in the Perfect Discourse, and that Zosimus interpreted this prophecy as having been fulfilled in his own time. Supporting this hypothesis is the fact that in the introduction to the Perfect Discourse, Hermes says that he has previously written several “natural and ‘outer’ works” (Physica Exoticaque) to his son Tat.55 The Physica may clearly refer to the same treatises as those known to Zosimus. It is unclear what the otherwise unknown title or designation Exotica means. Festugière proposed that it could derive from Greek ἐξωτερικά, and in that case they might correspond to those books of the Physica that Zosimus says are φανερός, with the meaning “exoteric,” or “openly declared”.56 Since the Perfect Discourse is commonly conceived to be compounded from several different sources, it is in light of the above-mentioned parallels in Zosimus likely that the famous prediction of Hermes derives from his Physica.

52 Zosimus, Final Quittance 6. 53 Zosimus, Final Quittance 7. Cf. Fowden 1986, 122–23. 54 NHC VI,8 73.5–12//Ascl. 25. Cf. Mahé 1978–1982, 2:88, 239; Bull forthcoming; Knipe 2011, 67. 55 Ascl. 1. 56 Nock and Festugière 1945–1954, 2:357. Fowden 1986, 98 connects these books with the so- called “general discourses.”

Gnosis: Journal of GnosticDownloaded Studies from Brill.com10/02/2021 3 (2018) 3–33 03:10:53AM via free access Wicked Angels and the Good Demon 15

The Creation of Statues

If that is the case, it is also likely that the chapters on the creation of divine statues in the Perfect Discourse derive from the Physica. Here, Hermes states that his ancestors once erred in their teachings on divinity until they discovered the art of making gods (inuenerunt artem qua efficerent deos).57 This art consists of finding an “appropriate force from the nature of matter” (uirtutem de mundi natura conuenientem), namely “herbs, stones, and spices which contain a natural force” (de herbis, de lapidibus et de aromatibus diuinitatis naturalem uim in se habentibus).58 This matter is then shaped into statues, which “souls of demons or angels” (animas daemonum uel angelorum) are called down from heaven to inhabit by means of sacrifices, hymns, and songs in tune with the heavenly harmony.59 These statues inhabited by angels or demons then have the “power to do both good and evil” (bene faciendi et male uires), they can both heal and bring disease, and predict the future through lots, dreams, and divination.60 The terms angel and demon seem to be used synonymously.61 It is uncertain if there are both good and evil terrestrial gods, and whether the wicked angels (Ascl. 25) who remain on earth are souls called down into statues, or simply disembodied beings who affect the souls of humans, as in Corpus Hermeticum 16, mentioned above. In the Syriac book On the Letter Waw, Zosimus does indeed talk about books of Hermes guarded jealously by Egyptian priests, in which there were alchemical recipes for black and white tinctures used to make statues.62 The process outlined resembles the one mentioned by Pliny the Elder, who says that the Egyptians tincture silver with copper and sulphur to make it dark for the im- ages of the god Anubis (Tinguit Aegyptus argentum, ut in vasis Anubim suum spectet).63 Unlike the Perfect Discourse, however, Zosimus does not have a positive attitude towards the statues: he despises the priest Nilus and his disciples, who make statues of serpents, Agathodaimon, and Agatha Tyche, as well as the Nile, and so trick the commoners to believe that the statues are animated

57 Ascl. 37. 58 Ascl. 37–38. 59 Ascl. 37. Cf. Bull 2016. 60 Ascl. 24, 37–38. 61 Cf. Stob. herm. 24.5–6; Frag. herm. 21; 23. 62 On the letter Waw (Berthelot and Duval 1893, 222–32). Cf. Martelli 2017 and forthcoming. I thank the author for generously sharing drafts of these papers with me. 63 Pliny the Elder, Nat. hist. 33.46.

Gnosis: Journal of Gnostic Studies 3 (2018) 3–33 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 03:10:53AM via free access 16 Bull and not made by human hands.64 Zosimus thus follows Hermes in identifying humans as the producers of the statues, but he disagrees that they are animated, at least not by benevolent gods. In the Final Quittance, as we have seen, Zosimus identifies the wicked angels with demons who receive sacrifices in the temples, though he does not explicitly say that they dwell in statues. It seems that Zosimus identifies Hermes’s demons who inhabit the statues, ca- pable of both good and evil, with the wicked angels who will remain when the gods leave earth. If there ever were beneficent terrestrial gods, in Zosimus’s view, this must have been at the time when Hermes lived, after which the jealous demons hid the natural tinctures and instituted the timely ones. The prediction of Hermes has thus become realized eschatology. Zosimus likely identified the wicked angels with the terrestrial gods under the influence of 1 Enoch. The Jews were not affected by the royal monopoly of Egypt, according to the Final Quittance, so they published some of the tinctures, though they have kept others hidden.65 The explanation of how the Jews came to possess the Egyptian royal secret of the natural tinctures is likely found in chapter 8, where Zosimus says that the demons that prevent the operation of the tinctures can be repelled by means of certain sacrifices that Membres taught Solomon, and which also the latter spoke of himself in his books.66 The name Membres is likely derived from the Egyptian magician Jambres who contended with Moses before Pharaoh, and there likely existed an apocryphal work detailing how this Egyptian transmitted Hermetic knowledge to Solomon, explaining the latter’s famous mastery of demons.67 Zosimus also speaks of sacred books of Hermes that agree with those of the Hebrews in On the Letter Omega. Here we learn that the guide of the luminous, inner man is the son of God, whereas the guide of the earthly man is

64 On the Letter Waw 31 (Berthelot and Duval 1893, 228–29). 65 Published some (Final Quittance 2); kept others hidden (Final Quittance 3). On references to Jewish alchemists in Zosimus, cf. Patai 1994, 51–56, 81–91 (mostly quotations of the relevant passages). 66 Cf. Van der Vliet 2012, 203–4; Knipe 2011, 68–69. I have suggested that these sacrifices are similar to the Hermetic “rational sacrifice,” Bull forthcoming; cf. Bull 2015. It is also possible that the art reached the Jews through Maria the Jewess, who according to some sources studied together with Democritus under Ostanes in an Egyptian temple, cf. Patai 1994, 75. 67 On Jannes and Jambres, cf. Pietersma 1994, 32, who suggests that Jambres and Membres are one and the same. Since Solomon lived several generations after Moses, it is in my view more likely that Membres is based on Jambres, but supposed to be a different person.

Gnosis: Journal of GnosticDownloaded Studies from Brill.com10/02/2021 3 (2018) 3–33 03:10:53AM via free access Wicked Angels and the Good Demon 17 a “counterfeit” (ἀντίμιμος).68 The latter is elsewhere in the treatise said to be a “counterfeit demon” (ὁ ἀντίμιμος δαίμων), who will come to deceive humans as it did before, by counteracting Jesus Christ, who is freeing the luminous humans from their earthly Adam, and it will send an emissary from Persia before itself.69 The emissary from Persia likely refers to Mani, which would thus provide a terminus post quem for the text of Zosimus in the late third century, when Manichaean missionaries arrived in number in Egypt.70 It would seem that the counterfeit demon corresponds to the demons who hid the natural tinctures and introduced the counterfeit ones to oppress the inner human. In fact, Zosimus also mentions the “personal demon” (ἰδίον δαιμονίον) who makes the timely tinctures work for its adherents as long as the stars are propitious, but is of no help when the stars turn.71 Once again the source of Zosimus seems to be the Physica of Hermes, for he says that Hermes in his treatise On Natures (Περὶ Φύσεων) wrote regarding the mindless humans that they are subject to fate, and to the demons who minister to fate.72 From Zosimus we have learnt so far that Hermes in the Physica likely claimed to have received the art of alchemy as a revelation from Chemeu, an alternate name for Agathodaimon. An essential element of the teaching of Agathodaimon was that “The all is one,” symbolized by the serpent which bites its own tail, the Ouroboros. The Physica seem to have contained instructions for how to make statues of the gods by means of alchemical tinctures and invo- cations of the souls of angels and demons to inhabit the statues. These earthly gods will in the future leave their statues, at which point only wicked angels remain, teaching unnatural knowledge to the humans. Zosimus identified these wicked angels with the Watchers in 1 Enoch, and the tinctures taught by Azael in the latter work must accordingly have been unnatural, timely tinctures. Unlike Hermes, it seems that Zosimus also identified

68 Zosimus, Mem. Auth. 1.15. Cf. Jackson 1978, 37; Mertens 1995, 110–11 n95. The word demon seems in many instances to have been excised from the work of Zosimus, perhaps to protect alchemy from the charge of any connection with demons. 69 Zosimus, Mem. Auth. 1.14. It is likely that the counterfeit demon in Zosimus bears some relation to the counterfeit spirit of the Apocryphon of John, cf. Bull 2017. 70 Mertens 1995, xvii. It has been suggested that the reference of Zosimus to Mani implies that the latter was still alive at the time, in which case the text of Zosimus could be dated to between 268 and 278. Cf. Letrouit 1995, 46. 71 Zosimus, Mem. Auth. 1.2. Cf. Stolzenberg 1999, 5. 72 Zosimus, Mem. Auth. 1.4; Cf. Camplani 2000, 80. Festugière 1944–1954, 1:251, did not relate On Natures to the Physica, and therefore did not consider the former to be an alchemical treatise. Fowden 1986, 123–24, believes On Natures to be a reference to Corp. herm. 4, the Mixing-Bowl.

Gnosis: Journal of Gnostic Studies 3 (2018) 3–33 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 03:10:53AM via free access 18 Bull the wicked angels with the demons residing in the statues of the Egyptian temples. Accordingly, Zosimus must at some point have lost faith that the Egyptian priests still carried the tradition of the natural tinctures, inherited from Chemeu and Hermes in ancient times. Instead they suppressed the books of Hermes and used unnatural tinctures. Zosimus never explains how he himself got hold of the secret books of Hermes, but a possible explanation is that he was once a priest himself, or perhaps a metallurgist working for a temple.73 So far, we have not seen any trace of angels or demons who lusted for human women, which Hermes spoke of in the Physica according to Zosimus. Such a teaching is, however, found in the Letter of Isis to Horus.

Isis and the Angel of Noon Amnael

We have received from the medieval alchemical manuscript tradition two recensions of a Letter of Isis to Horus, in which Isis is called a prophetess.74 The text has been hypothetically dated to the second or third century, and is certainly anterior to Zosimus, as Festugière has pointed out.75 In this text, Isis teaches her son Horus about alchemy, and relates that she was once seeking the holy art of Egypt, the making of gold and silver, and therefore spent some time in a place called Hormanouthis.76 After a time of seclusion there, she relates, “it came to pass that one of those who dwell in the first firmament, one of the angels, having seen me from above, wanted to have sexual intercourse with me. As he arrived, and was intent for this to happen, I did not yield, since I wanted to demand the preparation of gold and silver”.77 Rebuffed, this unnamed angel returned to heaven, but the next day a greater angel, called Amnael, approached Isis on the same errand. Isis still resisted the advances of the angel until he agreed to reveal to her the mysteries of the sacred art. It is not explicitly stated whether Isis reciprocated with sexual favors, but it is

73 Grimes 2006; Bull forthcoming. 74 Cf. Scott 1924–1936, 4:144–51; Festugière 1944–1954, 1:253–60; Mertens 1983–1984, 1989b; Fraser 2004, 132–33; Martelli 2014b, 8–9. I wish to thank Michèle Mertens for making her dissertation available to me, and I follow her edition of the text. 75 Festugière 1944–1954, 1:256. The Book of Sophe the Egyptian, which probably should be attributed to Zosimus, as we have seen, refers to a “tincture of Isis” which corresponds to a recipe in the Letter of Isis, cf. Festugière 1944–1954, 1:254–55. 76 Mertens 1983–1984, 56–60. 77 Letter of Isis 1.2–3 (Mertens 1983–1984, 128–29).

Gnosis: Journal of GnosticDownloaded Studies from Brill.com10/02/2021 3 (2018) 3–33 03:10:53AM via free access Wicked Angels and the Good Demon 19 strongly implied since she says that she did not yield “until” (ἄχρις) Amnael “showed me the sign on his head, and handed over the tradition of the mysteries that I searched for” (τὴν τῶν ζητουμένων μυστηρίων παράδοσιν).78 We recall that Chemeu also handed over the “tradition” (παράδοσις) of chemeia, and it is possible that the sign that Amnael carries on his head has something to do with the “symbol of chemeia” (χημείας σύμβολον) that Zosimus mentions but does not describe. The teaching that Isis learns is that everything that is sown according to nature corresponds to what is reaped, so that a human sows a human and a lion sows a lion, whereas something born against nature will be a monster and will not have “structure” or “substance” (σύστασις). The famous alchemical apho- rism follows: “For nature delights in nature, and nature conquers nature” (ἡ γὰρ φύσις τὴν φύσιν τέρπεται, καὶ ἡ φύσις τὴν φύσιν νικᾷ).79 After this, Horus is given a recipe for tincturing metal to become gold, by infusing a baser metal with the “spirit” of gold. The saying “nature delights in nature” can be traced back to the Physika kai Mystika of Pseudo-Democritus, which is normally dated to the first century of our era.80 Since also other recipes in the Letter of Isis seem to be indebted to this work, that would provide a terminus post quem.81 Since this is the only alchemical treatise that refers to angels who want to have intercourse with women, it has been suggested that the treatise belongs to the Physica of Hermes mentioned by Zosimus.82 Indeed, this suggestion is substantiated by a cryptic saying of Isis: “Now go and look for Acharas the laborer, ask him and learn what is being sown and what is being reaped, and you will learn that what sows grain also reaps it, and who sows barley likewise reaps

78 Letter of Isis 4 (Mertens 1983–1984, 131). 79 Letter of Isis 7.2 (Mertens 1983–1984, 133; for commentary, 114–15). The last member of the phrase is omitted in the Letter of Isis: ἡ φύσις τὴν φύσιν κρατεῖ. The saying means that various substances variously have affinity with, absorb, or suppress other substances. Cf. Festugière 1944–1954, 1:231, who recommends translating “une nature est charmée par une autre nature, etc.” 80 Festugière 1944–1954, 1:224–38; Martelli 2011, 137; 2013, 29–31. Firmicus Maternus (Math. 4.22.2) credits a version of the saying to the legendary astrologer and king of Egypt, Nechepso, whose pseudepigraphic works are commonly dated to the second century BCE. The saying thus may stem from a Hermetic tradition, since Nechepso refers to Hermes as an authority (Math. 3.1.1) and indeed Ps.-Democritus claims to have received the saying in an Egyptian temple (Phys. et myst. 3–4). 81 Mertens 1983–1984, 126. 82 Mertens 1983–1984, 68–9; 1989a, 386.

Gnosis: Journal of Gnostic Studies 3 (2018) 3–33 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 03:10:53AM via free access 20 Bull barley too.”83 Practically the same saying is attributed to Hermes by Zosimus: “Go to Achaab the laborer and learn that who sows grain begets grain,” which Zosimus takes to mean that essences are tinctured from essences (τὰς οὐσίας ἀπὸ τῶν οὐσιῶν βάπτεσθαί), probably indicating that solids are tinctured with vapors (εἰς σῶμα καὶ ἀσώματον).84 What one sows, in the alchemical furnace, corresponds to what one reaps, as tinctures. The fact that this line is attributed to Hermes by Zosimus indicates that he either read the Letter of Isis as part of the Physica, or that the Letter of Isis is based on the Physica. The name Achaab or Acharas is otherwise unknown.85 The name Amnael is clearly close to Azael in 1 Enoch, possibly assimilated to the Egyptian god Amun, with the Hebrew suffix -el characteristic of angelic names.86 Besides the phonetic similarity to Amun, ἀμνός in Greek means lamb, which is the sacred animal of Amun. In fact, the text is reminiscent of the New Kingdom Tale of Isis and the Name of Ra, a tale in which Isis tricks the sun god Ra to divulge to her his secret name, which gives power over all of creation.87 In that tale, however, Isis poisons Ra instead of seducing him. Ra is often syncretized with Amun as Amun-Ra, and Amnael in the Letter of Isis is indeed the angel of midday. Clearly the gap of a millennium between the tale of Isis and Ra and our alchemical text makes it hard to postulate a direct literary relationship. Even so, the theme of Isis and Ra probably circulated as oral tales or in diverse literary compositions, for we find a similar myth again on the Metternich stela, composed at the time of Nectanebo and erected in Heliopolis, but later moved to Alexandria.88 The stela features Isis and Thoth as saviors of Horus the child, who has been poisoned. In order to save him from poison, Isis calls up to the sun-bark and forces it to a halt until Thoth, sent from the sun, comes down and helps her heal Horus. This time it is not knowledge but healing that Isis wants from the sun, and there is no element of seduction. A third- to fourth-century

83 Letter of Isis 6.2 (Mertens 1983–1984, 132). The second text-witness seems to be cleaned up, and omits the reference to Acharas, saying instead “some laborer.” Cf. Mertens 1983– 1984, 110, who refers to Cicero, De Or. 2.261 and Paul, Gal 6:7. 84 Berthelot 1887–88, 2:89. The passage is found in a work of Olympiodorus, who quotes Zosimus. Cf. Mertens 1983–1984, 112, who thinks that the passage of Hermes is taken from the Letter of Isis, and not vice versa. 85 Ἀχααβ is the Greek spelling of Biblical Ahab, but the latter is certainly not a laborer and has no discernable role in alchemy. 86 Idel 1986, 118. Mertens 1983–1984, 76–82, proposes the angel of Venus Anael, who would play a certain role in astrological literature. Most of the texts Mertens adduces are however over a millennium later than the Letter of Isis. Cf. also Festugière 1944–1954, 1:257; Stroumsa 1984, 140–41. 87 Pap. Turin 1993. Cf. Ritner 1993, 22, 76. The text is briefly mentioned by Idel 1986, 124. 88 Allen 2005, 52–63.

Gnosis: Journal of GnosticDownloaded Studies from Brill.com10/02/2021 3 (2018) 3–33 03:10:53AM via free access Wicked Angels and the Good Demon 21

CE love-spell in Old Coptic contains historiola that likewise seem pertinent: Isis complains to her father Thoth that her brother-husband Osiris has been unfaithful to her, and Thoth accordingly instructs her to go to a copper- or bronze-smith (ⲟⲩⲃⲉⲥⲛⲏⲑⲟ́⳰ⲙⲧ) named Belf, son of Belf, who has feet made of copper or bronze and heels of iron, located to the south of Thebes and north of Abydus.89 This smith will fashion for her an iron nail, likely meant to be used in the love-spell, which is given in Greek after the historiola. The importance of the spell for our purposes is that it contains a master-disciple (or father- daughter) relationship between Thoth and Isis, a quest of Isis to a locality in Egypt known for metallurgical knowledge, and an erotic dimension, though here seduction is the goal itself, rather than a means to attain knowledge. Is the Letter of Isis a part of the Physica of Hermes then? Speaking in favor of this hypothesis is the fact that it is the only treatise related to Hermes in which angels desire to mate with women, and teach them about alchemy in return.90 Unlike 1 Enoch, neither the intercourse nor the exchange of knowledge is deemed to be unnatural. It is therefore likely that the negative spin put on the angelic intercourse is due to Zosimus reading the Physica through the lens of 1 Enoch. The revealer in the book called Chemeu in the Physica was Chemeu-Agathodaimon, whereas the revealing angel Amnael is otherwise unknown. If the Letter of Isis was part of the Physica, it must have belonged to another book than Chemeu. Since Amnael pronounces a saying that is attributed to Hermes by Zosimus, it is possible that the Physica made Hermes the teacher of Amnael. In fact, a similar scenario, where Isis is taught a mystery of Hermes through an intermediary, is found in the Kore Kosmou.

The Stelae of Hermes and the Perfect Black of Isis in the Kore Kosmou

The Kore Kosmou is also a revelatory dialogue between Isis and Horus.91 The titular Κόρη κόσμου refers to Isis either as a “maiden,” or as “the pupil of

89 Love 2016, 30–37 (old Coptic text, translation, and commentary), 150–89 (contextualiza- tion). It has been suggested that Belf is from bn=f, “his baboon,” being thus a companion of Thoth. Thebes lies to the south of Abydus, and the location is therefore an impossibility. 90 Isis is not the all-powerful goddess known from Apuleius’ Golden Ass and the Hellenistic aretalogies in the text, but rather a prophetess. It is not uncommon in the Hermetica that there are several manifestations of divinities such as Isis and Hermes, where one is the human descendant of a homonymous divinity. Cf. Ascl. 37–38. 91 Stob. herm. 23. Cf. Nock and Festugière 1944–1954, cxxvi–ccxix. On the highly idiosyn- cratic style of the treatise, cf. Festugière 1942.

Gnosis: Journal of Gnostic Studies 3 (2018) 3–33 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 03:10:53AM via free access 22 Bull the eye of the world.”92 It has been argued that the treatise is basically a revelation of Hermes placed in the mouth of Isis by an editor who was a devo- tee of the goddess.93 In this treatise, Isis initially informs her son that Hermes received the secrets of the cosmos before the dawn of time. The “craftsman” (τεχνίτης) of the universe instilled his love and light in the thoughts of the gods, which made them yearn to seek for him, and able to find him.94 Consequently, Hermes “saw everything, and when he had seen he understood it, and when he had understood he was able to clarify and show it. For indeed, that which he understood he engraved, and when he had engraved he hid it, keeping a steadfast silence rather than speaking.”95 As in the Physica, Hermes thus had a divine teacher and hid his teachings about the universe on stelae in temples.96 Indeed, he decided to “deposit the sacred symbols of the cosmic elements close to the secrets of Osiris” (πλησίον τῶν Ὀσίριδος κρυφίων ἀποθέσθαι τὰ ἱερὰ τῶν κοσμικῶν στοιχείων σύμβολα).97 The stelae contained sacred knowledge of the cosmic elements, which resembles the “symbols of chemeia given from the creation of the world” mentioned in Zosimus’s True Book of Sophe, although in that work the tinctures are said to be hidden in the temples of Hephaestus, that is, the Egyptian god of craftsmanship Ptah (who is also mentioned in Kore Kosmou 6). After Hermes deposited his stelae in the temples he returned to heaven, and for a while the earth remained barren until the creator decided to create Nature and the World Soul, from which individual souls are taken.98 Festugière has shown that this creation alludes to alchemical procedures: the creator separates the world soul from a mixture of fire, spirit, and some unknown matter, in the same way that the alchemist separates “philosophical mercury” from a mixture made from various materials by means of fire, and this mercury is said to be the soul of said matter.99 The souls individuated from the World Soul subsequently assist in the creation of the world, but when they stray from their appointed stations they are

92 Jackson 1986. 93 Nock and Festugière 1944–1954, 3:cxxxi; Betz 1966, 161–63. 94 Stob. herm. 23.4. 95 Stob. herm. 23.5. 96 Cf. Carozzi 1982, 73. 97 Stob. herm. 23.7. 98 Stob. herm. 23.9–16. 99 Festugière 1967. Cf. Betz 1966 on the creation story.

Gnosis: Journal of GnosticDownloaded Studies from Brill.com10/02/2021 3 (2018) 3–33 03:10:53AM via free access Wicked Angels and the Good Demon 23 punished by being imprisoned in bodies.100 At this point in the narrative, Isis admonishes Horus:

Pay attention, my son Horus, for you are listening to a secret teaching, which the forefather Kamephis (προπάτωρ Καμῆφις) came upon when he had heard from Hermes, the scribe of all deeds, and I heard it from the ancestor of everyone, Kamephis, when he also honored me with the perfect black (τῷ τελείῳ μέλανι). And now you yourself from me.101

Kamephis is usually identified with Kmeph, the Theban name for Amun exist- ing before creation as a snake in the primordial ocean.102 The name is, however, also similar to Chemeu, not only in Greek but also in the likely Egyptian prototypes (Km-ꜣ.t=f and Km.t).103 The root km can mean both “black” and “to complete,” and is in the latter meaning found in the Egyptian book Kemit, as mentioned above.104 There might also be a pun on the name Chemeu in the expression “the perfect black,” the gift that Isis receives from Kamephis, which has been variously interpreted as the art of alchemy, or the land of Egypt, or the night sky.105 A third- to fourth-century magical papyrus from Armant, close to Thebes, states that Agathodaimon permitted Isis to rule over “the perfect black.”106 Such a close parallel indicates that Kamephis is identified with Agathodaimon, who we have seen was likely identified with Chemeu in the Physica. Kamephis should also be identified with the creator in the Kore Kosmou, who like Kamephis is called forefather.107 In that case, the scenario of Chemeu presenting the first transmission of chemeia to Hermes corresponds to how the creator-god, Kamephis, made Hermes understand the nature of the universe in the Kore Kosmou.108 This creator-god Kamephis is also the one who taught Isis about the secret teachings about the embodiment of souls when he also gave her “the perfect black.” This corresponds to the role of Amnael in the Letter of Isis, though it is still obscure how Kamephis could be turned into Amnael, an angel instead of the

100 Stob. herm. 23.17–31. 101 Stob. herm. 23.32. 102 Nock and Festugière 1945–1954, 3: clxii–clxviii. 103 Another possible derivation of Kamephis is Kꜣ-mwt=f, “the bull of his mother,” which is an epithet emphasizing the autogeneration of various gods. Cf. Thissen 1996. 104 Cf. Lindsay 1970, 73–74; Oréal 1998, 559. 105 Cf. Van der Vliet 1991; Oréal 1998; Bain 1999, 217–18; Bull 2014, 163–66. 106 PGM V.492–93; Oréal 1998, 555–56; Zago 2010, 66–67; Dosoo 2016, 265–66. 107 Stob. herm. 23.10. 108 Stob. herm. 23.4–5.

Gnosis: Journal of Gnostic Studies 3 (2018) 3–33 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 03:10:53AM via free access 24 Bull forefather of every being, and why he is taught by Hermes, and not vice versa. If the hypothesis that Amnael derives from the name Amun holds, it is possible that Amnael was an angel—an emissary—sent on behalf of Amun, who as mentioned is the same as Kamephis (Km-ꜣ.t=f ) in Theban theology.109 We recall that Agathodaimon was identified as an angel as well as heaven itself by Olympiodorus. There were also three different beings called Kamephis according to the Neoplatonist Damascius, who refers to the Egyptian Neoplatonists Asclepiades and Heraiscus.110 It is accordingly possible that the Kamephis who was taught by Hermes, and in turn taught Isis, is a lower hypostasis or emissary of the earlier Kamephis, the creator who enlightened Hermes about the universe. It would then be this lower Kamephis who corresponds to the angel Amnael. This must however remain hypothetical. What, then, of the “perfect black,” given by Kamephis to Isis? Does it refer to alchemy, Egypt, or the nocturnal heavens? In fact, these options are not mutually exclusive, for we have seen that Chemeu-Agathodaimon was variously identified as the guardian demon of Egypt, heaven itself, and the original revealer of alchemy. In Egyptian cosmogonies, the black land was the first to emerge from the primeval ocean, and could thus be identified with the primal matter that emerges from the blackening of metals. Furthermore, the Perfect Discourse calls Egypt an image of heaven, which conveys the divine from heaven to the rest of the world.111 Moreover, it has been pointed out that the expression “perfect black” might be a pun to denote not only the meaning “black” of the Egyptian km, but also the verb “to complete,” which lies at the root of Kamephis (Km-ꜣ.t=f ): “the one who completes his moment.”112 The enigmatic “perfect black,” then, like Chemeu, was likely intended to be polyva- lent. There are good parallels for Isis as the ruler of the nocturnal heavens, of the black land of Egypt, and as a revealer of alchemy. This polyvalence is also related to the title Kore Kosmou: Plutarch informs us that the Egyptians “call Egypt Chemia because of its especially black earth, just as the black of the eye” (ἔτι τὴν Αἴγυπτον ἐν τοῖς μάλιστα μελάγγειον οὖσαν ὥσπερ τὸ μέλαν τοῦ ὀφθαλμοῦ

109 Cf. Lindsay 1970, 71, who simply assumes that Amnael and Kamephis are one and the same. Cf. Nock and Festugière 1944–1954, 3:clxvii–clxviii, on the identification of Amnael and Kamephis. 110 Damascius, Pr. 125.4. 111 Ascl. 24. 112 Lindsay 1970, 74; Oréal 1998, 559–63. Oréal defends the thesis of a play of words, which was common in Egyptian theological literature, but does not point out the link of Km with Kamephis.

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χημίαν καλοῦσιν), a statement that also has an Egyptian parallel.113 The titular Kore, with the meaning “pupil of the eye,” might thus allude to Isis’s possession of the perfect black. There is also a narrative later in the Kore Kosmou, which bears some similarity to Zosimus and the prediction of Hermes in the Perfect Discourse. This section has also been identified as reminiscent of 1 Enoch: in both texts, humans want to acquire restricted knowledge; this knowledge leads to crimes; God is petitioned by cosmic powers; and God promises restoration.114 In the Kore Kosmou, after the souls have been embodied, God guarantees that those who serve him well will be able to obtain successively better incarnations, and finally to return to their heavenly origins.115 After this, a fearful earthly spirit rises, called Momus, the spirit of reproach who, in the fables of Aesop, criticiz- es Zeus for his flawed creation of man.116 Momus blames Hermes for humans transgressing their limits, and complains that their curiosity has led them to witness “the beautiful mysteries of nature” (τῆς φύσεως τὰ καλὰ μυστήρια), to investigate the nature of stones and plants, and even to “seek out which nature is in the innermost parts of the sacred sanctuaries” (ἐπιζητήσουσιν καὶ τίς ἐνδοτέρω τῶν ἱερῶν ἀδύτων φύσις ὑπάρχει), where we remember the stelae of Hermes were deposited.117 In answer to the reproach of Momus, Hermes institutes the dominion of fate to curb humankind, which blinds the souls to the nature of the divine spirit which surrounds them (πνεύματος θείου φύσις ἡ τοῦ περιέχοντος) by means of destructive passions.118 Because of the passions, the humans then start subjugating those who are weaker than themselves through warfare, and even desecrate sanctuaries by burning and murdering the pow- erless there, throwing people into the shrines, half-dead.119 Like the narrative of Zosimus, Hermes has hidden his secrets in the temples, and these temples have fallen into unworthy hands. Momus here seems to embody the spirit of jealousy for which Zosimus censures Hermes. Unlike the narrative of Zosimus, this miserable state of affairs only lasts a while in the Kore Kosmou, until the elements implore God to send down an emanation of himself to the world.120 God does so, sending Isis and Osiris, who

113 Plutarch, Is. Os. 33; Jackson 1986, 118; Oréal 1998, 554, 561. 114 Nock and Festugière 1944–1954, 3:ccxv–ccxviii. Cf. Philonenko 1991. 115 Stob. herm. 23.38–42. 116 Stob. herm. 23.43. Cf. Aesop, Fab. 518; Nock and Festugière 1944–1954, ccx–ccxv. 117 Stob. herm. 23.44–45. 118 Stob. herm. 23.48. 119 Stob. herm. 23.53. 120 Stob. herm. 23.55–61.

Gnosis: Journal of Gnostic Studies 3 (2018) 3–33 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 03:10:53AM via free access 26 Bull put an end to indiscriminate killing and institute sanctuaries and laws in their stead. The treatise, as it is preserved, ends with an aretalogy to Isis and Osiris, where it is stated that they learned their secrets from Hermes, keeping some back and engraving others on stelae and obelisks.121

They learnt from Hermes that the atmosphere is full of demons, and engraved this on secret stelae. They alone, having learned the secret laws of God from Hermes, became the authors of every art, science, and profession, as well as law- givers for the humans. They, having learned from Hermes that what is below has been ar- ranged in harmony with what is above by the creator, established sacred rites on earth derived from the mysteries in heaven. They recognized the perishability of the bodies, and therefore devised the perfection of the prophets in all things, since the prophet who is des- tined to lay his hands upon the gods should never be ignorant about anything that exists, so that philosophy and magic nourishes the soul, while medicine saves the body, when anything ails it.122

The themes of demons, secret laws related to arts, and cosmic sympathy, are as we have seen all elements central to the Physica, and these arts are in the hands of the prophets of Egyptian temples. This rejuvenation of the temple cult never took place in the narrative of Zosimus, who claims that priests still guard their books of Hermes jealously and receive sacrifices for their counterfeit demons. In the Perfect Discourse, the decline of the temple cult takes place in the predicted future, but it is also stated that the ancestors of Hermes once “erred gravely” before they discovered the art of making gods.123 This statement indicates that a time of chaos and inversion of values also occurred in the period before the creation of divine statues, similar to what is predicted to happen when they leave their statues in the future. Since the Perfect Discourse specifically mentions Isis and Osiris as earthly gods in this chapter, it is likely that a narrative similar to that of the Kore Kosmou is presupposed, which thus also likely derives from the Physica of Hermes.

121 Cf. Festugière 1942, 50–53; 1948, who thinks the compiler has simply copied or reworked a pre-existent hymn. The latter seems more likely to me, since themes from the preceding treatise are revisited in the aretalogy. Cf. also Bull 2012, 406–8. 122 Stob. herm. 23.66. 123 Ascl. 37.

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Conclusion

It is striking that both the Perfect Discourse and Kore Kosmou contain injunc- tions against knowledge about the physical world for knowledge’s own sake. In the case of Kore Kosmou, this is seen clearly in the critique of Momus, where the curiosity of humans mirrors the original sin of the curious souls, which led to their fall.124 The Perfect Discourse throws invectives against the rabble of sciences that stand in the way of “pure philosophy.”125 In both texts, knowledge about the physical universe is a good thing, but it should be firmly subjugated to reverence for God—εὐσέβεια. This attitude was likely present in the more technical Physica, and it is mirrored in the reverent attitude of Zosimus, who claims that only the reverent technician can repulse the demons and make the natural tinctures work. From the scattered remarks of Zosimus, we gain some insight into what the Physica of Hermes might have contained, and it has been argued that parts of it have likely been adapted in the Perfect Discourse and the Kore Kosmou. Both of the latter texts are fairly late compositions, likely compiled in the late second or third century, though they contain earlier material. From what we can tell, the Physica defies any clear-cut distinction between technical and theoretical Hermetica, in a manner unlike any of our surviving Hermetic treatises. It contained information on the production of natural tinctures, used in the making of gold and silver. It also contained speculations on the unity of the cosmos, embodied in the saying “The all is one.” Furthermore, it warned against wicked angels or demons who led the unenlightened astray, and it recommended a regimen of spiritual exercises to contain the passions, as well as initiations to escape the dominion of the wicked angels or demons who enforce fate. This attitude, mixing spiritual and technical concerns, is mirrored in the writings of Zosimus of Panopolis. The Physica was likely inspired by 1 Enoch in its descrip- tion of angels mating with human women, and is thus the first known instance of a tradition implicitly identifying Enoch and Hermes, which was to have an illustrious afterlife in Arabic writings on Hermes.126

124 Stob. herm. 23.24–25, 43–47. 125 Ascl.12–14. 126 Van Bladel 2009, 164–84.

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Acknowledgments

This paper derives in part from work undertaken under the aegis of NEWCONT (New Contexts for Old Texts: Unorthodox Texts and Monastic Manuscript Culture in Fourth- and Fifth-Century Egypt) at the University of Oslo, Faculty of Theology. The project was funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007– 2013) / ERC Grant Agreement no. 283741.

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