Editing Emerald Tablet (section)

=== Commentaries ===

[[Herman of Carinthia]] was one of a few European twelfth-century scholars to cite the ''Emerald Tablet''. He did so in his 1143 treatise ''On Essences,''{{Efn|{{langx|la|De essentiis}}.}} where he also recalled the frame story of the tablet's discovery under a statue of Hermes in a cave, from the ''Book of the Secret of Creation.'' Carinthia was a friend of [[Robert of Chester]], who in 1144 translated the ''[[Liber de compositione alchemiae|Book on the Composition of Alchemy]]'', which is generally considered to be the first Latin translation of an Arabic treatise on alchemy.<ref>{{harvnb|Calvet|2022|p=140}}.</ref> An anonymous twelfth-century commentator tried to explain the aforementioned neologism ''telesmus'' in the phrase {{Langx|la|Pater omnis telesmi|translit=|lit=Father of all telesms}} by claiming it is synonymous with {{Langx|la|Pater omnis secreti|lit=Father of everything secret}}. The translator followed this claim with the assertion that a kind of divination, which is "superior to all others" among the Arabs is called {{Langx|la|Thelesmus}}.{{Efn|"Th"-initial spellings represent a corruption.}} In subsequent commentaries on the ''Emerald Tablet'' only the meaning of ''secret'' was retained.<ref>{{harvsp|Mandosio|2005|pages=140–141}}.</ref> ''On Minerals''{{Efn|{{langx|la|De mineralibus}}.}} written around 1250 by [[Albertus Magnus]] comments on the vulgate{{Efn|Which he mistakenly identifies as from the {{langx|la|secretum secrelissimorum}} ie the ''Secret of Secrets''.}} ''Tablet''.<ref>{{Harvnb|Mandosio|2004b|pp=686-687}}.</ref> [[Roger Bacon]] translated and annotated the [[Secretum Secretorum|''Secret of Secrets'']] around 1275–1280''.'' He thought it an authentic work of Aristotle and it greatly influenced his thought.{{Efn|Particularly his belief in astrology and natural magic.}} He cited it constantly, from his earliest writings to his last''.''<ref>{{harvnb|Bacon|1920|p=XIII}}.</ref> The most widespread commentary accompanying the text of the ''Emerald Tablet'' is that of [[Ortolanus|Hortulanus]]. He was an alchemist, who was likely active in the first half of the fourteenth century, about whom very little is known except for what he states about himself in the introduction of the text.{{Efn|"I, called Hortulanus, named from the ''horti maritimi'' [incomprehensible term, later variants change it to ''named from the garden or from the seaside field''], wrapped in Jacobin skin, unworthy to be called a disciple of philosophy. Moved by the love of my dear one. The most certain declaration of the speech of the father of philosophers, Hermes, I intend to speak. Which speech, although it may be hidden, nevertheless the exercise of the true work, in the fatigue of my fingers, has most truly declared the whole exposition. For the concealment of the philosophers in speeches profits nothing, where the doctrine of the Holy Spirit operates."<ref>{{harvnb|Ruska|1926|pp=181-182}}.</ref>}}<ref>{{harvnb|Ruska|1926|p=|pp=197, 202-204}}.</ref> Hortulanus, like Albertus Magnus before him, saw the tablet as a cryptic recipe that described laboratory processes using "[[Code word (communication)|deck names]]". This was the dominant view held by Europeans until the fifteenth century.<ref>{{harvnb|Debus|2004|p=415}}.</ref> In his commentary, Hortulanus, again like Albertus Magnus, interpreted the sun and moon to represent alchemical gold and silver.{{Efn|{{harvnb|Ruska|1926}} points out that this passage and interpretation bear great resemblance to a much earlier Hermetic work transmitted in Greek by [[Zosimos of Panopolis]].<ref>{{harvnb|Ruska|1926|p=23}}.</ref>}}<ref>{{harvnb|Ruska|1926|pp=193, 209}}.</ref> Hortulanus translated "telesma" as "secret" or "treasure".{{Efn|"It is written afterward: ''Pater omnis telesmi totius mundi est hic'' — that is to say, in the work of the Stone is found the final path. And note that the Philosopher calls the operation “father of all telesma,” that is to say, of every secret or of all the treasure of the entire world — that is, of every stone discovered in this world. It is here. As if he were saying: behold, I show it to you."<ref>{{harvnb|Ruska|1926|p=183}}.</ref>}}<ref>{{harvnb|Mandosio|2005|p=140}}.</ref>{{Multiple image
| image1            = Aurora consurgens zurich 007 f-3r-7 building.jpg
| caption1          = ''Discovery of the Emerald Tablet in a Pyramid'' shown in the ''[[Aurora consurgens|Rising Dawn]]''.<ref>{{harvnb|Obrist|2003|pp=153-154}}.</ref>
| total_width       = 300
| caption2          = ''A serpentine Mercury beheads the Sun and Moon; golden and silver blossoms sit in a glass vessel over a flame.'' From the same manuscript (Zurich, ''Rheinau 172'').<ref>{{harvnb|Obrist|2003|p=152}}.</ref>
| image2            = Ms. Rh. 172 - Aurora consurgens folio 28r.png
| align             = left
}}

From around 1420, the [[Aurora consurgens|''Rising Dawn'']]{{Efn|{{langx|la|Aurora consurgens}}.}} introduced one of the earliest European cycles of alchemical imagery, combining complex metaphors with the motif of glass vessels. Its illustrations depict symbolic operations such as [[Nigredo|putrefaction]], [[Sublimation (phase transition)#Historical usage|sublimation]], and the union of opposites through figures like Mercury, the sun and moon, dragons, and eagles. These images reflect philosophical principles including “two are one” and “nature vanquishes nature”. Drawing on late antique traditions preserved in [[Ibn Umayl]]'s ''Book of the Silvery Water and the Starry Earth'', the manuscript visualises the myth of the rediscovery of Hermetic knowledge, portraying hieroglyphic signs as divinely instituted symbols immune to verbal distortion. The ''Rising Dawn'' thus helped establish the Renaissance notion of alchemical imagery as a medium for transmitting original wisdom through visual, rather than textual, means.<ref>{{harvnb|Obrist|2003|p=|pp=151-155}}.</ref>