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The secret history of Hermes Trismegistus : hermeticism from ancient to modern times / Florian Ebeling ; foreword by Jan Assmann ; translated from the German by David Lorton.

By: Material type: TextTextLanguage: English Original language: German Publication details: Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2007.Description: 1 online resource (xiii, 158 pages) : illustrationsContent type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780801464829
  • 080146482X
  • 0801464889
  • 9780801464881
Uniform titles:
  • Geheimnis des Hermes Trismegistos. English
Subject(s): Genre/Form: Additional physical formats: Print version:: Secret history of Hermes Trismegistus.DDC classification:
  • 135/.45 22
LOC classification:
  • BF1589 .E2513 2007
Other classification:
  • online - EBSCO
  • 08.47
Online resources:
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Foreword / Assmann, Jan -- Introduction -- I. Prehistory and Early History of a Phantasm -- II. The Middle Ages: Christian Theology and "Antediluvian" Magic -- III. Renaissance: Primeval Wisdom for a New World -- IV. Seventeenth Century: High Point and Decline -- V. Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries: Between Occultism and Enlightenment -- VI. Twentieth Century: Systems and Esoterica -- Chronology -- Chronology -- Select Bibliography -- Index
Action note:
  • digitized 2010 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve
Summary: "Perhaps Hermeticism has fascinated so many people precisely because it has made it possible to produce many analogies and relationships to various traditions: to Platonism in its many varieties, to Stoicism, to Gnostic ideas, and even to certain Aristotelian doctrines. The Gnostic, the esoteric, the Platonist, or the deist has each been able to find something familiar in the writings. One just had to have a penchant for remote antiquity, for the idea of a Golden Age, in order for Hermeticism, with its aura of an ancient Egyptian revelation, to have enjoyed such outstanding success."--The IntroductionHermes Trismegistus, "thrice-great Hermes," emerged from the amalgamation of the wisdom gods Hermes and Thoth and is one of the most enigmatic figures of intellectual history. Since antiquity, the legendary "wise Egyptian" has been considered the creator of several mystical and magical writings on such topics as alchemy, astrology, medicine, and the transcendence of God. Philosophers of the Renaissance celebrated Hermes Trismegistus as the founder of philosophy, Freemasons called him their forefather, and Enlightenment thinkers championed religious tolerance in his name. To this day, Hermes Trismegistus is one of the central figures of the occult-his name is synonymous with the esoteric. In this scholarly yet accessible introduction to the history of Hermeticism and its mythical founder, Florian Ebeling provides a concise overview of the Corpus Hermeticum and other writings attributed to Hermes. He traces the impact of Christian and Muslim versions of the figure in medieval Europe, the power of Hermeticism and Paracelsian belief in Renaissance thought, the relationship to Pietism and to Freemasonry in early modern Europe, and the relationship to esotericism and semiotics in the modern world
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - EBSCO (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (ebsco)673716

Includes bibliographical references (pages 151-152) and index.

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Electronic reproduction. [Place of publication not identified] : HathiTrust Digital Library, 2010. MiAaHDL

Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. MiAaHDL

http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212

digitized 2010 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL

Print version record.

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Foreword / Assmann, Jan -- Introduction -- I. Prehistory and Early History of a Phantasm -- II. The Middle Ages: Christian Theology and "Antediluvian" Magic -- III. Renaissance: Primeval Wisdom for a New World -- IV. Seventeenth Century: High Point and Decline -- V. Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries: Between Occultism and Enlightenment -- VI. Twentieth Century: Systems and Esoterica -- Chronology -- Chronology -- Select Bibliography -- Index

"Perhaps Hermeticism has fascinated so many people precisely because it has made it possible to produce many analogies and relationships to various traditions: to Platonism in its many varieties, to Stoicism, to Gnostic ideas, and even to certain Aristotelian doctrines. The Gnostic, the esoteric, the Platonist, or the deist has each been able to find something familiar in the writings. One just had to have a penchant for remote antiquity, for the idea of a Golden Age, in order for Hermeticism, with its aura of an ancient Egyptian revelation, to have enjoyed such outstanding success."--The IntroductionHermes Trismegistus, "thrice-great Hermes," emerged from the amalgamation of the wisdom gods Hermes and Thoth and is one of the most enigmatic figures of intellectual history. Since antiquity, the legendary "wise Egyptian" has been considered the creator of several mystical and magical writings on such topics as alchemy, astrology, medicine, and the transcendence of God. Philosophers of the Renaissance celebrated Hermes Trismegistus as the founder of philosophy, Freemasons called him their forefather, and Enlightenment thinkers championed religious tolerance in his name. To this day, Hermes Trismegistus is one of the central figures of the occult-his name is synonymous with the esoteric. In this scholarly yet accessible introduction to the history of Hermeticism and its mythical founder, Florian Ebeling provides a concise overview of the Corpus Hermeticum and other writings attributed to Hermes. He traces the impact of Christian and Muslim versions of the figure in medieval Europe, the power of Hermeticism and Paracelsian belief in Renaissance thought, the relationship to Pietism and to Freemasonry in early modern Europe, and the relationship to esotericism and semiotics in the modern world

In English.