Week XI (April 1) Alchemy
Section outline
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Topics:
· alchemy and cosmology
· mechanics of alchemy
· alchemy and science
Greek Readings: Leyden and Stockholm Papyri (selections); Zosimus, On Excellence, The Work; Hermetica: Stob. Herm. 26.13, 28-29; Isis to Her Son Horus
Readings:
· Alchemy Readings
· Zosimus, On Excellence
· Zosimus On the Letter Omega
· Ogden 46
· PGM XII 193-201
· Edmonds, Drawing Down the Moon, ch. 9
· Jung, Visions of Zosimus
· Martelli, The Alchemical Art of Dyeing
· Stolzenberg, Unpropitious Tinctures
· Taylor, A Survey of Greek Alchemy
Supplementary Readings:
· Grimes, Secrets of the God Makers: Re-Thinking the Origins of Greco-Egyptian Alchemy
· Hershbell, Democritus and The Beginnings of Greek Alchemy
· Martelli, Greek Alchemists at Work
· Principe, Some Problems with the Historiography of Alchemy
· Ps. Democritus Physika & Mystika
· Synesius to Dioscorus on Democritus
· Caley, The Leyden Papyrus X
· Caley, The Stockholm Papyrus