The First Alchemists

FOREWORD
by Frank van Lamoen

Introduction

ONE
Ancient Recipes for Gold— and Other Things
Discoveries at Thebes
A Theban Magical Library?
The Leiden Papyrus
Papyrus V
Papyrus W
Papyrus X
The Stockholm Papyrus
Pseudo-Democritus

TWO
The Origins of Alchemy in Roman Egypt
Akkadian Origin of Chēmeu?
Heat and Glass

THREE
The Pioneers of Graeco-Egyptian- Jewish Alchemy
Cleopatra
Jewish Chemistry
Mary the “Prophetess”

FOUR
Zosimos I
Clearing the Decks
Was Zosimos an Egyptian Priest?

FIVE
Zosimos II
Alchemical Yoga
Practical Dreaming

SIX
Zosimos III
From Omega to the Final Quittance
On Destiny, Fate, Worldly Thought, and Noetic Understanding
The First Book of Zosimos the Theban’s Final Account

SEVEN
What Did the First Alchemists Do?
Making Talismans?


EIGHT
How Did They Do It?
Sulfur Water; Divine Water
Apparatus
Putting the First Alchemists to the Test

NINE
Where Did They Do It?
A Hermetic “Lodge”?
A Guild for Theosebeia?
Laboratories?

TEN
The Myth of Transmutation
Philosophical Background
The Stone
The Tome of Images
Myth and Reality

ELEVEN
Forbidden Knowledge

TWELVE
A Strange Relation
Alchemy and Gnosis
Mercury and Christ

THIRTEEN
Legacy
Arabic Alchemy
The Inheritance
“Good Health!”

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Tobias Churton scholar, lecturer, composer, and religious TV director, is author of 27 published books, including biographies of William Blake, Aleister Crowley, G. I. Gurdjieff, and Elias Ashmole. A theology graduate of Brasenose College, Oxford, he was appointed Honorary Fellow in 2005 to lecture in Western Esotericism at Exeter University and is Britain’s leading scholar in the field, specializing in Gnostic, Hermetic, Rosicrucian, biblical, and Masonic studies. Invited to join Professor Boccaccini’s Enoch Seminar in 2019, his most recent books include Aleister Crowley in Paris and The Lost Pillars of Enoch.

“In this remarkable and necessary work on early alchemy, Churton outlines a program of research and experimentation into this rich but mostly unexplored area of Greco-Egyptian alchemical philosophies and practices. The depth and range of the material are breathtaking, and it is very satisfying to see the topic of glass addressed so thoroughly. I strongly recommend studying and working with The First Alchemists and going deeper, letting Tobias Churton light the way.” Brian Cotnoir, author of On Alchemy, Alchemy, and Practical Alchemy

“The subject of alchemy has always been shrouded in dense fog. Here at last is a book that probes deeply and lucidly into this age-old pursuit, taking us right back to its roots in the Middle East, examining seminal sources and investigating key avatars of alchemy—of both ancient and more recent times—and what precisely they were trying to achieve. Alchemy has both a practical and a spiritual side. Tobias Churton, writing with his customary eloquence, shines a clear light on both aspects.” Christopher McIntosh, author of Occult Russia and Beyond the North Wind

OCCULT/HISTORY

“[A] remarkable and necessary work. . . . The depth and range of the material are breathtaking. . . . I strongly recommend studying and working with The First Alchemists and going deeper, letting Tobias Churton light the way.”
– BRIAN COTNOIR, author of On Alchemy, Alchemy, and Practical Alchemy

“The subject of alchemy has always been shrouded in dense fog. . . . Alchemy has both a practical and a spiritual side. Tobias Churton, writing with his customary eloquence, shines a clear light on both aspects.”
– CHRISTOPHER McINTOSH, author of Occult Russia and Beyond the North Wind

Investigating the origins of alchemy and the legend of the Philosopher’s Stone, Tobias Churton explores the oldest surviving alchemical texts, the original purpose of the “Royal Art,” and the first alchemists themselves.

Showing how women dominated early alchemy, Churton looks at the first known alchemist, the Jewess Maria the Prophetess, the early alchemist Cleopatra (not the well-known Egyptian queen), and 3rd–4th century Egyptian female artisan Theosebeia, who had a guild of adepts working under her. He examines in depth the work of Zosimos of Panopolis, whose work inspired the medieval view of alchemy as an initiatory path for the transmutation of base metals into gold.

The author also discusses the political and industrial realities facing the first alchemists. He examines the late antique “Stockholm” and “Leiden” papyri, which offer detailed knowledge of the first known Graeco-Egyptian chemical recipes for gold and silver dyes for metal and stone and purple dyes for wool. He reveals how the alchemical secrets for working with the “living statues” of the Egyptian temples was jealously guarded by the priesthood and how secrecy helped to reinforce beliefs that alchemical knowledge came from forbidden, celestial sources. He also investigates the mysterious relation between alchemy, spiritual gnosis, Hermeticism, and the Book of Enoch.

TOBIAS CHURTON, scholar, lecturer, composer, and religious TV director, is author of 27 published books, including biographies of William Blake, Aleister Crowley, G. I. Gurdjieff, and Elias Ashmole. A theology graduate of Brasenose College, Oxford, he was appointed Honorary Fellow in 2005 to lecture in Western Esotericism at Exeter University and is Britain’s leading scholar in the field, specializing in Gnostic, Hermetic, Rosicrucian, biblical, and Masonic studies. Invited to join Professor Boccaccini’s Enoch Seminar in 2019, his most recent books include Aleister Crowley in Paris and The Lost Pillars of Enoch.