Ancient handbooks and Graeco-Egyptian collections of alchemical recipes

Matteo Martelli

doi:10.1017/bjt.2020.4

Abstract

AbstractA fluid terminology was used in antiquity to refer to scientific or philosophical writings that, in some respects, may be equated with what one would call today a handbook or manual. In particular, this paper will explore a group of treatises that may be counted as examples of ancientencheiridia, a Greek term that could mean ‘hand-knife’, ‘handbook’ and even ‘napkin, towel’. All these meanings have something to tell us about the nature and the history of ancientencheiridia, some of which can be identified with well-known pieces of Graeco-Roman literature. However, the spectrum of ancientencheiridiacan be further enlarged by exploring sources that are often neglected. After giving an up-to-date overview of ancient ‘handbooks’, the article will discuss the termencheiridionin Graeco-Egyptian alchemical literature. In fact, fresh textual investigations of the Syriac tradition of Zosimus of Panopolis point to the circulation of ancient recipe books that bore this title. On the one hand, this investigation will shed new light on the tradition of other important collections of alchemical recipes, such as the medievalMappae clavicula. On the other, it will highlight some strategies that ancient alchemical authors developed in selecting, reorganizing and legitimizing earlier alchemical recipes.

Highlights

Between the first and fifth centuries CE, several Greek and Latin authors made an effort to give comprehensive and, at the same time, concise accounts of different crafts and sciences, producing writings that, in different respects, may be compared with what one would call today a handbook or manual
We can observe that the Pope Zacharias (741–52 CE) rendered the accusative mappulas with the Greek encheiridia in his translation of Gregory the Great’s Dialogues (Book 2, Chapter 19).[77]. If this hypothesis is correct, the Mappae clavicula would represent the Latin translation of a Greek alchemical recipe book that circulated in late antiquity with a title including the term encheiridion
Many recipes included in both Zosimus’ twelve treatises and the Mappae clavicula overlap with a wider set of alchemical compilations, in particular with the so-called Leiden and Stockholm papyri, two anonymous recipe books on papyrus codices written in third- or fourthcentury Egypt.[80]

Summary

Alchemical handbooks

In the sixteenth century various works on medicine were published under the title of enchiridia. That in other passages of his twelve treatises (mimre), Zosimus clearly refers to alchemical writings bearing the same titles as the twenty-four tomes of the original book of alchemy In his tenth treatise, entitled The Tenth Letter on Lead, Letter yud (i.e. the tenth letter of the Syriac alphabet), Zosimus includes a recipe that explains how to produce gold-coloured silver. If this hypothesis is correct, the Mappae clavicula would represent the Latin translation of a Greek alchemical recipe book that circulated in late antiquity with a title including the term encheiridion

Collecting and legitimizing alchemical recipes

Concluding remarks