Hermes Trismegistus

Lore & Background

Hermes Trismegistus may be associated with the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth. Greeks in the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt identified Thoth with Hermes through the interpretatio graeca. Consequently, the two gods were worshiped as one, in what had been the Temple of Thoth in Khemenu, which was known in the Hellenistic period as Hermopolis. The Egyptian priest and polymath Imhotep had been deified long after his death, and therefore assimilated to Thoth in the classical and Hellenistic periods. The renowned scribe Amenhotep, son of Hapu, and a wise man named Teôs were coequal deities of wisdom, science, and medicine; and, thus, they were placed alongside Imhotep in shrines dedicated to Thoth–Hermes during the Ptolemaic Kingdom. Cicero enumerates several deities referred to as 'Hermes': 'fourth Mercury (Hermes) was the son of the Nile, whose name may not be spoken by the Egyptians'; 'the fifth, who is worshiped by the people of Pheneus [in Arcadia], is said to have killed Argus Panoptes, and for this reason to have fled to Egypt, and to have given the Egyptians their laws and alphabet: It is him whom the Egyptians call Theyt'. The most likely interpretation of this passage is as two variants on the same religious syncretism of Greek Hermes and Egyptian Thoth (or sometimes other gods).

In Their Own Story

The first datable occurrences of the epithet 'thrice great' are in the Legatio of Athenagoras of Athens and in a fragment from Philo of Byblos c. 64–141 CE. However, in a later work, Copenhaver reports that this epithet is first found in the minutes of a meeting of the council of the Ibis cult, held in 172 BCE near Memphis, Egypt. Hart explains that the epithet is derived from an epithet of Thoth found at the Temple of Esna: 'Thoth the great, the great, the great.' Many Christian writers, including Lactantius, Augustine, Marsilio Ficino, Tommaso Campanella, and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, as well as Giordano Bruno, considered Hermes Trismegistus to be a wise pagan prophet who foresaw the coming of Christianity. They believed in the existence of a prisca theologia, a single, true theology that threads through all religions. By this account, Hermes Trismegistus was either a contemporary of Moses, or the third in a line of men named Hermes (i.e., Enoch, Noah, and the Egyptian priest king Hermes Trismegistus, insofar as they are the greatest priest, philosopher, and king, respectively). Another explanation, in the Suda (10th century), is that 'He was called Trismegistus on account of his praise of the Trinity, saying there is one divine nature in the Trinity.'

Reader's Guide

During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the Hermetica enjoyed great prestige and were popular among alchemists. Hermes was also strongly associated with astrology, for example by the influential Islamic astrologer Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi (787–886). The 'Hermetic tradition' consequently refers to alchemy, magic, astrology, and related subjects. By modern convention the texts are usually subdivided into two categories. The expression hermetically sealed comes from the alchemical procedure to make the Philosopher's Stone. This required a mixture of materials to be placed in a glass vessel which was sealed by melting and fusing the neck closed, a procedure known as the 'Seal of Hermes'. The vessel was then heated for 30–40 days. During the Renaissance, it was accepted that Hermes Trismegistus was a contemporary of Moses. However, after Isaac Casaubon's demonstration in 1614 that the Hermetic writings must postdate the advent of Christianity, the whole of Renaissance Hermeticism collapsed. As to their actual authorship: '... they were certainly not written in remotest antiquity by an all wise Egyptian priest, as the Renaissance believed, but by various unknown authors, all probably Greeks, and they contain popular Greek philosophy of the period, a mixture of Platonism and Stoicism, combined with some Jewish and probably some Persian influences.'

Did You Know?

• The epithet 'thrice great' is first found in the minutes of a meeting of the council of the Ibis cult, held in 172 BCE near Memphis, Egypt.
• Cicero lists two Hermes figures: one a 'son of the Nile' and another who fled to Egypt after killing Argus Panoptes and gave the Egyptians their laws and alphabet.
• The expression 'hermetically sealed' comes from the alchemical procedure to make the Philosopher's Stone, which required sealing a glass vessel by melting the neck closed—a procedure known as the 'Seal of Hermes'.
• After Isaac Casaubon's demonstration in 1614 that the Hermetic writings must postdate the advent of Christianity, the whole of Renaissance Hermeticism collapsed.
• Hermes Trismegistus is identified with the prophet Idris (the biblical Enoch) in both Muslim and Baháʼí writings.