Barrett. Schriner
Sister. Father
FWV-Alchemy 2630
Feb.17th, 2016
How is the Philosophers’ Stone related to the Hellenistic Divinity?
According to the definition provided by Malouin in The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project, Alchemy is a chemistry of the sublet kind which is the explanation of an extraordinary phenomenon. It is a philosophical, and the proto-scientific tradition spread among ancient Eurasia and Africa. (Malouin, 248) Alchemy was developed rapidly during the age of the ancient Greece. Thus, it was difficult to separate the history of alchemy with Hellenistic culture. According to Hellenistic culture, there are three main purposes for studying alchemy: the first one is chrysopoeia, which means to turn elementary metals and elements to noble ones, such as gold and silver; the second one is creation of panaceas, which could heal all the illness in both physical level and mental level; the third one is elixir of immortality, which could make the human body and soul to reach the perfection. A famous antiquity called Philosopher’s Stone accomplishes all three purposes. (Ragai,76) As ancient Greek scholars used to explain the complicated idea by their religious stories, there are a lot of relations between Olympian gods, especially Hermes and his son Hermaphrodites.
Philosopher’s stone was also called the “Water Stone of the Wise”. It represented almost every essential value in the study of alchemy. The first critical usage of the Stone is the idea of transmutation and chrysopoeia. As Aristotle concluded that there are four fundamental qualities of all substances. They are hotness, coldness, dryness, and moistness. The Stone could easily turn some elements into others. For instance, it can make a cobble become a piece of gold. This usage also included some chemical changes such as decomposition reactions and combination reactions that the marvelous stone can separate one substance into two other substances, or combine two elements together into a new object. Secondly, the medical value of the Philosopher’s Stone is enormous. It can rejuvenate a person by improving all the weakness, no matter it is physical or spiritual. Surprisingly, it can disperse the death. Even the person has been dead; the stone can help him revive. Last but not least, alchemist used the Philosopher’s Stone to make the elixir. Many kings wanted to get the elixir because it can help them live an everlasting life.
In the Hellenistic culture, Hermes, the son of Zeus and the Pleiad Maia, the god of transitions, transformations and boundaries is also considered the god of magic, alchemy, and commerce. (Bain, 162) Therefore, Hermes was not only worshiped by travelers and merchants, but alchemists also chanted him for his talents and wisdom. According to the Gloria Mundi written by Elias Ashmole during the 17th century, Hermes “obtained the Knowledge of this Stone (the Philosopher’s Stone)” whereupon, “he gave over the use of all other stones, and therein only delighted.” Except for the recorded anecdote that Hermes taught human beings alchemy and gave them the Stone, Hermes’ story related to the idea of the Philosopher’s Stone. He is the messenger and guide among all the gods, and he is also one of only a few who could go through the Tartarus without getting hurt by monsters in the hell. He can bring back dead people’s souls, and give them the second lives. One of the most significant usages of the Philosopher’s Stone is that it can heal any illness as a panacea. The ownership of the Philosopher’s stone symbolized the power of Hermes to bring back souls to the earth again as the conductor of souls to the underworld. Besides, as the god of transition, the ability of chrysopoeia is also shown by the Philosopher’s Stone.
Except for Hermes, Hermaphrodites is another important god related to the Philosopher’s stone. Hermaphrodites is the son of Hermes and Aphrodite. He inherited the flawless and impeccable beauty, and ideal body from both of his parents. The most famous story about him is the one recorded in the fourth book of Ovid’s Metamorphoses: a love-struck water nymph named Salmacis attempts to seduce him. Though Hermaphrodites rejects her advances, she forcibly kissing and fondling him, and finally, she asked the gods to join them forever, and the God became a single creature fused both male and female parts. (DeVun, 193)
As when one grafts a twig on some tree,
He sees the branches grow one,
And with common life come to maturity,
So were these two bodies knit in close embrace;
They were no longer two, nor such as to be called, one, woman,
And one, man.
They seemed neither, and yet both. (Ovid, trans. Frank 4.375~79)
The story of Hermaphrodites and Salmacis did not only attract hundreds of admirers to create paintings, sculptures and literature works as their interpretations to this story but also fascinate alchemist to understand the term” both and neither”. They tried to explain the transition happened during the fusion of male and female by the theory of spontaneous generation, but they failed. Hence, they used alchemy to analysis the metamorphoses, and Hermaphrodites started to be considered as the Philosopher’s Stone because alchemists thought combining different gender is similar to combining different elements into new substances, which could be explained as it was both, but also neither of the original contents. Additionally, the body contained both male and female made it become a symbol of perfection——both masculinity and femininity, both objectivity and subjectivity, both rationality and emotionality, which implicit that the Philosopher’s Stone is an elixir of immortality and perfection. (DeVun, 196) Besides, the blood lineage also connects Hermaphrodites with his father, Hermes. The three primary purpose of the Philosopher’s Stone combines, and explain the supremacy of the stone in the field of alchemy. It was regarded as the “Holy Grail” for alchemists.
Consequently, the Philosopher’s Stone, the core of alchemy tightly relates to the Hellenistic divinity that those Olympian Gods has the ownership and the ability of the Stone. Furthermore, there are still a lot of questions around the topic: whether the fabulous stone occurred? Whether Hermes or Hermaphrodites created it with their power and presented it to human beings? Through more research of documents from that age, more details would be available.
Works Cited
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Clericuzio, Antonio. “«THE WHITE BEARD OF CHEMISTRY». ALCHEMY, PARACELSIANISM AND THE "PRISCA SAPIENTIA"”. Bruniana & Campanelliana 14.1 (2008): 107–116. Web...
DeVun, Leah. “The Jesus Hermaphrodite: Science and Sex Difference in Premodern Europe”. Journal of the History of Ideas 69.2 (2008): 193–218. Web...
"Hermes & Hermeticism - Ambrosia Society - AmbrosiaSociety.org." Hermes & Hermeticism - Ambrosia Society - AmbrosiaSociety.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2016.
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Malouin, Paul-Jacques. "Alchemy." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Lauren Yoder. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2003. Web. [fill in today's date in the form 18 Apr. 2009 and remove square brackets]. <http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0000.057>. Trans. of "Alchimie," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, vol. 1. Paris, 1751.
Ovid, and Frank Justus Miller. Metamorphoses. London: William Heinemann, 1916. Print.
Ragai, Jehane, and ﺟﻴﻬﺎﻥ ﺭﺟﺎﺋﻲ. “The Philosopher's Stone: Alchemy and Chemistry / ﺣﺠﺮ ﺍﻟﻔﻼﺳﻔﺔ ﻓﻲ ﻛﻴﻤﻴﺎﺀ ﺍﻟﻌﺼﻮﺭ ﺍﻟﻮﺳﻄﻰ”. Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics 12 (1992): 58–77. Web...
