Our navigation bar is loading . . .

Subscribe to JCSM's weekly inspirational message podcast!Write on Jason Gastrich's Facebook page!Add JCSM as a friend to your MySpace account!Watch Jason Gastrich's videos on YouTube!
Read, respond and subscribe to Jason Gastrich's blog!

Designate a portion of your next eBay auction to JCSM through eBay's Mission Fish program!JCSM's Top 1000 Christian Sites - Free Traffic Sharing Service!
Jesus Christ Saves Ministries

Helping San Diego, California and beyond since 1997

Please type your email and let us encourage you!

 
        Search jcsm.org now!

Click here and add this page to your favorites!

Return to the JCSM Study Center!

Encyclopedia Britannica



HERMES TRISMEGISTUS (" the thrice greatest Hermes ")

This article appears in Volume V13, Page 371 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: HEG-HIG
HERMES TRISMEGISTUS (" the thrice greatest Hermes ") , an honorific designation of the Egyptian Hermes, i.e. Thoth (q.v.), the god of wisdom. In
late
  hieroglyphic the name of Thoth often has the epithet " the twice very great," sometimes " the thrice very great "; in the popular language (demotic) the corresponding epithet is " the five times very great," found as early as the 3rd century n.c. Greek translations give 6 peyas Kai peyas and peyrrros: rpiQeyas occurs in a
late
  magical text. 6 TpuvpeywQTOS has not yet been found earlier than the 2nd century A.D., but there can now be no doubt of its origin in the above Egyptian epithets.
Thoth was " the scribe of the gods," " Lord of divine words," and to Hermes was attributed the authorship of all the strictly sacred books generally called by Greek authors Hermetic. These, according to Clemens Alexandrinus, our sole ancient authority (Strom. vi. p. 268 et seq.), were forty-two in number, and were subdivided into six divisions, of which the first, containing ten books, was in charge of the " prophet" and dealt with laws, deities and the education of priests; the second, consisting of the ten books of the stolistes, the official whose duty it was to dress and ornament the statues of the gods, treated of sacrifices and offerings, prayers, hymns, festive processions; the third, of the " hierogrammatist," also in ten books, was called " hieroglyphics," and was a repertory of cosmographical, geographical and topographical information; the four books of the " horoscopus " were devoted to astronomy and astrology; the two books of the " chanter " contained respectively a collection of songs in honour of the gods and a description of the royal life and its duties; while the
sixth
  and last division, consisting of the six books of the " pastophorus," was medical. Clemens's statement cannot he contradicted. Works are extant in papyri and on temple walls, treating of geography, astronomy, ritual, myths, medicine, &c. It is probable that the native priests would have been ready to ascribe the authorship or inspiration, as well as the care and protection of all their books of sacred
lore
  to Thoth, although
there were a goddess of writing (Seshit), and the ancient deified scribes Imuthes and Amenophis, and later inspired doctors Petosiris, Nechepso, &c., to be reckoned with; there are indeed some definite traces of such an attribution extant in individual cases. Whether a canon of such books was ever established, even in the latest times, may be seriously doubted. We know, however, that the vizier of Upper Egypt (at Thebes) in the eighteenth dynasty, had 40 (not 42) parchment rolls laid before him as he sat in the
hall
  of audience. Unfortunately we have no hint of their contents. Forty-two was the number of divine assessors at the judgment of the dead before Osiris, and was the standard number of the nomes or counties in Egypt.
The name of Hermes seems during the 3rd and following centuries to have been regarded as a convenient pseudonym to place at the head of the numerous syncretistic writings in which it was sought to combine Neo-Platonic philosophy, Philonic Judaism and cabalistic
theosophy
 , and so provide the world with some acceptable substitute for the Christianity which had even at that time begun to give indications of the ascendancy it was destined afterwards to attain. Of these pseudepigraphic Hermetic writings some have come down to us in the
original
  Greek; others survive in Latin or Arabic translations; but the majority appear to have perished. That which is best known and has been most frequently edited is the HotavSplls sive De potestate et sapientia divina (Hotav&prlc being the Divine Intelligence, rotily avbpwv), which consists of fifteen chapters treating of such subjects as the nature of God, the origin of the world, the creation and fall of man, and the divine illumination which is the sole means of his deliverance. The editio princeps appeared in Paris in s554; there is also an edition by G. Parthey (1854); the work has also been translated into German by D. Tiedemann (1781). Other Hermetic writings which have been preserved, and which have been for the most part collected by Patricius in the Nova de universis philosophia (1593), are (in Greek) 'Iarpoafhguartica srpos "Awva Atyiirrtov, Ilepl xaraKMC!EWS voa'ouvrwv aeptyvwartxa, 'Ex rift AaBrfartxils E>rtvrifrls rpos Awva: (in Latin) Aphorismi sive Centiloquium, Cyranides ; (in Arabic, but doubtless from a Greek
original
 ) an address to the human soul, which has been translated by H. L. Fleischer (An die menschliche Seek, 1870).
The connexion of the name of Hermes with alchemy will explain what is meant by hermetic sealing, and will account for the use of the phrase " hermetic medicine " by
Paracelsus
 , as also for the so-called " hermetic freemasonry " of the middle ages.
Besides Thoth, Anubis (q.v.) was constantly identified with
Hermes; see also Host-us.
See Ursinus, De Zoroastre, Hermete, &c. (Nuremberg, 1661); Nicolas Lenglet-Dufresnoy, L'Histoire de la philosophie hermetique (Paris, 1742); Baumgarten-Crusius, De librorum hermeticorum origine atque indole (Jena, 1827); B. J. Hilgers, De Hermetis Trismegisti Poemandro (1855); R. M6nard, Hermes Trismegiste, traduction complete, precedee d'une etude sur l' origine des livres hermetiques (1866) ; R. Pietschmann, Hermes Trismegzstus, nach dgyptischen, griechischen, and orienlalischen fberlieferungen (1875); R. Reitzenstein, Poimandres, Studien zur griechisch-agyptischen and fr2lhchristlichen Literatur (
Leipzig
 , 1904) ; G. R. S.
Mead
 , Thrice Greatest Hermes (1907), introduction and translation. (F. Le. G.)


End of Article: HERMES TRISMEGISTUS (" the thrice greatest Hermes ")


If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/HEG_HIG/HERMES_TRISMEGISTUS_the_thrice.html">
HERMES TRISMEGISTUS (" the thrice greatest Herm...
</a>
(Previous)
HERMES 		(Next)
HERMES, GEORG (1775-1831)

 


 

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries

The JCSM Study CenterAmerica's Christian FoundationSkeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and ExplainedNKJV Web Hosting and Services
JCSM's Sermons, Debates and the Bible on MP3The Online Christ-Centered MinistriesDo You Have A Web Site?  Your Ad Could Be Here!Seminary Notes and PapersThe Picturesque Photo Albums


Jesus Christ Saves Ministries, P.O. Box 70696, Pasadena, CA 91117

JCSM is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization. Copyright © 1997-present.



Kingdom Debt Solutions - Be Debt Free! Sport Logos - Quality Athletic Equipment The JCSM Study Center Your Ad Could Be Here! Launch A Successful Internet Organization or Business! Learn Guitar, Bass, or Piano in San Diego county!

You can advertise your site right here!

Free & Cheap Cell Phones  |  Cheap Long Distance Phone Service Carriers  |  Talk America Local Phone Service  |  Ztel & MCI - Unlimited Long Distance
Compare Cell Phone Plans & Companies  |  International Calling Cards & Prepaid Phone Cards  |  Voice Over IP Broadband Internet Phone Service  |  Wireless Phone Plans & Cheap Cell Phones

Dr. Jason Gastrich

Jason Gastrich, Ph.D.

 

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries is directed by Dr. Jason Gastrich. It was founded in 1997 and it exists to bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that have been sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA  92169
1-877-850-3878 or Email

JCSM is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization. Copyright © 1997-2009.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Online First Aid and CPR Certification  .  The Online Christ Centered Ministries  .  The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained  .  The Inerrancy Discussion Board  .  Free Email Accounts  .  Home Equity Loans  .  JasonGastrich.com  .  The Missions, Apologetics, and Creation Bible Conference  .  Young Earth Creation Science  .  San Diego Music Lessons  .  10,000 Wise Quotes and Spiritual Sayings  .  Gastrich.net  .  Maximizing the Internet: 12 Keys to Success  .  Louisiana Baptist University  .  NKJV Web Hosting and Services  .  Michael Newdow  .  San Diego Soccer Training  . Christian Guitar Lessons  .  Jesus Christ Saves Ministries  .  Eternal Security