Hermes Trismegistus
Description
Hermes Trismegistus is a legendary Hellenistic period figure that originated as a syncretic combination of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth. He is the purported author of the Hermetica, a widely diverse series of ancient and medieval pseudepigraphica that laid the basis of various philosophical systems known as Hermeticism.
Life & work in brief
Summarised by section — one row per topic, for fast reading.
| Work / contribution | Significance |
|---|---|
| Origin and identity | Hermes Trismegistus may be associated with the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth. |
| The epithet "thrice great" | Fowden asserts that 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. |
| Hermetic writings | During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the Hermetica enjoyed great prestige and were popular among alchemists. |
| Islamic tradition | Faivre (1995) has pointed out that Hermes Trismegistus has a place in the Islamic tradition, although the name Hermes does not appear in the Qur'an. |
| Baháʼí writings | Bahá'u'lláh, founder of the Baháʼí Faith, identifies Idris with Hermes in his Tablet on the Uncompounded Reality. |
Contribution to the celestial-alphabet tradition
Fountainhead of the Hermetic stellar-sapiential tradition. The Hermetic Corpus supplies the cosmology — 'as above, so below' — that makes the planets and zodiac the alphabet's referent, and the 7-planets / 12-signs frame this project reads as the 7 doubles and 12 simples.
Lineage — influence tree
Where Hermes Trismegistus sits in the magi lineage: who shaped this figure, and who this figure shaped in turn. Mage names link to their own ficha.