Alchemy, Gnosis and Hermeticism

3 credits · Undergraduate

This course explores the scientific and esoteric dimensions of alchemy in the late pagan and early Islamicate cultures. The relationship of alchemy to Gnostic spiritualities is a guiding theme. We trace the history of Gnostic and Hermetic alchemy from its Greco-Egyptian origins, as epitomized by Zosimos of Panopolis (ca 300 CE), to the development of the ‘sacred art’ as a branch of the Islamicate occult sciences. CROSSLISTED: HSTC 3120