ALCHEMY IN ANTIQUITY
The difficulty in dating alchemical texts has resulted
in a long-standing
controversy over its origins. Yet, if
the priority of Near Eastern, Indian,
and Chinese al-
chemists remains in dispute,
there is general agreement
among scholars that the student in search of the
roots
of alchemy must be concerned not only with early
concepts of
nature, but also with the practical craft
traditions of antiquity. The
oldest surviving works of
metal craftsmen combine an emphasis on the
change
in the appearance of metals with the acceptance of
a vitalistic
view of nature—a view that included the
belief that metals live
and grow within the earth in
a fashion analogous to the growth of a human
fetus.
It was to become fundamental to alchemical thought
that the
operator might hasten the natural process of
metallic growth in his
laboratory and thus bring about
perfection in a period of time far less
than that required
by nature.
Several texts point to the existence of a practical
proto-alchemical
literature in the ancient Near East.
The recent study of two Babylonian
tablets (Oppen-
heim, 1966) dating from the
thirteenth century B.C.
but copied from still earlier originals describes the
production of “silver” from a copper/bronze mixture.
These early recipes already contain elements of ritual
and the processes
themselves call for secrecy. Both
were to become common themes in later
alchemical
literature. The Leiden and Stockholm papyri (ca. third
century A.D.) would appear to be part of the same
practical tradition.
Here, among some three hundred
recipes, will be found directions for the
imitation of
the noble metals. A method for the doubling of
asem (the gold-silver alloy, electrum) indicates the
future
direction of alchemical literature. The similarity be-
tween the directions given in these papyri and
passa-
ges in the
Physica et Mystica of Bolos Democritos of
Mendes (perhaps as
early as 200 B.C.) indicates that
the latter work also profited from an
acquaintance with
the metal craft tradition. However, mystical
passages
in his work were to become the subject of exegesis
for
Hellenistic alchemists of late antiquity. The
pseudo-Democritos was revered
by them as a sage of
great authority and his work thus forms a
connecting
link between the practical metal craft tradition and
the
true Alexandrian alchemy of late antiquity.
Alexandrian alchemy was based on Greek philosophy
as well as on the
practical tradition of the craftsmen.
The early comparisons of man and
nature found in the
pre-Socratics and in Plato's Timaeus fostered an inter-
est in the
relationship of the macrocosm and the
microcosm, a doctrine which played a
major role in
alchemical thought well into the seventeenth century.
Systems of intermediary beings and the pneuma were
employed by the Stoics, the Neo-Platonists, and other
philosophical sects
in antiquity to provide connecting
links between the two worlds.
Also important for the development of alchemical
thought was the long
tradition of speculation on the
Creation. The philosopher interested in
both the Crea-
tion and Nature was inevitably
drawn to the question
of the origin of the elements and the possibility of a
prima materia. The views of the pre-Socratics on
the
prime matter formed a springboard from which later
authors
launched their own concepts. Thus Aristotle
conveniently summarized the
views of his predecessors
prior to refuting them in his Metaphysics. However,
the subject was one of no less importance
to him than
it had been to them. Aristotle accepted the four
Empedoclean elements (earth, air, water, and fire) with
their attendant
qualities and he believed that they were
mutually transmutable.
The genesis of the elements also forms an important
section of Plato's Timaeus where the subject is devel-
oped mathematically, but to alchemical authors of
late
antiquity who were influenced by Neo-Platonic, Gnos-
tic, and Christian sources, the accounts found in Gene
sis and the Pymander attributed to Hermes
Trisme-
gistus were no less
significant. Surely the alchemical
literature was stamped with a
Creation-element theme
throughout its existence. In the sixteenth and
the
seventeenth centuries chemical authors still focused on
the
elements in their defense or attack of any given
system. An important
example may be found in Ger-
hard Dorn's defense
of the Paracelsians which he based
on an analysis of the
“Physics of Genesis” and the
“Physics of
Hermes.” Similarly Robert Boyle placed
special emphasis on the
problem of the elements in
his criticism of the Aristotelians and the
Paracelsian
chemists in the Sceptical Chymist
(1661).
The earliest true alchemical texts in Greek date from
the end of the third
century A.D. These are clearly
connected with the earlier practical
tradition as well
as with current philosophical and religious thought.
Two of the more important authors are Zosimos, author
of the encyclopedic
Cheirokmeta, whose work links
these alchemical
texts with the book of Bolos Demo-
critos,
and Maria the Jewess, whose text is significant
for its detailed
description of the laboratory equipment
of the Alexandrian alchemist. The
latter work indicates
that the emphasis on distillation and sublimation
proc-
esses—still so pronounced
in the Renaissance—was
already characteristic of alchemical
recipes in late
antiquity. These Alexandrian texts are openly con-
cerned with transmutation. The processes
given stress
color change as a guide to progress—from black
to
white to yellow to violet. The sequence was clearly
associated with
the change from a chaotic and un-
defined
primal matter to metallic perfection. And al-
though the final stage was eventually to be changed
from violet to
red, the emphasis on color was to remain
a basic theme in descriptions of
the Great Work.
Although practical recipes form part of these third-
and fourth-century texts there is also present in them
a
pronounced interest in secrecy and mysticism. Alle-
gorical dream sequences form part of this literature,
and the
role of spirits is considered important in the
transformation of matter.
And while one may extract
some scientific information from the Greek
alchemical
codices, he will find it difficult to separate this
material
from the ever-present religious aura that pervades these
works. An example may be seen in the analogous treat-
ment of metals and mankind. Because of the truth of
this it was
felt that the operator might follow the death
and resurrection theme as he
pursued his work. It was
this aspect of alchemical thought that dominates
the
later Greek texts. The work of Stephanos (ca. 610-41)
is replete
with prayers, invocations, and allegorical
descriptions. There is little
indication here that the
alchemist still had close personal contact with
the
laboratory. The text of Stephanos was highly influential
and it was used by later alchemists both as a model
and as a
subject for commentaries. Alexandrian al-
chemy
did not continue much longer as a living tradi-
tion. Before the tenth century the basic texts had been
codified and
few new texts were composed in Greek
after that time.
Although Pliny and Dioscorides refer to mineral
substances of medical value,
Hellenistic alchemical
texts do not indicate any real concern with pharma-
ceutical chemistry. This is in
marked contrast with the
development of alchemy in China and India. As
early
as the eighth century B.C. there was a belief in physical
immortality in China, and this was later to become
closely associated with
Taoist thought. A text from the
second century B.C. refers to the
transmutation of
cinnabar to gold and within a few hundred years the
concept of longevity was to be clearly connected with
chemically prepared
drugs and elixirs. This is evident
in the Nei P'ien
of Ko Hung (ca. A.D. 320) which was
to become a standard Chinese text on
this subject. In
it will be found sections on the transmutation of
metals
and on elixirs of life—and all this mixed with rules
for the attainment of long life and immortality. Chinese
alchemy paralleled
Alexandrian alchemy in its frequent
reference to the macrocosm-microcosm
analogy as well
as in the development of both esoteric and exoteric
approaches to this subject. Thus, while the Chinese
alchemist sought a
potable gold and various chemically
prepared drugs in his quest for
longevity and immor-
tality, the texts also
indicate a real interest in alchemy
as the search for the inner perfection
of the soul.
From India the Sanskrit Atharva Veda (perhaps as
early as the eighth century B.C.) refers to the use of
gold as a means of
preserving life, and there are other
early texts relating gold to
immortality. Buddhist texts
of the second to the fifth centuries A.D.
discuss the
transmutation of base metals to gold by means of a
juice
concocted from vegetable and mineral sources.
The still later tantric-Hatha
yoga texts (post-eighth
century) show the same trend toward increased mys-
ticism already noted in the Greek and the
Chinese
sources. Here the operator undergoes the experience
of an
initiatory death and this is followed by a resur-
rection. In metals the result may be seen in the perfec-
tion of gold—in man, the
alchemist induces in his own
person a similar separation of spirit from
gross matter.
In this case the result is a perfected person with an
infinitely prolonged youth.
