Beschreibung
From the Introduction of the editor:
«The manuscript of Zosimos’ Kitab Mafatih as-san‘a (The Book of the Keys of theWork), here presented as a facsimile together with a parallel English translation, makes this document accessible in a Western language for the first time. Although the scientific community has known of this book for almost a century, it has up to now remained difficult to obtain for study purposes. Yet this text is crucial for the history of alchemy and especially for a better understanding of the origins and the significance of
symbolic alchemy, as will be demonstrated in the following …
… At the beginning of the Kitab Mafatih as-san‘a we read: «Zosimos,
when he wrote about these treatises to Theosebeia, named them The Keys of
the Work, and the completer (hatim) of what had been extracted as essence
from its sciences. … They (the ten keys) are for Theosebeia; it is the last
thing that he wrote for her. And when she came across it, she understood the
work.»
On the basis of arguments collected in the introduction to this book, one can
conclusively say that it is a translation from a Greek original, and it can be
considered as Zosimos’ summa, the very essence of his teachings.
Inhalt
Content
Acknowledgements 9
Part I: Introduction
1. The Manuscript, its Origin, Date and Title 11
2. Democritus from Abdera, the spiritual Teacher
of Zosimos 14
3. The Origin of the Kit¡b Maf¡t?® aÆ-Æan1a and the
MuÆ®af aÆ-Æuwar 16
4. Maslama b. Q¡sim al-Qur?ub? al-Zayy¡t’s Rutbat al-®ak?m
and Zosimos’ Texts in Arabic 18
5. The Kit¡b Maf¡t?® aÆ-Æan1a and the MuÆ®af aÆ-Æuwar as further
Development of Pharaonic Thinking 20
6. On the Operations in Zosimos’ Alchemy 38
a. The Symbols of the Sun and the Moon 38
b. The Making of the Silver 41
c. The Marrying of the four Elements 44
d. The Vessel, the Silver and the Body of the Adept 45
e. The Relationship of the two Works to Pharaonic Times 48
Part II: Facsimile and Translation of the Manuscript: The Book of the
Keys of the Work — Kit¡b Maf¡t?® aÆ-Æan1a by Zosimos of Panopolis 55
Remarks Concerning the Translation 57
Arabic Text and English Translation 59
Part III: Appendix
1. Bibliography and Further Reading 269
2. List of Illustrations 289
3. Index 291
4. Diacritical Signs 346
