On the Burning of BodiesΠερὶ καύσεως σωμάτων
Zosimus of Panopolis On the Burning of Bodies PDF
On the Burning of Bodies is a Greek alchemical treatise authored by the Egyptian-Greek alchemist Zosimus of Panopolis, dating to the late third or early fourth century CE. The work serves as a practical and theoretical manual centered on core laboratory processes involving the application of fire, including combustion, calcination, and sublimation. These techniques are presented as methods for transforming metals and other substances, with careful attention paid to observable changes in their color, weight, and essential nature. The treatise is structured around four distinct passages, each likely devoted to a specific aspect of these heating operations.
Written for an audience of fellow alchemical initiates, the text originates from a community where technical practice was inextricably linked to philosophical and spiritual doctrine. Modern scholarship interprets Zosimus's work as a synthesis of hands-on chemical experimentation with concepts drawn from Gnostic and Hermetic thought. Within this framework, the physical purification of materials through fire was understood as a direct analogue for the purification and ultimate liberation of the human soul.
The treatise survives as a component of the earliest extant corpus of Greek alchemical writings, preserved in Byzantine manuscripts dating from the tenth to the fifteenth centuries. These manuscripts have transmitted the work in its original Greek language, albeit with the expected accumulations of scribal alterations over centuries of copying. As a foundational text by a major authority in the field, On the Burning of Bodies played a significant role in shaping the operative techniques and symbolic framework of alchemy as it was transmitted into the Islamic world and, subsequently, into the Latin tradition of medieval Europe.
| 2.180 | ΠΕΡΙ ΚΑΥΣΕΩΣ ΣΩΜΑΤΩΝ Φέρε τοίνυν ἐκ τῶν φιλοσόφων καὶ τί ἐστιν καῦσις σωμάτων ζητήσωμεν. Ὁ λόγος γὰρ ὁ περὶ σταθμῶν ἀνῆκεν· ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τὸ ὅλον συνέχει. Ἄγαγε τὸν φιλόσοφον λέγοντα· «Λαβὼν νεφέλην τὴν ἀπὸ ἀρσενίκου, πῆξον ὡς ἔθος, καὶ ἐπίβαλλε χαλκῷ ἢ σιδήρῳ θειωθέντι, καὶ λευκανθήσεται. Τινὲς τὸ θειωθέντι καέντι λέγουσιν· μὴ ἀγνοοῦντες γὰρ οὗτοι τὸν χαλκὸν καίουσι τῷ θείῳ, καὶ τὸν σίδηρον μαγνησίᾳ. Οὐκ ἔστιν δὲ αὕτη καῦσις, ἀλλὰ φθορά. Ἡ δὲ τοῦ φιλοσόφου καῦσις αὕτη λεύκωσις ὀνομάζεται. Ὥσπερ ἡ ἐξίωσις καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ἀποδέδεικται λεύκωσις, οὕτως καὶ ἡ καῦσις ἡ παρ’ αὐτῷ ἐν τούτῳ τῷ προκειμένῳ λεύ κωσις· ἐν γὰρ δευτέρῳ, ξάνθωσις. Αὐτὸς οὖν ὁ φιλόσοφος καίει τὸν χαλκὸν διὰ τοῦ ὕδατος τοῦ θείου, ἑψῶν καθὰ προλέλεκται. «Ἐπίβαλλε γὰρ, φησὶν, τοῦ λευκοῦ φαρμάκου τὸ ἥμισυ· καὶ ἔσται πρῶτον· τοῦτο ἕψει· τὸ γὰρ ἄλλο ἥμισυ ἐν τῇ ἰώσει τηροῦμεν». Διὰ τοῦτο καὶ Πιβήχιος ἄνω καὶ κάτω· «Διαμε ρίσατε εἰς δύο μοίρας τὸ φάρμακον». Ἔλεγεν· «Καύσατε τὸν χαλ . |
| 2.181 | κὸν ἐν δαφνίνοις ξύλοις, τουτέστιν ἐν τῷ λευκῷ συνθέματι· φύλλα γὰρ δάφνης οὕτως καίονται τὰ σώματα ἑψόμενα διὰ τοῦ ὕδατος τοῦ θείου, ὀμοῦ δὲ καὶ λευκαίνονται· τὸ γὰρ «ἐπίβαλλε χαλκῷ ἢ σιδήρῳ θειωθέντι· τούτῳ καὶ λευκανθήσεται. Καὶ ὁ Ἀγαθοδαίμων οὕτως παρεγγυᾷ, ἵνα ζῶσιν τὰ σώματα καὶ ἑψῶνται μετὰ τῆς νεφέλης τῷ θείῳ ὕδατι. Καὶ οὕτως ἐστὶν καῦσις καὶ λεύκωσις· ἐν γὰρ τῷ κασσιτέρῳ ὁ φιλόσοφος τὴν ἕψησιν ὑπέθετο· «τὴν προγεγραμμένην νεφέλην ἕψει ἐλαίῳ κικίνῳ ἢ ῥαφανίνῳ προσμίξας βραχὺ στυπτηρίας. Εἶτά φησιν· «Ποίει μίγματα τοῦ κασσιτέρου», καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς· πάντα τέλεια διὰ μιᾶς τάξεως. Ἀπὸ γὰρ τῶν ἡμερῶν τὰ ὅλα ἐμνημόνευσεν· ἀπὸ τῶν ἐλαίων τοῦ ὕδατος τοῦ θείου· ἀπὸ τῆς στυπτηρίας, τὸ θεῖον· ἀπὸ τοῦ κασσιτέρου, τὰ δύο συνθέματα· ἡ γὰρ νεφέλη κατ’ αὐτὸν δύει. Αἱ γοῦν ἐπιβολαὶ κατὰ τῶν τοῦ θείου πάλιν ζωμῶν· ἡ δὲ ὄπτησις κατὰ τοῦ ὅλου, ἥτις καῦσις ἢ ἕψησις καὶ λεύκωσις. Ἐν τούτῳ καίουσιν καὶ ἑψοῦνται τὰ σώματα. Αὕτη ἡ καῦσις ἡ ἀπ’ αἰῶνος κηρυττομένη, τοῦτον ὃν πᾶσαι αἱ γραφαὶ μυστικῶς διδάσκουσιν τὸν χαλκὸν θείῳ καίειν. Αἱ δὲ ἄλλαι καύσεις φθοραί εἰσιν μᾶλλον ἢ καύσεις. Οὗτος ἐὰν καῇ, εὔχρηστος χαλκὸς εἰς πάντα καὶ ἔτοιμος εἰς καταβαφὴν, ὡς καὶ ἐκταθεὶς ἠλεκτροῦται. Καὶ ἐὰν πλεονάσῃς τὰ φῶτα, γίνεται ξανθὸν τὸ ἥμισυ τὸ θεῖον καιόμενον· τῆς γὰρ μαγνησίας τὸ τέταρτον· καὶ οὕτως χρώμεθα ἐν τῷ χαλκῷ 𐆄 δʹ, σιδήρου 𐆄 αʹ, καὶ μαγνησίας γρ α ϛʹ, κασσιτέρου δὲ καὶ μολύβδου χαλκία 〈βʹ〉, καὶ καδμίας, καὶ κλαυ διανοῦ, καὶ χρυσοκόλλης, καὶ κινναβάρεως πρὸς ἀνάλογον τούτων . |
| 2.181 | τῶν οὐγγιῶν. Κἄν τε γὰρ ἐξ ἴσου ποιήσῃς ἢ πλέον ἢ ἔλασσον, ἐπιτυγχάνεις· οὕτως οἰκονομεῖσθαι ἐργῶδές ἐστι καὶ εὐηθές. Δεῖ δὲ μετὰ σταθμοῦ ἐκθέσθαι, Δημοκρίτου εἰρηκότος· «Οὐδὲν ὑπολέλειπται, οὐδὲν ὑστερεῖ». Καὶ μὰ τὴν Δημοκρίτου ἀρετὴν, οὐδὲν ὑπολείπει. |
| 2.181 | Ἡ γὰρ σύνθεσις τοῦ ἀπολελυμένου, λέγω δὲ ὕδατος θείου καὶ νεφέλης ἄρσις, ἀφθόνως ὑμῖν ἐξεδόθη· ἡ δὲ ἔκδοσις αὕτη ἡ τῆς βίβλου ἑρμηνεία. Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν περὶ σταθμοῦ καὶ καύσεως ἀποδέδεικται, φέρε καὶ περὶ σταθμῶν ξανθώσεως ζητήσωμεν. |