4th century CE
Anonymous English translation
1685
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NOTE |
The Kyranides are a fourth century collection of magical and mythical material compiled from earlier Greek sources. The original first book, the Archaica, is lost, and the extant first book was originally the second, attributed to Kuranos, a Persian king. The text relies on popular magical lore rather than elite opinions and was written in vernacular Greek, giving it a demotic character that medieval and early modern writers held in disrepute. While the text is a hodgepodge of spells and potions larded with myth, the medieval redactor of the Latin edition, writing in 1168, took the works originally attributed to Valerius Harpocation and revised it to transform the text into a magical treatise written by Hermes Trismegistus, whom he said received the text from an angel of God. In the preface, reproduced below from an anonymous 1685 translation, the original text of Harpocation offers an interesting reflex of the myth of the Pillars of Wisdom and the Stelae of Hermes, this time making the pillars into columns of iron inscribed in the Aeolic Greek of the Eastern Aegean.
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Epistle Dedicatory of the Old Interpreter,
to the Most Prudent Mr. &c. Ra. Pa. one of the meanest of the Clergy, Health.
to the Most Prudent Mr. &c. Ra. Pa. one of the meanest of the Clergy, Health.
I Admire and commend the sigacity of Your Prudence, who, tho' You be experienced in such things as are above the Nature of our Sphere, and have by Contemplation penetrated to things beyond the Seventh Heaven; yet you disdain not to look down upon the most inferiour terrene Experiments: For You requested me to translate this Physick Book out of the Greek into the Latine Tongue: a thing much more easily said than done. However, being obliged by your Charity and Bounty to me, I could not disobey your Commands. And because there are, as you know, divers Translations out of the Agarene Tongue into the Greek, I have industriously and faithfully followed the Greek Book that you gave me, in all things. Neither was I willing to pass by the very two Prologues, tho' rugged, and abstracted, as it were, from the most ancient Titles: not so much minding the Words, which are of a Barbarian Sterility, as the Sense of Utility. If therefore you find any thing altered, let it not be imputed to my Unfaithfulness or Ill-will, but to common Mistake: For there is no man so wise, but has some Mark of Folly in him. Yet I would have you know, that there is among the Grecians a certain Book of Alexander the Great about the seven Herbs of the seven Planets, and another that is called Thessala his Mystery to Hermes (that is, Mercury) of the twelve Herbs attributed to the twelve Signs, and of seven other Herbs by seven other Stars. Which, if they should happen to come to my hands or to yours, because they imitate a Celestial Dignity, may very well be prefixt to this work.
This Book therefore is translated at Constantinople, Manuel being Emperor, Anno Christi 1168. Indictione secundâ. The Book of Physical Virtues, Sympathies, and Cures, gathered out of two Books, viz. The Experience of Kiranides Kirani, King of the Persians, and out of the Book of Harpocration the Alexandrian to his own Daughter. And the first Book of Kirani was thus, and so we will suppose it was the great Gift of the Agarene to him. He that received this Book from GOD, was Hermes Trismegistus, well known to all men. Do not therefore deliver it to the Ignorant, but keep it to thy self as a great Possession: and let the Father, if it may so be, deliver it only to his Children instead of Gold for the efficacy of its Action, adjuring them, as sacred Children, only to keep it secret.
This Book was engraven in Syriack Letters upon an Iron Pillar, in a Book indeed interpreted by me formerly. But in this Book which is called Kiranides, twenty four Stones, twenty four Fishes, twenty four Herbs, and twenty four Birds are written of. The Virtues of every one of these are complex and intermixt with the rest, for the Cure, and also the Delight of mortal Bodies: And truly the invention or beginning is from Almighty GOD; for by his Wisdom we obtain the Action of Herbs, Fishes and Birds, and the Virtue of Stones, and the Nature of Animals and wild Beasts, and moreover, the mutual permixtions of them, and their Communities and Proprieties, since the knowledge & skill of many things comes from GOD into men. Therefore dividing into three Kiranides; I have declared the whole Composure in order of the Alphabet, according as any thing worthy Remarque occurred. And they are called Κοιράνιδες, (Koiranides or Queens) because these are the Queens of all the rest of my Books. And we found Kirani of the King of the Persians, which is the first of these Books.
This indeed is the Prologue of Harpocration, and it is thus;
The Therapeutick (that is, the Curatory) Book of Syria, Harpocration wrote it to his own Daughter.
When formerly I travelled through the Country of Babylon, I found a City, Seleutica by Name, the History whereof I have written; but we have no occasion to make any long Discourse upon that City, because we would not alwayes be upon Preambles. Now therefore let us return to our proposed Intention. Then, says he, I saw another City yet, seventeen Persian Miles distance from Seleutica, which Alexander of Macedon demolished; afterwards Seleutica was built, under the Dominion of the Persians, and inhabited by the Nation of the Persians. This is called little Alexandria, which is near Babylon. And this is the History of Syria,
The third Year it happened, that I found an old man skill'd in Foreign Learning, and in the Greek Tongue: But he said, he was a Syrian by Nation, was taken captive, and lived there: and he went round the City with me, and shewed me every thing. And when we came to a certain place about four Miles distance from the City, we saw a Pillar, with a great Tower, which the Inhabitants of Syria said they brought from the Ædifice of Solomon [sic for Greek: “brought from Syria”], and placed it there for the Health and Cure of the Men of that City. Looking therefore well upon it, I found it was written in strange Letters. The old Man therefore; as soon as he was asked by me, agreed to shew me, and I willingly lent an ear to him, while he discoursed, and expounded the Barbarous Letters that were upon the Pillar in the Æolick Tongue. My Son, saith he, You see three Towers standing here, one of which is five Miles distant, another two and a half, and another four. These were built by the Giants, who had a mind to climb into Heaven; for this their impious Madness some of them were struck with Thunder, others through the just Judgment of GOD, knew not themselves, and the rest were cast into the Isle of Crete, into which, God, being angry with them, hurled them. The old Man therefore, who shewed me these things, bade me measure the greatness of the Stone with a Cord: Therefore measuring that which was nigh, I found it two and thirty Cubits high, and seventy nine broad; and there were two hundred and eight steps to it. We also saw a Sacred Cloyster, and in the middle of the Cloyster there was a Temple, having three hundred sixty five Silver Steps, and sixty more of Gold, by which we went up to pray to GOD. And he told me the Mysteries of the Living GOD, which I will not tell to all. I was indeed willing to be informed of other things, and propounded several other things; but my main design was to be informed of the Pillar: And the old Man drawing aside a Silken Veil, shewed strange and foreign Letters engraven upon it. And because he was skilled in my Tongue, I entreated and begged of him, that he would candidly and without Envy make plain all things to me. Now the Things that were read upon the Pillar, were these;
This is a manifold Table of the true Example, alwayes having, and knowing, and fore-knowing the Immissions of the Divinity.
This Second Book may in the Name of GOD be called Kirani. The Second Book going out of the little Archaicus Syriacus, as the clear Flood of Euphrates runs swiftly. These Things were engraven on Iron Pillars. "Both whatever things were formerly, or shall be hereafter, equal Conjunctions of them in Virtues of Stones, and with them also both the Plants of the Earth, and the Fishes of the Deep, and the Fowls of the Air, tempering Virtue with Virtue in the greater Quaternary: For these things are good for Men that were formerly, and shall be hereafter; because being immortal bearing a mortal Body, carried through the Air, bound with the evil Bonds of Necessity; as GOD himself said, governing mortal Bodies, thou art made in Sin, and encompassed with the sordidness of Necessity, as any one in Fetters, unless he get out, and in Bonds and Chains; so Necessity straitens thee in hard Bonds: But when thou art got out of the dull Body, thou shalt truly see GOD, that rules in the Air and in the Cloud, who causes Thunder and Earthquake, Lightning and Thunder-bolts, and who shakes the Foundations of the Earth, and the Waters of the Sea. These are the Works of GOD the Father Eternal. O Soul GOD shews these things, and all Contraries."
But this Book was buried in the Fens of Syria, engraven upon an Iron Pillar all over Steel or Endanick, as we said before in the former Book, which is called Archaicus: But in this, that is called Kiranides, four and twenty Stones, four and twenty Fishes of the Sea, four and twenty Herbs, and four and twenty Birds are written of, The Virtue of every one of these shall be complicate and mixt with the other Virtues, that asswaging and strengthening this mortal Body, we may enjoy Health Eternal: For none gives Spirit to Man but GOD; for all things are written according to the Construction of GOD: And this is the Beginning. For tho' the Beginnings or Prologues of each have a Dissonance; yet henceforth they begin as it were in Consonance. And Harpocration sayes thus.
This Book therefore is translated at Constantinople, Manuel being Emperor, Anno Christi 1168. Indictione secundâ. The Book of Physical Virtues, Sympathies, and Cures, gathered out of two Books, viz. The Experience of Kiranides Kirani, King of the Persians, and out of the Book of Harpocration the Alexandrian to his own Daughter. And the first Book of Kirani was thus, and so we will suppose it was the great Gift of the Agarene to him. He that received this Book from GOD, was Hermes Trismegistus, well known to all men. Do not therefore deliver it to the Ignorant, but keep it to thy self as a great Possession: and let the Father, if it may so be, deliver it only to his Children instead of Gold for the efficacy of its Action, adjuring them, as sacred Children, only to keep it secret.
This Book was engraven in Syriack Letters upon an Iron Pillar, in a Book indeed interpreted by me formerly. But in this Book which is called Kiranides, twenty four Stones, twenty four Fishes, twenty four Herbs, and twenty four Birds are written of. The Virtues of every one of these are complex and intermixt with the rest, for the Cure, and also the Delight of mortal Bodies: And truly the invention or beginning is from Almighty GOD; for by his Wisdom we obtain the Action of Herbs, Fishes and Birds, and the Virtue of Stones, and the Nature of Animals and wild Beasts, and moreover, the mutual permixtions of them, and their Communities and Proprieties, since the knowledge & skill of many things comes from GOD into men. Therefore dividing into three Kiranides; I have declared the whole Composure in order of the Alphabet, according as any thing worthy Remarque occurred. And they are called Κοιράνιδες, (Koiranides or Queens) because these are the Queens of all the rest of my Books. And we found Kirani of the King of the Persians, which is the first of these Books.
This indeed is the Prologue of Harpocration, and it is thus;
The Therapeutick (that is, the Curatory) Book of Syria, Harpocration wrote it to his own Daughter.
When formerly I travelled through the Country of Babylon, I found a City, Seleutica by Name, the History whereof I have written; but we have no occasion to make any long Discourse upon that City, because we would not alwayes be upon Preambles. Now therefore let us return to our proposed Intention. Then, says he, I saw another City yet, seventeen Persian Miles distance from Seleutica, which Alexander of Macedon demolished; afterwards Seleutica was built, under the Dominion of the Persians, and inhabited by the Nation of the Persians. This is called little Alexandria, which is near Babylon. And this is the History of Syria,
The third Year it happened, that I found an old man skill'd in Foreign Learning, and in the Greek Tongue: But he said, he was a Syrian by Nation, was taken captive, and lived there: and he went round the City with me, and shewed me every thing. And when we came to a certain place about four Miles distance from the City, we saw a Pillar, with a great Tower, which the Inhabitants of Syria said they brought from the Ædifice of Solomon [sic for Greek: “brought from Syria”], and placed it there for the Health and Cure of the Men of that City. Looking therefore well upon it, I found it was written in strange Letters. The old Man therefore; as soon as he was asked by me, agreed to shew me, and I willingly lent an ear to him, while he discoursed, and expounded the Barbarous Letters that were upon the Pillar in the Æolick Tongue. My Son, saith he, You see three Towers standing here, one of which is five Miles distant, another two and a half, and another four. These were built by the Giants, who had a mind to climb into Heaven; for this their impious Madness some of them were struck with Thunder, others through the just Judgment of GOD, knew not themselves, and the rest were cast into the Isle of Crete, into which, God, being angry with them, hurled them. The old Man therefore, who shewed me these things, bade me measure the greatness of the Stone with a Cord: Therefore measuring that which was nigh, I found it two and thirty Cubits high, and seventy nine broad; and there were two hundred and eight steps to it. We also saw a Sacred Cloyster, and in the middle of the Cloyster there was a Temple, having three hundred sixty five Silver Steps, and sixty more of Gold, by which we went up to pray to GOD. And he told me the Mysteries of the Living GOD, which I will not tell to all. I was indeed willing to be informed of other things, and propounded several other things; but my main design was to be informed of the Pillar: And the old Man drawing aside a Silken Veil, shewed strange and foreign Letters engraven upon it. And because he was skilled in my Tongue, I entreated and begged of him, that he would candidly and without Envy make plain all things to me. Now the Things that were read upon the Pillar, were these;
This is a manifold Table of the true Example, alwayes having, and knowing, and fore-knowing the Immissions of the Divinity.
This Second Book may in the Name of GOD be called Kirani. The Second Book going out of the little Archaicus Syriacus, as the clear Flood of Euphrates runs swiftly. These Things were engraven on Iron Pillars. "Both whatever things were formerly, or shall be hereafter, equal Conjunctions of them in Virtues of Stones, and with them also both the Plants of the Earth, and the Fishes of the Deep, and the Fowls of the Air, tempering Virtue with Virtue in the greater Quaternary: For these things are good for Men that were formerly, and shall be hereafter; because being immortal bearing a mortal Body, carried through the Air, bound with the evil Bonds of Necessity; as GOD himself said, governing mortal Bodies, thou art made in Sin, and encompassed with the sordidness of Necessity, as any one in Fetters, unless he get out, and in Bonds and Chains; so Necessity straitens thee in hard Bonds: But when thou art got out of the dull Body, thou shalt truly see GOD, that rules in the Air and in the Cloud, who causes Thunder and Earthquake, Lightning and Thunder-bolts, and who shakes the Foundations of the Earth, and the Waters of the Sea. These are the Works of GOD the Father Eternal. O Soul GOD shews these things, and all Contraries."
But this Book was buried in the Fens of Syria, engraven upon an Iron Pillar all over Steel or Endanick, as we said before in the former Book, which is called Archaicus: But in this, that is called Kiranides, four and twenty Stones, four and twenty Fishes of the Sea, four and twenty Herbs, and four and twenty Birds are written of, The Virtue of every one of these shall be complicate and mixt with the other Virtues, that asswaging and strengthening this mortal Body, we may enjoy Health Eternal: For none gives Spirit to Man but GOD; for all things are written according to the Construction of GOD: And this is the Beginning. For tho' the Beginnings or Prologues of each have a Dissonance; yet henceforth they begin as it were in Consonance. And Harpocration sayes thus.
Source: The Magick of Kirani King of Persia, and of Harpocration, published and translated into English from a copy now in a private hand (1685).
