The Emerald Tablet, also known as Smaragdine Table, Tabula Smaragdina, or The Secret of Hermes, is a text purporting to reveal the secret of the primordial substance and its transmutations. It claims to be the work of Hermes Trismegistus ("Hermes the Thrice-Greatest"), a legendary Hellenistic combination of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth.
Below are shown several translations including the Arabic, the Latin, and one from Isaac Newton. The compact and cryptic text was highly regarded by European alchemists as the foundation of their art, in particular of its Hermetic tradition. Interpreting the layers of meanings of the Emerald Tablet, from individual words to the overall meaning, is fraught with possibilities, but certainly Alchemy's Magnum opus and the ancient, classical, element system are the basis of any sound explanation, as they provide a key to the ideas of earth, fire, sun, moon, etc., common to all the translations.
Read more about Emerald Tablet: Textual History, Influence
Famous quotes containing the words emerald and/or tablet:
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—Frank S. Nugent (1908–1965)
“The eyes, opening and shutting like keyholes
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the tablet of the world
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