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Dictionary of the History of Ideas

Studies of Selected Pivotal Ideas
  
  
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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.


028

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


029

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.