The Book of Pictures - Mushaf as-suwar by Zosimos of Panapolis

The images published here are from the almost complete manuscript of the Mushaf as-suwar, one of the oldest available manuscripts of perhaps the first Greek alchemist. In different places, Zosimos advises this female student Theosebeia to ponder the meaning of his symbolic explanations, through which he answers her questions. His images complement the dialogue and clarify the meaning of his teaching. We have here a highly interesting transmission of knowledge in the form of image and word.

Theodor Abt (b. 1947) Jungian Analyst in private practice. 1983-88 member of the board of the C.G. Jung-Institute, Professor for Rural Sociology at the ETH. Since 1995, member of the board of the Research and Training Centre for Depth Psychology according to C.G. Jung and M.-L. von Franz, Zurich. Since 1988, President of the Society of the Friends of the Royal Tombs of Egypt. Author of: Progress without Loss of Soul (1990). Editing and translation of treatises of Arabic alchemy (CALA-Series) and psychological commentary of Ibn Umails "Book of the Explanation of the Symbols" (Hall ar-Rumuz) (CALA IB).

Foreword Part I: Introduction 1. The Earliest Alchemical Texts 2. Arabic Texts as a Witness to Greek Alchemy, Especially to Zosimos 3. The Origin of the Mushaf as-suwar 4. New Insight into the Roots of Zosimos' Teaching 5. A Testimony to the Basic Attitude of Zosimos 6. First Reflections on the Mushaf as-suwar 7. The Mushaf as-suwar and Its Relationship to the Kitab al-mafatih fi as-san'a 8. Text of Zosimos as the Main Source of the Kitab al-habib and the Kitab Qiratis 9. The Greek Origin of the Turba philosophorum? 10. The Mushaf as-suwar and the Rosarium philosophorum 11. The Mushaf as-suwar and One of the Mutus liber 12. Summary Part II: The Pictures and Their Descriptions in the Mushaf as-suwar Index