EBOOK Arabic Hermes:From Pagan Sage to Prophet of Science

This is the first major study devoted to the early Arabic reception and adaption        of the figure of Hermes Trismegistus, the legendary Egyptian sage to whom were        ascribed numerous works on astrology, alchemy, talismans, medicine, and philosophy.          Before the more famous Renaissance European reception of the ancient Greek        Hermetica, the Arabic tradition about Hermes and the works under his name had been        developing and flourishing for seven hundred years. The legendary Egyptian Hermes        Trismegistus was renowned in Roman antiquity as an ancient sage whose teachings were        represented in books of philosophy and occult science. The works in his name,        written in Greek by Egyptians living under Roman rule, subsequently circulated in        many languages and regions of the Roman and Sasanian Persian empires. After the rise        of Arabic as a prestigious language of scholarship in the eighth century, accounts        of Hermes identity and Hermetic texts were translated into Arabic along with the        hundreds of other works translated from Greek, Middle Persian, and other literary        languages of antiquity. Hermetica were in fact among the earliest translations into        Arabic, appearing already in the eighth century. This book explains the origins of        the Arabic myth of Hermes Trismegistus, its sources, the reasons for its peculiar        character, and its varied significance for the traditions of Hermetica in Asia and        northern Africa as well as Europe. It shows who pre-modern Arabic scholars thought        Hermes was and how they came to that view.