This text presents itself as a translation of Apollonius of Tyana, under his Arabic name Balînûs. The oldest version is found as an appendix in a treatise believed to have been composed in the 9th century, known as the Book of the Secret of Creation, Kitâb sirr al-Halîka in Arabic. The Emerald Tablet has been found in various ancient Arabic works in different versions.
Arabic versions A page from the Secret of Secrets ( Kitâb Sirr al-asrâr), with two charts to determine whether a patient will live or die based on the numerical value of their name. The first Arabic versions were rediscovered by the English historian of science E.J. Until the early 20th century, only Latin versions of the Emerald Tablet were known, with the oldest dating back to the 12th century. In 640, Egypt, which had become Christian and Byzantine, was conquered by the Arabs, who perpetuated the Hermetic and alchemical tradition in which the Emerald Tablet is situated. In one of these works, the Koré Kosmou (the "Pupil of the World"), Hermes engraves and conceals his teachings before ascending to the heavens "so that every generation born after the world should seek them". They culminate in the mystical-philosophical treatises of the Corpus Hermeticum from the 2nd or 3rd century. These texts, known as the Hermetica, are a heterogeneous collection of works that encompass alchemical, magical, astrological, and medicinal elements. It has also been popular with nineteenth and twentieth century occultists and esotericists, among whom the expression " as above, so below" (a modern paraphrase of the second verse of the Tablet) has become an often cited motto.įrom the 3rd or 2nd century BC, Greek texts attributed to the mythical character Hermes Trismegistus, holder of all knowledge, began to appear in Hellenistic Egypt.
Medieval and early modern alchemists associated the Emerald Tablet with the creation of the philosophers' stone and the artificial production of gold. Numerous interpretations and commentaries followed.
It was translated into Latin several times in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Though attributed to the legendary Hellenistic figure Hermes Trismegistus, the text of the Emerald Tablet first appears in a number of early medieval Arabic sources, the oldest of which dates to the late eighth or early ninth century. It was highly regarded by Islamic and European alchemists as the foundation of their art. The Emerald Tablet, also known as the Smaragdine Tablet or the Tabula Smaragdina (Latin, from the Arabic: لَوْح الزُّمُرُّذ, Lawḥ al-zumurrudh), is a compact and cryptic Hermetic text.
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