Emerald Tablet

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. It was highly regarded by Islamic and European alchemists as the foundation of their art.[1] 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 translated into Latin several times in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Numerous interpretations and commentaries followed.

An imaginative 17th-century depiction of the Emerald Tablet from the work of Heinrich Khunrath, 1606.

Medieval and early modern alchemists associated the Emerald Tablet with the creation of the philosophers' stone and the artificial production of gold.[2]

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.

Textual history
Part of a series on
Hermeticism
Hermes Trismegistus
Hermes Trismegistus
Hermetic writings
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Ancient and medieval
Early modern
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.[3] 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).[4] 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).[5] This book was compiled in Arabic in the late eighth or early ninth century,[6] but it was most likely based on (much) older Greek and/or Syriac sources.[7] 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.[8]

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,[9] 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),[10] and in the Egyptian alchemist Ibn Umayl's (ca. 900 – 960) Kitāb al-māʾ al-waraqī wa-l-arḍ al-najmiyya (Book of the Silvery Water and the Starry Earth).[11]

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.[12] 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).[13] 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).[14]

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).[15]


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
يغلب كل شيء لطيف، يدخل في كل شيء غليظ
على تكوين العالم الأكبر تكوّن العمل
فهذا فخري ولذلك سمّيت هرمس المثلّث بالحكمة[16]

From the Kitāb Usṭuqus al-uss al-thānī (ca. 850–950) attributed to Jabir ibn Hayyan

A somewhat shorter version is quoted in the Kitāb Usṭuqus al-uss al-thānī (The Second Book of the Element of the Foundation) attributed to Jabir ibn Hayyan.[9] Lines 6, 8, and 11–15 from the version in the Sirr al-khalīqa are missing, while other parts seem to be corrupt.[17] Jabir's version was translated by Eric J. Holmyard:

From the pseudo-Aristotelian Sirr al-asrār (tenth century)

A still later version is found in the pseudo-Aristotelian Sirr al-asrār (Secret of Secrets, tenth century).[18]


حقا يقينا لا شك فيه
أن الأسفل من الأعلى والأعلى من الأسفل
عمل العجائب من واحد بتدبير واحد كما نشأت الأشياء من جوهر واحد
أبوه الشمس وأمه القمر
حملته الريح في بطنها، وغذته الأرض بلبانها
أبو الطلسمات، خازن العجائب، كامل القوى
فان صارت أرضا اعزل الأرض من النار اللطيف
أكرم من الغليظ
برفق وحكمة تصعد من الأرض إلى السماء وتهبط إلى الأرض
فتقبل قوة الأعلى والأسفل
لأن معك نور الأنوار فلهذا تهرب عنك الظلمة
قوة القوى
تغلب كل شيء لطيف يدخل على كل شيء كثيف
على تقدير العالم الأكبر
هذا فخري ولهذا سمّيت هرمس المثلّث بالحكمة اللدنية[19]

Medieval Latin versions of the tablet text

From the Latin translation of pseudo-Apollonius of Tyana's Sirr al-khalīqa (De secretis nature)

The tablet was translated into Latin in c. 1145–1151 by Hugo of Santalla as part of his translation of the Sirr al-khalīqa (The Secret of Creation, original Arabic above).[20]


Superiora de inferioribus, inferiora de superioribus,
prodigiorum operatio ex uno, quemadmodum omnia ex uno eodemque ducunt originem, una eademque consilii administratione.
Cuius pater Sol, mater vero Luna,
eam ventus in corpore suo extollit: Terra fit dulcior.
Vos ergo, prestigiorum filii, prodigiorum opifices, discretione perfecti,
si terra fiat, eam ex igne subtili, qui omnem grossitudinem et quod hebes est antecellit, spatiosibus, et prudenter et sapientie industria, educite.
A terra ad celum conscendet, a celo ad terram dilabetur,
superiorum et inferiorum vim continens atque potentiam.
Unde omnis ex eodem illuminatur obscuritas,
cuius videlicet potentia quicquid subtile est transcendit et rem grossam, totum, ingreditur.
Que quidem operatio secundum maioris mundi compositionem habet subsistere.
Quod videlicet Hermes philosophus triplicem sapientiam vel triplicem scientiam appellat.[21]

From the Latin translation of the pseudo-Aristotelian Sirr al-asrār (Secretum secretorum)

The tablet was also translated into Latin as part of the longer version of the pseudo-Aristotelian Sirr al-asrār (Latin: Secretum Secretorum, original Arabic above). It differs significantly both from the translation by Hugo of Santalla (see above) and the Vulgate translation (see below).


Veritas ita se habet et non est dubium,
quod inferiora superioribus et superiora inferioribus respondent.
Operator miraculorum unus solus est Deus, a quo descendit omnis operacio mirabilis.
Sic omnes res generantur ab una sola substancia, una sua sola disposicione.
Quarum pater est Sol, quarum mater est Luna.
Que portavit ipsam naturam per auram in utero, terra impregnata est ab ea.
Hinc dicitur Sol causatorum pater, thesaurus miraculorum, largitor virtutum.
Ex igne facta est terra.
Separa terrenum ab igneo, quia subtile dignius est grosso, et rarum spisso.
Hoc fit sapienter et discrete. Ascendit enim de terra in celum, et ruit de celo in terram.
Et inde interficit superiorem et inferiorem virtutem.
Sic ergo dominatur inferioribus et superioribus et tu dominaberis sursum et deorsum,
tecum enim est lux luminum, et propter hoc fugient a te omnes tenebre.
Virtus superior vincit omnia.
Omne enim rarum agit in omne densum.
Et secundum disposicionem majoris mundi currit hec operacio,
et propter hoc vocatur Hermogenes triplex in philosophia.[13]

Vulgate (from the Liber Hermetis de alchimia or Liber dabessi)
Latin text of the Vulgate Emerald Tablet, from MS Arundel 164, folio 155r., 15th century, British Library[22]

The most widely distributed Latin translation (the so-called 'Vulgate') is found in an anonymous compilation of commentaries on the Emerald Tablet that was translated from a lost Arabic original. This alchemical compilation was variously called Liber Hermetis de alchimia, Liber dabessi, or Liber rebis.[23] Its translator has been tentatively identified as Plato of Tivoli, who was active in c. 1134–1145.[24] However, this is merely a conjecture, and although it can be deduced from other indices that the text dates to the first half of the twelfth century, its translator remains unknown.[25]

The Vulgate version also differs significantly from the other two early Latin versions. A critical edition based on eight manuscripts was prepared by Robert Steele and Dorothea W. Singer in 1928:[26]

Early modern versions of the tablet text

Latin (Nuremberg, 1541)
Latin text of the Emerald Tablet, from Johannes Petreius, De alchemia, Nuremberg, 1541.

Despite some small differences, the 16th-century Nuremberg edition of the Latin text remains largely similar to the vulgate (see above). A translation by Isaac Newton is found among his alchemical papers that are currently housed in King's College Library, Cambridge University:

Influence
A 17th-century edition

In its several Western recensions, the Tablet became a mainstay of medieval and Renaissance alchemy. Commentaries and/or translations were published by, among others, Trithemius, Roger Bacon, Michael Maier, Albertus Magnus, and Isaac Newton. The concise text was a popular summary of alchemical principles, wherein the secrets of the philosophers' stone were thought to have been described.[28]

The fourteenth century alchemist Ortolanus (or Hortulanus) wrote a substantial exegesis on The Secret of Hermes, which was influential on the subsequent development of alchemy. Many manuscripts of this copy of the Emerald Tablet and the commentary of Ortolanus survive, dating at least as far back as the fifteenth century. Ortolanus, like Albertus Magnus before him saw the tablet as a cryptic recipe that described laboratory processes using deck names (or code words). This was the dominant view held by Europeans until the fifteenth century.[29]

By the early sixteenth century, the writings of Johannes Trithemius (1462–1516) marked a shift away from a laboratory interpretation of the Emerald Tablet, to a metaphysical approach. Trithemius equated Hermes' one thing with the monad of pythagorean philosophy and the anima mundi. This interpretation of the Hermetic text was adopted by alchemists such as John Dee, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, and Gerhard Dorn.[29]

In the time travel television series Dark, the mysterious priest Noah has a large image of the Emerald Tablet tattooed on his back. The image, which is from Heinrich Khunrath’s Amphitheatre of Eternal Wisdom (1609), also appears on a metal door in the caves that are central to the plot. Several characters are shown looking at copies of the text.[30] A line from the Latin version, "Sic mundus creatus est" (So was the world created), plays a prominent thematic role in the series and is the title of the sixth episode of the first season.[31]

In 1974, Brazilian singer Jorge Ben Jor recorded a studio album under the name A Tábua de Esmeralda ("The Emerald Tablet"), quoting from the Tablet's text and from alchemy in general in several songs. The album has been defined as an exercise in "musical alchemy" and celebrated as Ben Jor's greatest musical achievement, blending together samba, jazz and rock rhythms. [32]

See also

References
  1. Principe 2013, p. 31.
  2. Principe 2013, p. 32.
  3. Bull 2018, pp. 33–96.
  4. It was perhaps written between the sixth and eighth centuries, as conjectured by Ruska 1926, p. 166.
  5. Weisser 1980, p. 46.
  6. Kraus 1942–1943, vol. II, pp. 274–275 (c. 813–833); Weisser 1980, p. 54 (c. 750–800).
  7. Kraus 1942–1943, vol. II, pp. 270–303; Weisser 1980, pp. 52–53.
  8. Ebeling 2007, pp. 46–47, 96.
  9. Zirnis 1979, pp. 64–65, 90. On the dating of the texts attributed to Jābir, see Kraus 1942–1943, vol. I, pp. xvii–lxv.
  10. Manzalaoui 1974, p. 167; edited by Badawi 1954, pp. 166–167.
  11. Stapleton, Lewis & Taylor 1949, p. 81.
  12. Hudry 1997–1999. Hudry's edition of the Tablet itself is reproduced in Mandosio 2004b, pp. 690–691. An English translation may be found in Litwa 2018, p. 316.
  13. Steele 1920, pp. 115–117. Steele's edition is reproduced in Mandosio 2004b, pp. 692–693.
  14. Mandosio 2004b, p. 683. For an edition and a short description of the contents of this text, see Steele & Singer 1928 (Steele & Singer's edition of the Tablet itself is reproduced in Mandosio 2004b, pp. 691–692). See further Colinet 1995; Caiazzo 2004, pp. 700–703.
  15. Weisser 1980, p. 46. On the dating of this text, see Kraus 1942–1943, vol. II, pp. 274–275 (c. 813–833); Weisser 1980, p. 54 (c. 750–800).
  16. Weisser 1979, pp. 524–525. A translation based on the superseded edition of Ruska 1926, pp. 158–159 may be found in Rosenthal 1975, pp. 247–248.
  17. Holmyard 1923; cf. Ruska 1926, p. 121.
  18. On the dating of this work, see Manzalaoui 1974.
  19. Badawi 1954, pp. 166–167.
  20. Litwa 2018, p. 314.
  21. Hudry 1997–1999, p. 152. Hudry's edition is reproduced in Mandosio 2004b, pp. 690–691. An English translation may be found in Litwa 2018, p. 316.
  22. "Detailed record for Arundel 164". British Library, Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts. A transcription is given by Selwood 2023.
  23. Mandosio 2004b, p. 683. On this text, see further Colinet 1995; Caiazzo 2004, pp. 700–703.
  24. Steele & Singer 1928, p. 45/489.
  25. Mandosio 2004b, p. 683.
  26. The manuscripts are listed in Steele & Singer 1928, p. 46/490. Steele & Singer's edition of the Tablet itself is reproduced in Mandosio 2004b, pp. 691–692. A transcription of the Tablet in one manuscript, MS Arundel 164, is given by Selwood 2023 (Selwood mistakes Steele & Singer 1928's edition for a mere transcript of one manuscript; his attribution of the text's origin to the Secretum secretorum is also mistaken).
  27. Word of Greek origin, from τελεσμός (itself from τελέω, having meanings such as "to perform, accomplish" and "to consecrate, initiate"); "th"-initial spellings represent a corruption. The obscurity of this word's meaning brought forth many interpretations. An anonymous commentary from the 12th century explains telesmus as meaning "secret", mentioning that "divination among the Arabs" was "referred to as telesmus", and that it was "superior to all others"; of this later only the meaning of "a secret" would remain in the word. The word corresponds to طلسم (ṭilasm) in the Arabic text, which does indeed mean "enigma", but also "talisman" in Arabic. It has been asserted that the original meaning was in fact in reference to talismanic magic, and that this was lost in translation from Arabic to Latin (source: Mandosio 2005). Otherwise, the word telesmus was also understood to mean "perfection", as can be seen in Isaac Newton's translation, or "treasure", or other things.
  28. Linden 2003, p. 27.
  29. Debus 2004, p. 415.
  30. "'Dark' Theories and Burning Questions: Jonas' Fate, the Wallpapered Room, and That Massive Back Tattoo". 8 December 2017. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  31. "Dark – Season 1, Episode 6: "Sic Mundus Creatus Est"". Father Son Holy Gore. 2017-12-04. Retrieved 2018-02-17.
  32. Philip Jandovský. "A Tábua de Esmeralda – Jorge Ben". Retrieved 2018-10-13.

Sources used

Further reading
  • Davis, Tenney L. (1926). "The Emerald Table of Hermes Trismegistus. Three Latin Versions Which Were Current among Later Alchemists". Journal of Chemical Education. 3 (8): 863–875. doi:10.1021/ed003p863.
  • Dobbs, Betty J. T. (1988). "Newton's Commentary on The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus: Its Scientific and Theological Significance". In Merkel, Ingrid; Debus, Allen G. (eds.). Hermeticism and the Renaissance: Intellectual History and the Occult in Early Modern Europe. Washington, D.C.: The Folger Shakespeare Library. pp. 182–191. ISBN 9780918016850.
  • Forshaw, Peter (2007). "Alchemical Exegesis: Fractious Distillations of the Essence of Hermes". In Principe, Lawrence M. (ed.). Chymists and Chymistry: Studies in the History of Alchemy and Early Modern Chemistry. Sagamore Beach, MA: Science History Publications. pp. 25–38. ISBN 9780881353969.
  • Holmyard, E.J., Alchemy, Pelican, Harmondsworth, 1957. pp 95–98.
  • Kahn, Didier (1994). La table d'émeraude et sa tradition alchimique. Paris: Les Belles Lettres. ISBN 9782251470054.
  • Needham, J., Science and Civilisation in China, vol. 5, part 4: Spagyrical discovery and invention: Apparatus, Theories and gifts. CUP, 1980.
  • Plessner, Martin (1927). "Neue Materialien zur Geschichte der Tabula Smaragdina". Der Islam. 16 (1): 77–113.
  • Ruska, Julius (1925). "Der Urtext der Tabula Smaragdina". Orientalistische Literaturzeitung. 28: 349–351.
  • Ruska, Julius. Quelques problemes de literature alchimiste. n.p., 1931.
  • Ruska, Julius. Die Alchimie ar-Razi's. n.p., 1935.
  • M. Robinson. The History and Myths surrounding Johannes Hispalensis, in Bulletin of Hispanic Studies vol. 80, no. 4, October 2003, pp. 443–470, abstract.
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