True Crime/Paranormal/Conspiracy Stories Part VI

The Emerald Tablet Part II

Historical figures

Modern offshoots

The tablet states its author as Hermes Trismegistus ("Hermes the Thrice-Greatest"), a legendary Hellenistic combination of the Greek god Hermes and the ancient Egyptian god Thoth. Like most other works attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, the Emerald Tablet is very hard to date with any precision, but generally belongs to the late antique period (between c. 200 and c. 800). The oldest known source of the text is the Sirr al-khalīqa wa-ṣanʿat al-ṭabīʿa (The Secret of Creation and the Art of Nature, also known as the Kitāb al-ʿilal or The Book of Causes), an encyclopedic work on natural philosophy falsely attributed to Apollonius of Tyana (c. 15–100, Arabic: Balīnūs or Balīnās). This book was compiled in Arabic in the late eighth or early ninth century, but it was most likely based on (much) older Greek and/or Syriac sources. In the frame story of the Sirr al-khalīqa, Balīnūs tells his readers that he discovered the text in a vault below a statue of Hermes in Tyana, and that, inside the vault, an old corpse on a golden throne held the emerald tablet.

Slightly different versions of the Emerald Tablet also appear in the Kitāb Usṭuqus al-uss al-thānī (The Second Book of the Element of the Foundation, c. 850–950) attributed to Jabir ibn Hayyan, in the longer version of the Sirr al-asrār (The Secret of Secrets, a tenth century compilation of earlier works that was falsely attributed to Aristotle), and in the Egyptian alchemist Muhammed ibn Umail al-Tamimi's (ca. 900 – 960) Kitāb al-māʾ al-waraqī wa-l-arḍ al-najmiyya (Book of the Silvery Water and the Starry Earth).

The Emerald Tablet was translated into Latin in the twelfth century by Hugo of Santalla as part of his translation of the Sirr al-khalīqa. It was again translated into Latin along with the thirteenth century translation of the longer version of the pseudo-Aristotelian Sirr al-asrār (Latin: Secretum secretorum). However, the Latin translation which formed the basis for all later versions (the so-called 'Vulgate') was originally part of an anonymous compilation of alchemical commentaries on the Emerald Tablet variously called Liber Hermetis de alchimia, Liber dabessi, or Liber rebis (first half of the twelfth century).

Arabic versions of the tablet text

From pseudo-Apollonius of Tyana's Sirr al-khalīqa (c. 750–850)

The earliest known version of the Emerald Tablet on which all later versions were based is found in pseudo-Apollonius of Tyana's Sirr al-khalīqa wa-ṣanʿat al-ṭabīʿa (The Secret of Creation and the Art of Nature).

حق لا شك فيه صحيح

إن الأعلى من الأسفل والأسفل من الأعلى

عمل العجائب من واحد كما كانت الأشياء كلها من واحد بتدبير واحد

أبوه الشمس ، أمه القمر

حملته الريح في بطنها، غذته الأرض

أبو الطلسمات، خازن العجائب، كامل القوى

نار صارت أرضا اعزل الأرض من النار

اللطيف أكرم من الغليظ

برفق وحكم يصعد من الأرض إلى السماء وينزل إلى الأرض من السماء

وفيه قوة الأعلى والأسفل

لأن معه نور الأنوار فلذلك تهرب منه الظلمة

قوة القوى