Zosimos of Panopolis

Zosimos of Panopolis also known by "Zosimus the Alchemist" was a Greco-Egyptian alchemist and Gnostic mystic who lived at the end of the 3rd and beginning of the 4th century AD. He was born in Panopolis (present day Akhmim, in the south of Roman Egypt). He wrote the oldest known books on alchemy, which he called "Cheirokmeta," using the Greek word for "things made by hand." Pieces of this work survive in the original Greek language and in translations into Syriac or Arabic. He is one of about 40 authors represented in a compendium of alchemical writings that was probably put together in Constantinople in the 7th or 8th century AD, copies of which exist in manuscripts in Venice and Paris. Stephen of Alexandria is another.

Arabic translations of texts by Zosimos, the ancient alchemist, were serendipitously unearthed in 1995 within a copy of the book "Keys of Mercy and Secrets of Wisdom" authored by Ibn Al-Hassan Ibn Ali Al-Tughra'i', a renowned Persian alchemist. The discovered translations, while fragmentary and seemingly not verbatim, provide a fascinating glimpse into the transmission of Zosimos' knowledge across cultures. Intriguingly, the renowned index of Arabic books, Kitab al-Fihrist by Ibn Al-Nadim, alludes to prior translations of four of Zosimos' works. The transliteration challenges led to attributions such as "Thosimos," "Dosimos," and "Rimos," potentially obscuring the true extent of Zosimos' influence. Fuat Sezgin, the esteemed historian of Islamic science, meticulously located 15 Zosimos manuscripts across six libraries, underscoring the widespread dissemination of his teachings. Michèle Mertens, in her translation of Zosimos' works, shed light on the wealth of the Arabic tradition, lamenting the paucity of accessible materials and emphasizing the substantial promise held within these concealed texts.

Zosimos provided one of the first definitions of alchemy as the study of "the composition of waters, movement, growth, embodying and disembodying, drawing the spirits from bodies and bonding the spirits within bodies." In general, Zosimos' understanding of alchemy reflects the influence of Hermetic and Gnostic spiritualities. He asserted that the fallen angels taught the arts of metallurgy to the women they married, an idea also recorded in the Book of Enoch and later repeated in the Gnostic Apocryphon of John.

In a fragment preserved by Syncellus, Zosimos wrote:

The ancient and divine writings say that the angels became enamored of women; and, descending, taught them all the works of nature. From them, therefore, is the first tradition, Chema, concerning these arts; for they called this book Chema and hence the science of chemistry takes its name.

In his work Concerning the true Book of Sophe, the Egyptian, and of the Divine Master of the Hebrews and the Sabaoth Powers, Zosimos wrote:

There are two sciences and two wisdoms, that of the Egyptians and that of the Hebrews, which latter is confirmed by divine justice. The science and wisdom of the most excellent dominate the one and the other. Both originate in olden times. Their origin is without a king, autonomous and immaterial; it is not concerned with material and corruptible bodies, it operates, without submitting to strange influences, supported by prayer and divine grace.

The symbol of chemistry is drawn from the creation by its adepts, who cleanse and save the divine soul bound in the elements, and who free the divine spirit from its mixture with the flesh.

As the sun is, so to speak, a flower of the fire and (simultaneously) the heavenly sun, the right eye of the world, so copper when it blooms—that is when it takes the color of gold, through purification—becomes a terrestrial sun, which is king of the earth, as the sun is king of heaven.

Greek alchemists of ancient times employed a phrase known as ὕδωρ θεῖον, which denoted both divine water and sulphureous water. In the view of Zosimos, the alchemical vessel took on the symbolism of a baptismal font, with the transformative vapors of mercury and Sulphur symbolizing the purifying waters of baptism, essential for perfecting and redeeming the Gnostic initiate. Zosimos drew inspiration from the Hermetic concept of the krater or mixing bowl, representing the divine intellect through which the Hermetic initiate underwent a symbolic baptism and purification during a visionary ascent through the celestial spheres and into the transcendent realms. Comparable notions of a spiritual immersion in the "waters" of the transcendent pleroma are evident in the Sethian Gnostic texts discovered at Nag Hammadi. The portrayal of the alchemical vessel as a baptismal font takes center stage in his Visions, as elaborated upon below.

The Book of Pictures

This book is divided into 13 chapters, each of them being introduced by a separate image. Two chapters contain a whole series of images, which - according to Zosimos' statements - are meant to be pondered upon in order to better understand his teaching.

The text presents a dynamic conversation between the alchemical pair Zosimos and Theosebeia, focusing on Zosimos' instructional methods. Theosebeia expresses frustration with Zosimos' ambiguous teachings, provoking his ire due to her perceived inability to grasp his concepts. At first sight, the dialogue deals with questions upon how to understand statements of alchemical philosophers like Agathodaimon, Democritos, Isis, Moses, Maria, Ostanes, as well as with questions about technical aspects of the alchemical work. While the dialogue delves into deciphering the works of alchemical sages, as well as technical facets of alchemical practice, Zosimos continually underscores the symbolic nature of his discourse. He elucidates that he is not discussing substances and procedures as material entities but rather as symbols. Zosimos uses a series of images to elucidate the alchemical process, affirming to Theosebeia that these images encapsulate the requisite knowledge. Furthermore, he asserts that these depictions represent his personal psychological metamorphosis. Zosimos describes the alchemical work by means of a series of images and says to Theosebeia: "What I wrote and told you, and with the picture I made for you with me in it, I gave you what you need to know, and this should be enough for you." He also states that these images depict his own inner psychic process of transformation.

Zosimos' teaching is based on the one hand on his own dream visions, reported in the text. Another source for his teaching was his suffering of a passionate love relationship to Theosebeia, being not allowed to be simply lived out physically. This led him to understand the alchemical work as psychic transformation, enabling the adept to hold and contain the fire of attraction. Correspondingly, Zosimos drew symbolic images of his own death and resurrection as explanation for Theosebeia. The book can be regarded as the earliest historical description of an alchemical work based on a psychic transformation." And it "is a testimony of the painstaking quest to understand not only the problem but also the meaning of attraction, repulsion and ultimate reconciliation between the outer male and female as well as the inner fire and water" a process that "is described with basic substances, mirroring the very elemental, collective character of this process."

In this book, we find fragments of writings from "The Sulfurs", which are ascribed to Zosimos and from his "Letters to Theosebeia". In the course of the dialogue, those fragments seem to be interrupted by Theosebeia's questions and by further explanations. By this, Zosimos' teaching is presented in an easier and more understandable way.

Up to now, only one single Arabic manuscript of the "Book of Pictures" is in existence. In the fourth part of the "Book of the Rank of the Sage (Rutbat al-Ḥakīm) its author Maslama al-Qurțubī (formerly wrongly assigned to Maslama al-Magriti) quotes extensively from the "Book of Pictures''. Fragments of the text of the "Book of Pictures'' can be found in "Rosarium Philosophorum'' and "Artis Auriferae"

The Book of Pictures draws upon the rich tapestry of Ancient Egyptian thinking, evidenced through its iconography that mirrors pharaonic symbolism and reflects motifs akin to Egyptian underworld books like Amduat, traceable until the era of Greek-Roman influence. Within its pages, it also delves into the interconnectedness of the inner and outer realms between man and woman, or the psychic male and female aspects, forming a significant cultural link between the profound philosophies of ancient Egypt and the perspectives imbued in European medieval alchemy.

This book is written as commentary in 10 chapters on "the Book of the 10 Keys", a work ascribed to Democritus (Democritus of Abdera or Pseudo-Democritus). As at the beginning of the book is written, this commentary was Zosimos' last text written for Theosebeia. The book gives an essence of Zosimos' teachings, as the preamble says, that the book is so clear and understandable, that after its reading, Theosebeia "understood the [alchemical] work".

There are numerous parallels between the "Book of the Keys of the Work" and "The Book of Pictures" in terms of subject and style. Both texts are addressed "to my lady" and predominantly presented in dialogue form. Additionally, they both emphasize that there is only one alchemical operation, underscoring the central role of Democritus, 'the head of the sages of his time'. Furthermore, the alchemical work in both books revolves around the composition of vapors and shares the essential feature of extracting the subtle with 'gentleness' from all four natures, the mixture of like with like, and the necessity to bind the fugitive spirit. Notably, both texts also feature analogies such as that of copper with the human being. Moreover, just like in the "Book of Pictures", one can discern motifs and symbols of Zosimos' teachings that can be traced back to the worldview of pharaonic Egypt. Integrating these motifs offers an enhanced comprehension of the text.