The hermetic logos. Reading the Corpus Hermeticum as a reflection of Graeco-Egyptian mentality

257 Pages·2010·2.491 MB·English

by  R.G. Gurgel Pereira

The Hermetic Λόγος: Reading the Corpus Hermeticum as a Reflection
of Graeco-Egyptian Mentality

Dissertation zur Erlangung der Würde eines Doktors der Ägyptologie
Vorgelegt der Philosophisch-Historischen Fakultät der Universität Basel

Von Gurgel Pereira, Ronaldo Guilherme

Von Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brasilien

Basel
2010
Genehmigt von der Philosophisch-Historischen Fakultät der Universität Basel, auf
Antrag von

Prof. Dr. Susanne Bickel Zignani (Referentin)
Prof. Dr. Antonio Loprieno (Korreferent)

Basel, den 26. Oktober 2010. Die Dekanin
Prof. Dr. Claudia Opitz-Belakhal
To my wife Daniela.

1
Acknowledgements

Egyptology is not a subject traditionally taught at university in Brazil. Only few choose to study
ancient Egypt and even fewer are actual Egyptologists. In most cases the enthusiasts for the land
of the Nile are Historians, Anthropologists, journalists and alike. I have to admit that I was no
better off when I arrived in Basle; I held a bachelor and a master‘s degree in History and had
done research that focused on the Greeks‘ perception of and relations with Egypt in the
Classical/Hellenistic period.
The project of writing my dissertation began to take shape in 2005. I had only recently
received my M.A. and commenced correspondence with Prof. Dr. Antonio Loprieno from the
University of Basle. He later kindly introduced me to my advisor, Prof. Dr. Susanne Bickel,
who reviewed my project and interviewed me in August 2006. I would like to express my
gratitude to Prof. Bickel for the guidance and advice she offered me at meetings and debates. I
regard it as one of my greatest achievements of the past four years to have been able to win her
favour for my project.
I also wish to thank all my lecturers, in particular the people who taught me some ancient
Egyptian languages. I received help with Demotic from Dr. Andreas Stauder and Dr. Jullie
Porchet-Stauder. Prof. PD Dr. Hanna Jenni introduced me to Classic Middle Egyptian, Prof. Dr.
Matthias Müller taught me Coptic.
Thanks are also due to Dr. Undine Stabrey for her encouragement and support. From Berlin I
thank Dr. Sybille Schmidt, Dr. Barbara Janisch and my colleagues of the colloquium.
I am also grateful to my colleagues, who patiently supported me and helped me prepare for
seminars and presentations. Learning Egyptian languages and having Egyptological debates was
a unique experience I will not forget. By the same token I will always remember the struggles I
went through while I tried to come to terms with the German language (I look back with a mix
of joy and shame to the days I spent trying to figure out when exactly the obscure ‗Egyptian
queen‘ ―Nebeneffekt‖ lived).
2
I owe a special debt to the canton of Basel Stadt that supported me with a full scholarship.
This dissertation would have never existed had it not been for the Stipendienkommission für
Nachwuchskäfte aus Entwicklungsländern.
I would like to take this opportunity to express the admiration and respect I have come to feel
for Switzerland and its people during the four years of my stay. I grew up in a country where
human life is considered to be of little worth. Dignity and justice are treated as mere
commodities. Having this background and viewing Switzerland with my Brazilian eyes makes
me realise how hard it would be to explain the respect people here have for another to my
compatriots. Thus I would like to thank the Swiss for the ‗culture shock‘ they offered me which
broadened my horizon. Basle and Switzerland have certainly taught me much more than just
Egyptology. I will always carry these experiences with me.
A special thank you goes to my German teacher Hellena Brinner, her mother Ekaterina,
priest Dimitrios Korakas and the Hellenic-Swiss community of the Greek Orthodox Church at
Münchenstein. I thank them for their hospitality and friendship.
Last but certainly not least, I would like to thank my friends Sabine and Sandro de Gruttola,
who kindly welcomed me in Switzerland and helped me at the beginning of my stay. My
gratitude also goes to my father Airton Pereira, who financially supported me. Furthermore, I
would like to thank my wife, Daniela Gurgel, for her unrelenting support and encouragement
whenever I needed it.
I would like to thank God for helping me with my dissertation. He guided my hands and
heart until the very end of this chapter of my life.

O God, thy arm was here;
And not to us, but to thy arm alone,
Ascribe we all!

(William Shakespeare, Henry V, act 4, scene viii)
3
If you desire to read writings, come to me and I will have you taken to the
place where that book is that Thoth wrote with his own hand, when he
came down following the other gods.

―Setne Khamwas and Neferkaptah‖ (Setne I) – Pap. Cairo 30646 = M. Lichtheim, Ancient
Egyptian Literature III. (Los Angeles: 2006), p.128.
4
Abstract:

This study analyses Hermetic literature and focuses on the seventeen treatises of the so-
called Corpus Hermeticum. It takes as its starting point the assumption that what are
nowadays known as the Philosophical Hermetica emerged as a product of a Graeco-
Egyptian process of self-perception. As will be demonstrated, Hermetic literature helps
our understanding of how reformulations of symbolic universes led to a specific
Graeco-Egyptian mentality. The Hermetica will be treated as the result of cross-cultural
exchange between Greek and Egyptian symbolic universes. Hermetic literature will
therefore be analysed according to its historical context, i.e. as part of a Greek-Egyptian
dialogue.

5
Table of Contents
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Epigraph
Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………..5
Table of Contents………..…………………………….…………………………...….....6
List of Tables...........................................................................................................9
List of Abreviations................................................................................................10

Introduction............................................................................................................13
1. The Hermetica and their Cultural Environment in Graeco-Roman Egypt..................21
1. 1 Background of Cultural Interactions between Greeks and Egyptians................28
1.1.1 Greeks and Egyptians prior to the Hellenistic age...................................30
1.1.1.1 Late Period Egypt and Archaic/Classical Hellade.......................32
1.1.1.2 The Persian Invasions of Egypt and Classical Hellade...............38
1.1.1.3 Herodotus attitude towards of the Persians...............................40
1.1.2 The Ptolemies: Egyptian Religion as a Political Instrument......................42
1.2 Cultural Identity and Hellenistic Society in Graeco-Roman Egypt ...................54
1.2.1 The Roman Conquest and the Reconstruction of Identities......................65
1.3 Hellenistic Mentality and Religious Thought in Graeco-Roman Egypt.............73
1.4 Hermetism and Hellenism............................................................................81
6
2. Thoth-Hermes Trismegistos and the Hermetica.....................................................87
2.1 Technical Hermetica and Philosophical Hermetica...........................................90
2.1.1 Hermetic Mythology in the Corpus Hermeticum....................................105
2.2 (Neo-) Platonism vs. Gnostic systems..........................................................114
2.2.1 The universe and the material world as evil..........................................115
2.2.2 The creation of new obscure concepts...................................................116
2.2.3 A magical gnosis as a ‗short-cut‘ to salvation........................................117
2.3 The Corpus Hermeticum and its Cosmogony................................................... 118
2.3.1 The Hermetic Trinity and their emanations..............................................119
2.4 Hermetic Logos, Nous and Gnosis.................................................................141
2.5 Hermetic receptivity to Egyptian concepts........................................................166
3. The Hermetica in Discursive Practices..................................................................176
3.1 Groups of Reception and Interpretation.........................................................177
3.1.1 Hermetic Mysticism and Gnostics........................................................178
3.1.1.1 On Gnostic/Hermetic communities...............................................179
3.1.1.2 Christian Mysticism and Hermetism.............................................182
3.1.1.2.1 St. Paul as Hermes...............................................................185
3.1.2 Philosophical Hermetica and Christian Thought...................................190
3.1.2.1 Tertullian of Carthage as a Hermetist..............................................194
7
3.1.2.2 Cyrill of Alexandria as a Hermetist..............................................197
3.1.2.3 Christians and their separation of Hermetica..................................201
3.1.3 Technical Hermetica and Pagan Thought............................................205
3.1.3.1 Iamblichus of Chalcis as a Hermetist...............................................207
3.1.3.2 Sabians and their fusion of Hermetica............................................215
3.2 The Hermetica as a Social Discourse................................................................217
3.3 Textual Circularity and Social Interpretations of the Hermetic Logos..............222
Conclusion...........................................................................................................226
Bibliography........................................................................................................232

APPENDIX 1: Chronological equivalences: Greek and Egyptian periods...................252
APENDIX 2: On the Interpretatio Graeca: Thoth and Hermes..................................253

Lebenslauf..........................................................................................................254

8