On That All Liquids Are Called Divine Water by Zosimus of Panopolis

Name: On That All Liquids Are Called Divine Water
Author: Zosimus of Panopolis

Period: Ὀψιμαρχαία Late Antique

Dialect: Κοινή Koine

Domain: Χημεία Alchemy

Domain: Ἐπιστήμη Science

Genre: Πραγματεία Treatise

On That All Liquids Are Called Divine Water is a concise alchemical treatise composed in Greek by Zosimus of Panopolis around 300 CE. As a foundational text of early Western alchemy, it presents a series of four arguments establishing a central tenet of the author's craft: the diverse array of fluids and solvents employed in alchemical operations—including brine, oil, honey, milk, and others—are all considered manifestations of a single, fundamental agent termed "divine water." This concept synthesizes practical laboratory knowledge with philosophical and spiritual significance, wherein the transformative liquid agent serves both as a material reagent and as a symbol for the volatile component necessary for the purification and transmutation of matter.

The treatise is a product of late Roman Egypt, reflecting the syncretic intellectual environment where Greek philosophical speculation, Egyptian technical traditions, and emerging mystical thought converged. Scholars interpret Zosimus's work as intended for an initiated audience of practitioners, where descriptions of material processes, such as the treatment of materials with various liquids or exposure to sun and dew, often functioned as allegories for the purification and perfection of psychē. The complete text survives as part of a larger corpus of Zosimus's writings, preserved primarily through Byzantine Greek manuscripts such as the 10th- or 11th-century Marcian Greek manuscript 299. The ideas contained within this treatise, alongside Zosimus's broader oeuvre, were later translated into Syriac and Arabic, exerting a profound and lasting influence on the subsequent development of alchemical theory and practice in the Islamic world and, later, in medieval Europe.

Zosimus of Panopolis On That All Liquids Are Called Divine Water in Greek in PDF

Zosimus of Panopolis On That All Liquids Are Called Divine Water in Greek in MD

ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ ΟΤΙ ΠΑΝΤΩΝ ΤΩΝ ΥΓΡΩΝ ΤΟ ΘΕΙΟΝ ΥΔΩΡ ΚΑΛΟΥΣΙΝ· ΚΑΙ ΤΟΥΤΟ ΣΥΝΘΕΤΟΝ ΕΣΤΙΝ, ΚΑΙ ΟΥΧ ΑΠΛΟΥΝ

Τὴν προγεγραμμένην νεφέλην ἕψει ἐλαίῳ· ἡ προγεγραμμένη νεφέλη ὅλον τὸ σύνθεμα· ἔοικεν γὰρ τὸ ὕδωρ τοῦ θείου καὶ ἔλαιον λαμβάνειν. Μετὰ ὅλων δὲ τῶν ὑγρῶν οἰκονομοῦσιν, ἔνυγρον αἰνισσόμενοι· πρῶτον γὰρ ὀξάλμῃ, εἶτα ἐλαίῳ, εἶτα μέλιτι καὶ γάλακτι, ὕδωρ θεῖον αἰνίσσονται· ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ κρόκος καθʼ ἑαυτὸν ἀδυναμεῖ, εἰ μὴ διὰ τοῦ σκεύους τοῦ θείου ὕδατος· καὶ οἱ βαφεῖς οὕτω χρῶνται· Καὶ Μαρία· «λύσιν κομάρεως καὶ ἐλυδρίου.» Καὶ Δημόκριτος ἐν τῇ ὑστέρᾳ τάξει τῶν λευκῶν ζωμῶν· «Ὕδωρ ἀσβέστου στακτικῆς διὰ τοῦ ῥυτοῦ στάζον, ἢ διʼ ὑλιστῆρος.» Ταριχεύονται τὰ εἴδη πάντα διὰ τῶν ἁπλῶν ὑγρῶν· καὶ τὰ ἐνδεχόμενα πλύνεται· πλύνονται δὲ οἷον τὰ στερεὰ σώματα· ταριχεύονται δὲ, ἢ λειούμενα, ἢ βρεχόμενα, καὶ τὰ ἐνδεχόμενα ἡλίῳ καὶ δρόσῳ λειοῦνται, ὡς τὸ λευκὸν θεῖον ἡ λιθάργυρος· ταριχεύονται περὶ τὸν ἀριθμὸν οἷα ἡμέραν αʹ ἢ γʹ ἢ εʹ ἢ ζʹ, τοῦτο ἐπὶ πάσης λειώσεως.

Ταριχευθέντων οὖν αὐτῶν, συμμίξεις ποιήσεις καὶ συλλειοῖς ἐν δρόσῳ καὶ ἡλίῳ. Καὶ ἀναξηράνας καὶ συλλειώσας αὐτοῖς νιτρελαίῳ κατάσπα, καὶ εὑρήσεις μέλανα μόλυβδον. Τοῦτον λύε, ἀναλάμβανε ὑδράργυρον καὶ ὕδωρ θεῖον καὶ κόμμι, καὶ ὄπτησον ἐλαφροῖς φωσὶν, ἕως ἂν ἀπόθηται τὸ ὕδωρ, καὶ λύεις ἐν ἡλίῳ, ἕως οὗ λευκανθῇ καλῶς.

Τοῦτο πολλάκις ποιοῦσιν βαπτίζοντες τὸ σκωρίδιον. Καὶ Πηβίχιος· «Κατάβαπτε δὶς ζʹ καὶ δὶς ὀκτὼ ἐπὶ ὀκτὼ καὶ ἐπιπλέω.» Καὶ Δημόκριτος, τὸ αὐτὸ ποιῶν ἐν τῇ ὑστέρᾳ τάξει τῶν λευκῶν ζωμῶν, εἰς τοῦτο πόρον καταβάπτει καὶ τὰ ἔνσκια πέταλα, καὶ ἀποσκιώσεις ποιεῖ. Καὶ ἀναξηράνας εἰ ἔστιν ἀσκίαστος, ἀναλάμβανε νεφέλην, βάλλε τὰ ξανθῶσαι δυνάμενα ὕδωρ θεῖον, καὶ κόμμι, πῆξον ἐλαφροῖς φῶσιν· Ὅταν πήξῃς, μεταβαλὼν καταρρεῦσαι ποίησον εἰς τὸ τοῦ φαρμάκου λείψανον ἡμέρας βʹ ἢ γʹ ἢ ζʹ ἢ μαʹ. Τούτῳ ἐπιβάλλεις ἄργυρον κοινὸν, καὶ βάπτεις. Ἑξῆς δὲ καὶ περὶ τῶν καιρῶν ζητήσωμεν.

On That All Liquids Are Called Divine Water by Zosimus of Panopolis

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