Maria Alchemista, the First Female Jewish Author

Abstract

It is well-known — though not undisputed — that from the beginning Jews played a not insignificant role in the development of the ‘science’ of alchemy.1 It is much less well-known, however, that one of the earliest identifiable alchemist authors of whose work(s) fragments have been preserved, was a Jewish woman with the name of Maria.2 This long neglected author — the credit for whose rediscovery goes to the late Raphael Patai — is important in more than one respect. Firstly, Mary is the first non-fictitious alchemist of the Western world (most of the ‘ancient alchemists’ are mythical personalities, such as Ostanes, Hermes Trismegistus, and Pibechius);3 and secondly, she is the first Jewish woman in history we know to have written and published under her own name.4