On Divine WaterΠερὶ τοῦ θείου ὕδατος
Zosimus of Panopolis On Divine Water PDF
On Divine Water is a short alchemical treatise written in Greek by Zosimus of Panopolis around 300 CE. The work focuses on the preparation and significance of a substance known as "divine water," a central reagent in Greco-Egyptian alchemy often identified with mercury or a potent solvent for the transmutation of metals. Structured as two instructional passages, the treatise blends precise laboratory directions with spiritual and philosophical interpretation, a characteristic feature of Zosimus's syncretic method. It details procedures involving the careful processing of egg components, specific weights and measures, and controlled heating in a sealed vessel, framing these operations within a symbolic and ritualistic context.
Composed in late antique Egypt, the text emerged from a milieu where Greek technical knowledge, Egyptian craft traditions, and religious-philosophical currents such as Gnosticism and Platonism were converging to form the early practice of alchemy. Modern scholarship interprets works like On Divine Water as serving a dual purpose: conveying esoteric technical knowledge to fellow practitioners while simultaneously presenting the alchemical process as an allegory for the purification and salvation of the practitioner's soul. Consequently, the divine water is understood not merely as a chemical reagent but as a symbol of a transformative spiritual agent.
The treatise survives as part of a larger, fragmentary corpus attributed to Zosimus. It is preserved primarily in later Byzantine Greek manuscripts, notably the 13th-century Parisinus Graecus 2325, a compilation of numerous alchemical texts. The transmission history is complex, with Zosimus's original writings often subject to corruption, abbreviation, and interpolation with later commentaries. The concise, two-passage structure of On Divine Water suggests it may be an excerpt or chapter within this broader manuscript tradition. Through these Byzantine copies and subsequent translations into Syriac and Arabic, Zosimus's ideas exerted a profound influence on the development of alchemy in the Islamic world and later in medieval Latin Europe.
| [45] | Περὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ θείου ὕδατος Λαβὼν ᾠὰ ὅσα βούλει ἔκζεσον καὶ κλάσας αὐτὰ ἔξελε ἅπαν αὐτῶν τὸ λευκόν· τὰ δὲ ὄστρακα αὐτῶν μὴ χρήσῃ. Λαβὼν δὲ ἀγγεῖον ὑάλινον ἀρσενόθηλυ, τὸ καλούμενον ἄμβικα, βάλε ἐν αὐτῷ τοὺς κρόκους τῶν ᾠῶν σταθμῷ χρώμενος τοιῷδε· τῇ οὐγγίᾳ τῶν κρόκων ἐπίβαλε ἐκ τοῦ ὀστράκου τῶν ᾠῶν κεκαυμένου ὑπάρχοντος κεράτια βʹ, μὴ πλεῖον ἢ ἔλαττον, ἀλλὰ καθὼς γέγραπται. Εἶτα λειώσας καὶ λαβὼν ἕτερα ᾠὰ καὶ κλάσας αὐτὰ βάλε ἐν τῷ βίκῳ, ἅμα μετὰ τῶν κρόκων τῶν λελειωμένων ἵνα τὰ ἀκέραια ᾠὰ χωννύηται εἰς τὰ κρόκα. Καὶ περιπηλώσας τὸν ἄμβικα καὶ τὸ μαστάριον σὺν τῷ ῥογίῳ ἀσφαλείᾳ πολλῇ οἰκονομήσας στέατι σὺν γύψῳ ἢ προπόλει ἢ ἐλαιοκονίᾳ ἢ ὡς βούλει, δὸς ὀπτᾶσθαι ἐν ἱππείᾳ κόπρῳ ἢ ὀνείᾳ ἢ πρισματοκαύστου ἢ κουκουμοκανδήλης ἢ οἵᾳ δήποτε συμμέτρῳ θερμασίᾳ, εἴ τι βαστάζει χεὶρ ἀνθρώπου. Ἔστω δὲ καὶ ὁ τόπος ὅπου ἂν τὰ ἐργαλεῖα κέηται ἀπήνεμος, ἔχων τὰ φῶτα ἀνατολικὰ ἢ νότια, μὴ δυτικὰ ἢ ἀρκτικὰ [ἢ βόρεια ἢ Θρᾳκικὰ] διὰ τὴν διάψυξιν, καὶ δὸς ὀπτᾶσθαι ἡμέρας ιδʹ ἢ καʹ ἕως ἂν τῶν αἰθαλῶν παύσηται ἡ ἀναγωγή. Περιφίμου δὲ τὰς ἁρμογὰς τοῦ ἐργαλείου ἀσφαλῶς ὅπως ἡ ὀσμὴ φυλαχθῇ. Ἐπὰν γὰρ ἐκβῇ, ἀπώλετο ἡ τέχνη· δυσώδης γάρ ἐστιν ἡ ὀσμὴ πάνυ, καὶ αὕτη ἡ ὀσμὴ ὑπάρχει ἡ τέχνη. Τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον ἀνερχόμενον ὕδωρ ἐστὶν † Δʹʹ τάξει δακρύου δύσοσμον ἄσβεστος μόνη†. Εἶτα παυσαμένης τῆς ἀναγωγῆς τοῦ ὕδατος αἴρεις τὸ ῥογίον ἐν ᾧ ἦλθε τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ περιφιμοῖς ἀσφαλῶς φυλάττων αὐτό. Τὸν δὲ ἄμβικα ἀνακαλύψας φράσσεις τὰς ῥῖνας διὰ τὴν ὀσμὴν καὶ εὑρήσεις τὰς ἐν τῷ θηλυκῷ πατελλίῳ οὔσας σκωρίας νεκράς. Μὴ ἀπείπῃς δὲ τὸν νεκρὸν εἰς ἀνάστασιν ἐλθεῖν, ἀλλὰ προσδόκα τοῦ ἀπεγνωσμένου τὴν ἀνάστασιν. Εἶτα πρόσμιξον τῇ σποδῷ κρόκα ἕτερα ᾠῶν, ὡς ἐπὶ τῆς σαπωναρικῆς τέχνης καὶ συλλείου τὰ ὑγρὰ μετὰ τῶν ξηρῶν καὶ βάλε ἐν ἄμβικι καὶ ποίησον ὡς προτέτακται, ἀλλάσσων τὸ δοχεῖον τοῦ ὕδατος, τοῦτ’ ἔστι τὸ ῥογίον. Τοῦτο ποίει ἐπὶ τρὶς καὶ ὄψει τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ὕδωρ λευκὸν ὡς προγέγραπται, ὃ καὶ οἱ ἀρχαῖοι ὄμβριον ὕδωρ ἐκάλεσαν· τὸ δὲ δεύτερον ὕδωρ ξανθόχλωρον, ὃ καὶ ῥαφάνινον ἔλαιον εἰρήκασι· τὸ δὲ τρίτον ὕδωρ μελάγχλωρον, ὃ καὶ κίκινον ἔλαιον ἐκάλεσαν. Ὁμοίως καὶ αἱ σκωρίαι αἱ ἐν τῷ πατελλίῳ οὖσαι· εἰς μὲν τὴν πρώτην ἀποκάλυψιν, εὑρήσεις τὴν σκωρίαν μελαντέραν· εἰς δὲ τὴν δευτέραν, λευκήν· εἰς δὲ τὴν τρίτην, ξανθήν. Μετὰ οὖν τὴν πρώτην καὶ δευτέραν καὶ τρίτην ἀνάσπασίν τε καὶ ἀποκάλυψιν, συνενοῖς τῶν τριῶν ἀνασπάσεων τὰ ὕδατα—τοῦτ’ ἔστι τὰ ἐν αὐτοῖς ὄντα θεῖα ὕδατα—ἐν τῇ σκωρίᾳ τῇ ὑπολιμπανομένῃ ἐν τῇ θηλείᾳ. Καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα λαβὼν βῖκον ὑάλινον, χάλασον τὰ ὄντα ἐν τῷ ἄμβικι ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ πωμάσας τὸν βῖκον ὀστράκῳ γεγανωμένῳ ἰσομέτρῳ τοῦ χείλους τοῦ βίκου, περιφίμου ἀσφαλείᾳ οἵᾳ βούλει, μάλιστα δὲ πυριμάχῳ πηλῷ τὸ ἄγγος περιχρίων· καὶ ἔασον τοῦτο ἐν βολβίτοις καμίνου ἡμέρας μαʹ, ἵνα σήψεως γενομένης ἐξομοιωθῇ τὸ βαπτόμενον τῷ βάπτοντι καὶ κρατήσῃ ἡ φύσις τὴν φύσιν. |
| (50) [80] | Οὕτω γὰρ τὰ θειώδη ὑπὸ τῶν θειωδῶν κρατοῦνται καὶ τὰ ὑγρὰ ὑπὸ τῶν καταλλήλων ὑγρῶν. Καὶ μηκέτι φρόντιζε σταθμοῦ, μήτε νεαρὰ ᾠὰ ἢ τοὺς κρόκους αὐτῶν, πλὴν τὰ ὑγρὰ μετὰ τῶν ξηρῶν ὡς προγέγραπται συλλειώσας, ἔγκρυπτε ἐν τῷ βίκῳ. Καὶ μετὰ τὴν μαʹ ἡμέραν, ἀποκάλυψον τὸν βῖκον καὶ εὑρήσεις ἐν αὐτῷ σύνθεμα ὁλοπράσινον, τοῦτ’ ἔστιν εἰς ἰὸν μετατραπέν. Ὁ γὰρ ἰὸν ποιῶν οἶδε τί ποιεῖ, καὶ ὁ μὴ ποιῶν ἰὸν οὐδὲν ποιεῖ. Μετὰ δὲ τὴν μαʹ ἡμέραν ἆρον τὸν βῖκον ἐκ τῆς θέρμης καὶ ἔασον αὐτὸν ἡμέρας εʹ χωρὶς θέρμης ὁποιασοῦν καὶ μετὰ τὰς εʹ ἡμέρας, ἀνάσπα διὰ τῶν ἀμβίκων ἐπὶ πρισματοκαύστου ἀνθράκων τὸ θειότατον ὕδωρ, ὃ καὶ δεξάμενος οὐ χειρί, ἀλλά τινι ὑαλίνῳ σκεύει. Εἶτα λαβὼν ὕδωρ, βάλλε εἰς τὸν βῖκον ὡς προγέγραπται καὶ ὄπτα ἐπὶ ἡμέρας βʹ ἢ γʹ· καὶ ἐξελών, λείωσον καὶ τίθει ἐν ἡλίῳ διὰ μύακος. Ἐπὰν δὲ πήξῃ ὥσπερ σαπώνιον, πυρώσας ἀργύρου οὐγγίαν αʹ βάλε ἐκ τοῦ πηχθέντος ὕδατος, τοῦτ’ ἔστι τοῦ ξηρίου, κεράτια βʹ καὶ ἔσται σοι χρυσός. [Ἡ δὲ ποσότης πασῶν τῶν ἡμερῶν τῆς τέχνης περιίσταται εἰς ἡμέρας ριʹ, καθὼς Ζώσιμος καὶ Χριστιανὸς καὶ Στέφανος ἔφασαν. Ἐγὼ δὲ ἐκ πάντων ὡσεὶ μέλισσα καλῶς ἀναλεξάμενος καὶ ἐκ πολλῶν ἀνθέων στέφανον πλέξας, ἀνεθέμην σοι, τῷ δεσπότῃ μου. Ἑξῆς δέ σοι καὶ τὰ ἐργαλεῖα ὑποθήσομαι οἱάπερ εἰσίν. Ἔρρωσθε ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Θεῷ ἡμῶν πάντοτε νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.] |