Asclepius (treatise) explained

The Latin: Asclepius, also known as the Perfect Discourse (from the Greek), is a religio-philosophical Hermetic treatise. The original Greek text, which was likely written in Alexandria between 100 CE and 300 CE,[1] is largely lost and only a few fragments remain. However, the full text is extant in an early Latin translation, and fragments from a Coptic translation have also been found among the documents discovered in Nag Hammadi.[2]

Contents

The text takes the form of a dialogue, set in the sanctuary of an Egyptian temple, between Hermes Trismegistus and three of his students: Asclepius (a grandson of the Greek god and physician Asclepius), Tat, and Hammon.[3]

Legacy

Medieval Latin readers had access to many Hermetic treatises of a 'technical' nature (astrological, alchemical, or magical, often translated from the Arabic).[4] However, the Latin: Asclepius was the only Hermetic treatise belonging to the 'religio-philosophical' category that was available in Latin before Marsilio Ficino's (1433–1499) and Lodovico Lazzarelli's (1447–1500) translation of the 17 Greek treatises that constitute the Latin: [[Corpus Hermeticum]].[5] During the Middle Ages, the Latin: Asclepius was falsely attributed to the Middle Platonist philosopher Apuleius ( – after 170).[6]

The text of the Latin: Asclepius was used by the philosopher Peter Abelard (1079–1142) and his student Robert of Melun (–1167) as a means to prove that knowledge of the Trinity was naturally available to pagans.[7] Albertus Magnus (–1280) praised the idea developed in the Latin: Asclepius that the human being forms a link between God and the world, uniting in themselves both the spiritual nature of divine beings and the corporeal nature of the material world.[8]

References

Citations

Bibliography

Translations and editions

Secondary literature

Notes and References

  1. .
  2. . Critical editions of the Latin text in and ; English translations of the Latin in and ; English translation of the Coptic fragments in .
  3. .
  4. See, e.g., ; . On the Arabic Latin: Hermetica, see .
  5. .
  6. .
  7. .
  8. .

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