Pseudo-Majriti
11th century CE
translated by Jason Colavito
2025
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NOTE |
The Picatrix was one of the most best known and most influential magical texts of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The text as it was known to most scholars of the time was a Latin translation of an eleventh century Arabic text called Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm (The Goal of the Wise Man), whose author is the subject of debate. Some have named him as Maslama ibn Ahmad al-Majriti, while in Europe the author was often named as either Picatrix (a likely corruption of Hippocrates) or Norbar the Arab. By convention, he is typically now named as Pseudo-Majriti. The book has an odd history, having been written sometime in the 1000s before being translated into a now-lost Spanish text by order of Alfonso X around 1256-1258, and then from Spanish to Latin sometime thereafter. An early French translation was particularly influential in nineteenth-century France. The text itself is an amalgam of magic spells, astrology, and bits of Hellenistic lore totaling around 400 pages. The Arabic text was only rediscovered in 1920, and the Latin edition was first published in 1986. It received a scholarly translation into English from Dan Attrell and David Porreca in 2019. I have no interest in translating 400 pages of magical material, so below I present a few useful excerpts. Two come from Grillot de Givry's Anthologie de l'occultisme. A number of others were found in P. L. Jacob's Curiosités des science occultes, one from Fritz Saxl's study of the survival of the pagan gods, and the last I translated years ago from David Pingree's critical edition of the Latin text. I preface these with the description of the Picatrix that the abbot Johan Trithemius, himself accused of sorcery, provided in his catalog of magical books worthy of condemnation by the Church.
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Johann Trithemius, Antipalus Maleficiorum 1.3 (1508)
The Picatrix comprises a large volume of four books, which begins thus: “As the wise man says, ‘We must first do.’” And likewise, it says it was translated from Arabic into Latin in the year of the Christian era 1256 from two hundred and twenty-four ancient books, in which many frivolous, superstitious and diabolical things are contained at the fore and in open discourse, although some natural things also seem to be mixed in. It makes prayers to the spirits of the planets; also images and rings with many and various characters, all of which the holy mother Church condemns as illicit and superstitious.
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This author, once famous, now unknown, was an Arab physician who lived in Spain around the 13th century. Alphonse X, King of Castile, had his works translated into Spanish around 1256, and they achieved an extraordinary vogue. Rabelais called him “the Reverend Father in the Devil, Picatrix” (The Third Book, ch. 23), and Cornelis Agrippa drew extensively on his manuscripts to write his Occult Philosophy. We do not believe that this Spanish translation was ever printed, nor was a Latin translation of the 17th century. We know of Picatrix only via a handwritten French translation from the 17th century, which is in the Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal in Paris, and from which we have extracted the following passages. It will be noted that this man, who has been represented solely as a demonologist and necromancer, seems to have glimpsed all of organic chemistry; the vegetable, according to him, feeds on the mineral; the animal feeds on the vegetable; the mineral, finally, is reconstituted when the animal comes, in turn, to decompose back into the earth. Thus, he seems to have been aware of the presence of mineral salts in organized bodies.
— Grillot de Givry |
EXCERPTS FROM THE PICATRIX
PROLOGUE
For the praise and glory of the most high and omnipotent God, who is to reveal to his predestined ones the secrets of the sciences, and also for the enlightenment of Latin scholars, who by the grace of God are in want of books published by ancient philosophers, Alfonso, the most illustrious king of Spain and all Andalusia, ordered that this book whose name is Picatrix be translated from Arabic into Spanish with the utmost diligence and diligence. This work was completed in the year of our Lord 1256, Alexander 1568, Caesar 1295, and the Arabs 255. For the wise philosopher, the noble and honored Picatrix, compiled this book from 200 books and more of philosophy, which he then named after himself.
In the name of the Lord. Amen. Here begins the book which the wisest philosopher Picatrix composed about the necromantic arts from several books. As the wise man said: The first thing we must do in all things in the world is to give thanks to God. For which reason I say that He is to be praised because by His light secrets are revealed and hidden things are made manifest, and by His power all miracles are done, and in Him all prayers and all sciences are understood. Days were divided from nights by His command, and by His power all things are created from nothing and proceed to their perfection, and by His power all creatures are renewed and governed in Him according to the pertinence of their nature. But He is powerful. and through Him all things are renewed by generation, and He is not involved with other things nor separated from them because He has no finite place nor is anything outside of Him, for He is space itself. All the languages of this world cannot narrate His works nor explain His powers; His wonders are indeed infinite, and nothing is new to Him. Therefore may He be praised, and we obey Him and His prophets and saints who were enlightened in the world by His command and showed men the ways by which they can attain the knowledge and wisdom of God. Wherefore we beseech Him that He may receive us into His grace and reward us and lead us to His eternal glory. Amen.
O you who wish to study the sciences of the philosophers and to know and to examine their secrets, first search out the great wonders of art which they have put in their books and seek to study the wonders of the science of necromancy. But first you must know that the philosophers have hidden this science and have not been able to reveal it to men; nay, they have veiled it as much as they can. In shrouded words they said whatever they have spoken of it and also with signs and the like as if they were speaking of other sciences. This speaks to their honesty and goodness because, if this science had been revealed to men, they would have destroyed the universe. And for this reason, they have spoken figuratively about it such that no one could understand it unless he were as enlightened in science as they were. And therefore in all their concealments they have provided paths and rules by which the wise may be able to attain it and make progress in all that they have wished to say in secret. For this reason I have compiled this book and in it I intend to explain the ways and means of this science and to reveal what the wise men of this science have concealed and to show what they have hidden in their books with strange and deceptive words.
But I pray to the most high Creator that this book of ours may only reach the hands of a wise man who can understand whatever I am going to say in it and consider it beneficial, and who will make use of whatever he does from it only for good and for the service of God.
Further, this tome is divided into four books, and each book into chapters. In the first, we treat of the nature of the heavens and its effects because of the signs that are therein; the second speaks in general of the figures of the heavens, of the movement of the eighth sphere and their effects in this world; the third marks the properties of the planets and signs, with their figures and forms in their own colors, and teaches in what way one can speak to the Spirits of the planets, and instructs in several other things of necromancy; and with regard to the fourth book, we show the properties of the Spirits and what is necessary to observe in this art with the way of helping oneself with images, fumigations and other similar things.
For the praise and glory of the most high and omnipotent God, who is to reveal to his predestined ones the secrets of the sciences, and also for the enlightenment of Latin scholars, who by the grace of God are in want of books published by ancient philosophers, Alfonso, the most illustrious king of Spain and all Andalusia, ordered that this book whose name is Picatrix be translated from Arabic into Spanish with the utmost diligence and diligence. This work was completed in the year of our Lord 1256, Alexander 1568, Caesar 1295, and the Arabs 255. For the wise philosopher, the noble and honored Picatrix, compiled this book from 200 books and more of philosophy, which he then named after himself.
In the name of the Lord. Amen. Here begins the book which the wisest philosopher Picatrix composed about the necromantic arts from several books. As the wise man said: The first thing we must do in all things in the world is to give thanks to God. For which reason I say that He is to be praised because by His light secrets are revealed and hidden things are made manifest, and by His power all miracles are done, and in Him all prayers and all sciences are understood. Days were divided from nights by His command, and by His power all things are created from nothing and proceed to their perfection, and by His power all creatures are renewed and governed in Him according to the pertinence of their nature. But He is powerful. and through Him all things are renewed by generation, and He is not involved with other things nor separated from them because He has no finite place nor is anything outside of Him, for He is space itself. All the languages of this world cannot narrate His works nor explain His powers; His wonders are indeed infinite, and nothing is new to Him. Therefore may He be praised, and we obey Him and His prophets and saints who were enlightened in the world by His command and showed men the ways by which they can attain the knowledge and wisdom of God. Wherefore we beseech Him that He may receive us into His grace and reward us and lead us to His eternal glory. Amen.
O you who wish to study the sciences of the philosophers and to know and to examine their secrets, first search out the great wonders of art which they have put in their books and seek to study the wonders of the science of necromancy. But first you must know that the philosophers have hidden this science and have not been able to reveal it to men; nay, they have veiled it as much as they can. In shrouded words they said whatever they have spoken of it and also with signs and the like as if they were speaking of other sciences. This speaks to their honesty and goodness because, if this science had been revealed to men, they would have destroyed the universe. And for this reason, they have spoken figuratively about it such that no one could understand it unless he were as enlightened in science as they were. And therefore in all their concealments they have provided paths and rules by which the wise may be able to attain it and make progress in all that they have wished to say in secret. For this reason I have compiled this book and in it I intend to explain the ways and means of this science and to reveal what the wise men of this science have concealed and to show what they have hidden in their books with strange and deceptive words.
But I pray to the most high Creator that this book of ours may only reach the hands of a wise man who can understand whatever I am going to say in it and consider it beneficial, and who will make use of whatever he does from it only for good and for the service of God.
Further, this tome is divided into four books, and each book into chapters. In the first, we treat of the nature of the heavens and its effects because of the signs that are therein; the second speaks in general of the figures of the heavens, of the movement of the eighth sphere and their effects in this world; the third marks the properties of the planets and signs, with their figures and forms in their own colors, and teaches in what way one can speak to the Spirits of the planets, and instructs in several other things of necromancy; and with regard to the fourth book, we show the properties of the Spirits and what is necessary to observe in this art with the way of helping oneself with images, fumigations and other similar things.
Prologue
Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, Ms, no. 2794 and the Latin text.
Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, Ms, no. 2794 and the Latin text.
ON THE SCIENCE OF KNOWING
Know, my dear brother, that there is no greater and nobler gift that God has given to men than knowledge, for it is thus that one gains knowledge of ancient things, that one discovers what are the souls of all things in this world, what are the closest causes of the causes of other things; in what manner one thing agrees with another; why all existing things possess existence, in what manner one thing is elevated in order after another, and in what place resides the one who is the root and principle of this world and of all things that exist in the order that we see. He by whom all things old and new are known is, in fact, the one who is the first being; nothing is lacking in him, and he needs no other since he is the first being and the cause of all others.
Know, my dear brother, that there is no greater and nobler gift that God has given to men than knowledge, for it is thus that one gains knowledge of ancient things, that one discovers what are the souls of all things in this world, what are the closest causes of the causes of other things; in what manner one thing agrees with another; why all existing things possess existence, in what manner one thing is elevated in order after another, and in what place resides the one who is the root and principle of this world and of all things that exist in the order that we see. He by whom all things old and new are known is, in fact, the one who is the first being; nothing is lacking in him, and he needs no other since he is the first being and the cause of all others.
Book I, chapter II.
Ibid., Ms, no. 2794.
Ibid., Ms, no. 2794.
ON THE PROPERTIES OF MAGIC
You must know that this philosophy is called magic, and that we call magical all the operations of man in which the senses and the mind follow along in every part of the work, helping or directing in order to bring about marvelous things—things which are difficult to understand because of the weakness of our senses, just as sight falters when confronted with likenesses.
This science is very deep and difficult to grasp; one part of it consists in practice, because the works are of spirit to spirit; that is to say, in making things that are similar and that are not substances, and in the composition of images, which is a spirit in a body.
We call “magic,” in general, all things hidden from the senses, when most men do not understand how they are brought about or from what causes they proceed. As for images, the sages call them Thelgam or Tetzavi, which is interpreted as violator, because whatever the image does, it does by force, and in order to overcome all the things for which it was composed. It accomplishes everything through the works of victory, through arithmetic proportions, through influences and celestial operations, since it is composed of bodies fitted to achieve what I have just described, and at the proper time, and through fumigations which impart strength, which draw spirits toward the images. This elixir of science is similar to that which conquers bodies, attracts them, and transforms them into others more pure; and everything it does, it does by force, and it operates like venom or poison which, coursing through bodies and altering them, reduces them to its own nature, which is how one body is reduced into another through the power of the composition that is within it.
Now, it is the property of this wash, which is called elixir, to be composed of earth, fire, air, and water—these four forces being assisted in it and reduced into its own nature and property, by which the wash, once it has entered into some body and penetrated it, waters its parts, thereby delivering it more fully to another body, so that it may better obey and be transmuted. In the same way the elixir acts in alchemy, since the artist converts bodies of one nature into another, more noble, by first covering over the hardness and harsh noise of the spirits, then taking from them their sound and their impurity, which makes the elixir secret. According to the ancient sages, this elixir may otherwise be called force, because it breaks the other forces in converting, and transmutes even from one property to another, though it reduces it to its own likeness. There is no elixir whose first part of composition is not made from animals, minerals, and plants, as say those who claim that it resembles the world. For since the world is composed of the things I have just mentioned, in the same way it is said that the elixir is composed of similar things, because each part receives one thing into another, and another part enters into another. From this it follows that trees cannot subsist by themselves, nor can other plants; and likewise, minerals need the cooking and force of fire, together with moisture and the strength of milk, to be perfected. I found this in the book which is entitled The Ordinations.
Now, magic is divided into two parts: the practical, as we have just seen, and the theoretical. The theoretical is the science of the places of the fixed stars, because it is they who compose the celestial figures and the forms of the heavens; it teaches how they cast their rays, and in what way they move like the planets, and how they form the figures of the heavens when they wish to accomplish what they intend. It includes everything that the ancient sages have said about the different choices of time and hours for the work of images. Thus, he who causes images to be made in due proportion knows the constellation suited to the things with which the images are formed, the matrices being also one of the parts of magic, because words themselves possess the virtue of magic. Likewise, as Plato says, just as an old friend becomes the enemy of his friend through evil and injurious words, so also an enemy becomes a friend through words of kindness and gentleness. This shows that speech has in itself a magical power, and that its force is greater when several powers are united in rivalry with one another, mutually reinforcing each other; and it is then that the virtue of magic is accomplished. And this is what is called the theoretical. The practical is the composition of the three natures with the virtue of the infusion of the fixed stars, what the Sages call “virtue.” But they do not know of what matter it is made, nor in what way it is joined together. Now, after these things are joined with one another, those which possess the virtues I have just spoken of must acquire an elemental heat, and they acquire it in fumigations. This is what aids in bringing to completion that imperfect virtue.
Likewise. they must have a temperate natural heat to agree, and these two things cannot be aided or accomplished without the spirit of man and animal.
You must know that this philosophy is called magic, and that we call magical all the operations of man in which the senses and the mind follow along in every part of the work, helping or directing in order to bring about marvelous things—things which are difficult to understand because of the weakness of our senses, just as sight falters when confronted with likenesses.
This science is very deep and difficult to grasp; one part of it consists in practice, because the works are of spirit to spirit; that is to say, in making things that are similar and that are not substances, and in the composition of images, which is a spirit in a body.
We call “magic,” in general, all things hidden from the senses, when most men do not understand how they are brought about or from what causes they proceed. As for images, the sages call them Thelgam or Tetzavi, which is interpreted as violator, because whatever the image does, it does by force, and in order to overcome all the things for which it was composed. It accomplishes everything through the works of victory, through arithmetic proportions, through influences and celestial operations, since it is composed of bodies fitted to achieve what I have just described, and at the proper time, and through fumigations which impart strength, which draw spirits toward the images. This elixir of science is similar to that which conquers bodies, attracts them, and transforms them into others more pure; and everything it does, it does by force, and it operates like venom or poison which, coursing through bodies and altering them, reduces them to its own nature, which is how one body is reduced into another through the power of the composition that is within it.
Now, it is the property of this wash, which is called elixir, to be composed of earth, fire, air, and water—these four forces being assisted in it and reduced into its own nature and property, by which the wash, once it has entered into some body and penetrated it, waters its parts, thereby delivering it more fully to another body, so that it may better obey and be transmuted. In the same way the elixir acts in alchemy, since the artist converts bodies of one nature into another, more noble, by first covering over the hardness and harsh noise of the spirits, then taking from them their sound and their impurity, which makes the elixir secret. According to the ancient sages, this elixir may otherwise be called force, because it breaks the other forces in converting, and transmutes even from one property to another, though it reduces it to its own likeness. There is no elixir whose first part of composition is not made from animals, minerals, and plants, as say those who claim that it resembles the world. For since the world is composed of the things I have just mentioned, in the same way it is said that the elixir is composed of similar things, because each part receives one thing into another, and another part enters into another. From this it follows that trees cannot subsist by themselves, nor can other plants; and likewise, minerals need the cooking and force of fire, together with moisture and the strength of milk, to be perfected. I found this in the book which is entitled The Ordinations.
Now, magic is divided into two parts: the practical, as we have just seen, and the theoretical. The theoretical is the science of the places of the fixed stars, because it is they who compose the celestial figures and the forms of the heavens; it teaches how they cast their rays, and in what way they move like the planets, and how they form the figures of the heavens when they wish to accomplish what they intend. It includes everything that the ancient sages have said about the different choices of time and hours for the work of images. Thus, he who causes images to be made in due proportion knows the constellation suited to the things with which the images are formed, the matrices being also one of the parts of magic, because words themselves possess the virtue of magic. Likewise, as Plato says, just as an old friend becomes the enemy of his friend through evil and injurious words, so also an enemy becomes a friend through words of kindness and gentleness. This shows that speech has in itself a magical power, and that its force is greater when several powers are united in rivalry with one another, mutually reinforcing each other; and it is then that the virtue of magic is accomplished. And this is what is called the theoretical. The practical is the composition of the three natures with the virtue of the infusion of the fixed stars, what the Sages call “virtue.” But they do not know of what matter it is made, nor in what way it is joined together. Now, after these things are joined with one another, those which possess the virtues I have just spoken of must acquire an elemental heat, and they acquire it in fumigations. This is what aids in bringing to completion that imperfect virtue.
Likewise. they must have a temperate natural heat to agree, and these two things cannot be aided or accomplished without the spirit of man and animal.
Book I, chapter II.
Ibid., Ms. 2794.
Ibid., Ms. 2794.
ON THE HEALING POWER OF TALISMANS
A certain person of the court of the king of Egypt saw a young man who, having heard someone complain of a mortal wound inflicted by a scorpion, drew from his purse a packet of certain seals or stamps resembling incense, took one upon which appeared the image of a scorpion, and gave it to the wounded man… And immediately he was healed… Having asked the young man with what he had impressed the figure of the scorpion, he showed me a gold ring in which was set and mounted a bezoar stone bearing the figure of a scorpion… He told me that this figure had been made when the Moon was in the second house of Scorpio… I then had an image of a scorpion made in this figure, at the hour just mentioned, with which I sealed and stamped incense and all other things that could be sealed; afterwards, with these seals and stamps I performed marvels in the sight of everyone.
A certain person of the court of the king of Egypt saw a young man who, having heard someone complain of a mortal wound inflicted by a scorpion, drew from his purse a packet of certain seals or stamps resembling incense, took one upon which appeared the image of a scorpion, and gave it to the wounded man… And immediately he was healed… Having asked the young man with what he had impressed the figure of the scorpion, he showed me a gold ring in which was set and mounted a bezoar stone bearing the figure of a scorpion… He told me that this figure had been made when the Moon was in the second house of Scorpio… I then had an image of a scorpion made in this figure, at the hour just mentioned, with which I sealed and stamped incense and all other things that could be sealed; afterwards, with these seals and stamps I performed marvels in the sight of everyone.
Book II, chapter I.
Ibid., Ms. 2794.
Ibid., Ms. 2794.
RECIPES FOR TALISMANS
To obtain some dignity from a lord, make an image, improving the ascendant of the tenth dwelling and the dominant of the ascendant in the same way; remove misfortune from the ascendant and its dominant, and place fortune in the eleventh dwelling, so that the dominant and ascendant may regard each other with a good and praiseworthy aspect and be well received. When you have thus perfected your image, you will keep it with you in secret, so that it will not be seen by anyone, and when you appear before a lord and ask him for some service, favor, or dignity, you will have it.
To obtain some dignity from a lord, make an image, improving the ascendant of the tenth dwelling and the dominant of the ascendant in the same way; remove misfortune from the ascendant and its dominant, and place fortune in the eleventh dwelling, so that the dominant and ascendant may regard each other with a good and praiseworthy aspect and be well received. When you have thus perfected your image, you will keep it with you in secret, so that it will not be seen by anyone, and when you appear before a lord and ask him for some service, favor, or dignity, you will have it.
Book I, chapter V.
Ibid., Ms, no. 2794.
Ibid., Ms, no. 2794.
To destroy a city, make an image under the hour of Saturn; when misfortunes are under the ascendant of the city and the lord of the ascendant is unfortunate, make sure that fortunes are kept away from the ascendant and its lord, as well as from the triplicity of the ascendant and the fourth, seventh, and tenth mansions. Then, bury this image in the middle of the city, and you will see wonders.
Book I, chapter V.
Ibid., Ms, no. 2794.
Ibid., Ms, no. 2794.
To catch fish, you must make an image in the figure of the sign Pisces, and the Moon must be with Venus in the ascendant, and this must be done at the hour of the moon. Then you will throw this image into the river, and you will see that a multitude of fish will immediately stop there.
Book I, chapter V.
Ibid., Ms, no. 2794.
Ibid., Ms, no. 2794.
A PRAYER TO SATURN
O Lord, whose name is sublime and whose power is great, sublime spirit, O Lord Saturn, you, the cold, the sterile, the gloomy, and the corrupting, you whose love is right and whose word is true, you, the prudent and solitary, the inscrutable, who keeps your promise, you who are powerless and weary, who have more sorrow and sadness than anyone else, who knows neither joy nor pleasure, you cunning old man, who knows all tricks, who are deceitful, clever, and wise, who brings prosperity or ruin and makes man happy or unhappy! I conjure you, O supreme Father, by your great benevolence and noble kindness, do this and that for me.
O Lord, whose name is sublime and whose power is great, sublime spirit, O Lord Saturn, you, the cold, the sterile, the gloomy, and the corrupting, you whose love is right and whose word is true, you, the prudent and solitary, the inscrutable, who keeps your promise, you who are powerless and weary, who have more sorrow and sadness than anyone else, who knows neither joy nor pleasure, you cunning old man, who knows all tricks, who are deceitful, clever, and wise, who brings prosperity or ruin and makes man happy or unhappy! I conjure you, O supreme Father, by your great benevolence and noble kindness, do this and that for me.
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Book III, chapter VII,
quoted in Saxl, who identified it as a remnant of a Late Antique Greek astrological prayer* * Note: David Pingree identifies the Picatrix text as part of the liturgies of the Sabeans of Harrān. Fritz Saxl asked readers to compare this to a Greek astrologer's prayer to Kronos taken from the version of the Byzantine-era Hygromanteia of Solomon in the Harleian Library (MS. 5596): "Lord our God, the Great and Most High, who created and formed man, at whose sight Hell trembled and the living died. By Your name and by Your great power I adjure you, Kronos, by the height of heaven and by the depth of the sea, that you refuse me nothing. I adjure you, Kronos, by your age and your supreme rank. I adjure you, Kronos, by your dread power, you who have the might to give both harm and treasures, and to subject everything as is fitting. Again I adjure you, by these your names: Orphōn, Okpē, Tomōn, Ouliob, Berim, Ougran, Sarom, Hodēl, Siet, Satad. By the power of these names, I adjure you, that you incline to me your grace and your power, for the action that I wish to accomplish in this hour, so that it may be found valid and true."
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ON THE CITY OF ADOCENTYN
The third chapter, in which we tell of what the Chaldeans held as the profundities and secrets of this science, and what they had to say about it.
As a matter of fact, the magi who admitted themselves into this science and these workings were Chaldeans; and moreover, they are held to have been entirely perfect in this science. Indeed, they assert that Hermes first built a certain house of statues, from which he was able to ascertain the magnitude of the Nile from up against the Mountain of the Moon; but he made this house for the Sun. And he used to hide himself there away from humanity in such a manner that no one there with him was able to see him. Indeed, this was the man who built, in the east of Egypt, a city which was twelve miles in length, within which he constructed a particular fortification, which in its four parts had four gates. In the eastern gate he placed the form of an eagle, in the western gate the form of a bull, in the southern gate the form of a lion, and in the northern gate he built the form of a dog. Into these he caused certain spiritual energies to enter, and from these their voices would speak; neither could anyone enter through these gates except by their command. And in this place he planted trees, in the middle of which he set up a great tree which bore fruits of every type. At the summit of this fortress he had a certain tower built, which attained the height of thirty cubits, on whose summit he ordained a round apple, whose color changed every day over a period of seven days. At the end of the seven days, it returned to the color it first had. Every day, this apple covered the entire city in the color, and thus the city was resplendent each day with that day’s color. Around this tower was a circle, in which there was an abundance of water, in which many kinds of fish lived. In a circle around the city, he appointed diverse images which changed, and through which the inhabitants of the city were made virtuous and cleansed of their infamy, wickedness, and sloth. This city was called Adocentyn. Its people were learned in the ancient sciences, their profundities and secrets, and the science of astronomy.
The third chapter, in which we tell of what the Chaldeans held as the profundities and secrets of this science, and what they had to say about it.
As a matter of fact, the magi who admitted themselves into this science and these workings were Chaldeans; and moreover, they are held to have been entirely perfect in this science. Indeed, they assert that Hermes first built a certain house of statues, from which he was able to ascertain the magnitude of the Nile from up against the Mountain of the Moon; but he made this house for the Sun. And he used to hide himself there away from humanity in such a manner that no one there with him was able to see him. Indeed, this was the man who built, in the east of Egypt, a city which was twelve miles in length, within which he constructed a particular fortification, which in its four parts had four gates. In the eastern gate he placed the form of an eagle, in the western gate the form of a bull, in the southern gate the form of a lion, and in the northern gate he built the form of a dog. Into these he caused certain spiritual energies to enter, and from these their voices would speak; neither could anyone enter through these gates except by their command. And in this place he planted trees, in the middle of which he set up a great tree which bore fruits of every type. At the summit of this fortress he had a certain tower built, which attained the height of thirty cubits, on whose summit he ordained a round apple, whose color changed every day over a period of seven days. At the end of the seven days, it returned to the color it first had. Every day, this apple covered the entire city in the color, and thus the city was resplendent each day with that day’s color. Around this tower was a circle, in which there was an abundance of water, in which many kinds of fish lived. In a circle around the city, he appointed diverse images which changed, and through which the inhabitants of the city were made virtuous and cleansed of their infamy, wickedness, and sloth. This city was called Adocentyn. Its people were learned in the ancient sciences, their profundities and secrets, and the science of astronomy.
Book IV, chapter III.
From the Latin text.*
From the Latin text.*
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*Note: The Arabic text of the Akhbar al-zaman a century or more earlier gives a better reading of the passage: "They say he was the first Hermes, the one who built the palace of statues, which measured the volume of water of the Nile and is located in the Mountains of the Moon. He also built a temple to the Sun. On this subject, the Copts relate many extraordinary traditions, which boggle the mind. He became invisible to men, being in the midst of them. He built al-Ashmun. This city is said to have located to the east of Egypt and had a length of twelve miles; it was topped by a fortress, in which the priest built a vast palace; there he raised columns and circles. At the foot of the mountain, he founded another town called Outiratis where he placed many wonders. It had four gates, one on each side. He placed on the east gate the image of an eagle; on the west gate, the image of a vulture; on the north, he put the image of a lion, and on the south, the image of a dog. He made the spirits the guardians of this city; they warned the governors whenever a stranger approached, so that no one could enter without having received permission. He planted a tree that bore all kinds of fruit, and he built a lighthouse whose height was eighty cubits; at the top he put a dome that changed color every day; it assumed seven colors over the seven days of the week, and then it returned to its first color. The inhabitants took on the color that the dome assumed. Around the lighthouse, the king dug a pond where many fish lived, and he fixed around the city all kinds of talismans, to prevent dangers. They also called this city the city of barsak, after the name of the tree that was planted there. [Manuscript variant: It was called the city of ’Elyūs, that is to say the dawn; and the dome of the dawn rose on an assembly in front of this city.]" (my trans)
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Sources: Grillot de Givry, Anthologie de l'occultisme (Paris: Éditions de la Sirène, 1922), 239-244; P. L. Jacob, Curiosités des science occultes (Paris: Adolphe Delahays, 1862), 120-121, 360-361; Fritz Saxl, "Rinascimento dell’ Anchità," Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft 43 (1922): 230.
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