Diagram

Διάγραμμα

The Diagram is a brief Greek alchemical treatise attributed to Zosimus of Panopolis, an author active in Roman Egypt around 300 CE. The work provides practical instructions for laboratory processes such as distillation and the treatment of metals, with the aim of achieving their transformation. Characteristic of Zosimus's thought, these technical procedures are deeply intertwined with spiritual allegory, where equipment and materials also symbolize the purification and ascent of the soul. The text does not survive as an independent book but is preserved as a single passage within larger Byzantine-era anthologies of alchemical writings, copied from the 10th century onward. Its title suggests the treatise may have originally been accompanied by an illustrative figure, though its precise original form remains uncertain. Modern scholarship interprets the work as a product of the Greco-Egyptian craft tradition, which blended Egyptian technical knowledge with Greek philosophical and mystical ideas for an audience of fellow practitioners.