CHAPTER III

THE DIVINE ART IN THE NEAR EAST

HE country in which the Divine Art first had its birth

cannot be stated with exactitude, and the genesis of al¬

chemy has been variously ascribed to Egypt, Babylonia, India,
and China. That there was some knowledge of the science in
both the Near and Far East at an early period there is little
doubt, but no documentary evidence is available until about
2500 years before the Christian era, from which time we have
record of the working of metals in Egypt.

Although we are told that the Egyptian priests were initiated
into the mysteries of the Divine and Sacred Art in the temples,
and were afterward able to imitate the work of the deities, little
is known of the nature of their operations. The art was kept
secret and almost exclusive to the priesthood, and beyond kings
and their sons no one was allowed to be instructed in its
mysteries. That it had a close alliance with magic and astro¬
logy is shown in some of the stories recorded in Egyptian
papyri of a later period.

There is an ancient tradition that Hermes Trismegistus,
called “the Thrice Great,” was the originator of alchemy in
Egypt. This legendary personage is supposed to have been an
Egyptian priest who flourished about 2500 years before Christ.
He may have been connected with the god Thoth or perhaps
was an emanation from that deity, who on account of his great
intellectual powers became one of the three great triune gods of
Memphis. Hermes is referred to on the Rosetta Stone as the
“Great and Great,” and his name is perpetuated in connexion
with chemistry to the present day in the term applied to the
method of enclosing a body in a glass tube by fusion or sealing,

LURE & ROMANCE OF ALCHEMY

which in ancient times was called “Hermes, his seal,” or, as we
now express it, hermetically sealed.

From early sculpture and wall-carvings that have been
discovered in Egypt there is evidence of a considerable know¬
ledge of the methods of working
metals and grounds for believing
that in all probability the Egyptians
were also the first people to apply
that knowledge to everyday needs.
They had gold from the land of
Ophir, Nubia, and the region of
Meroe. The gold-mines of Ethiopia
and Nubia were extensively worked,
and Diodorus Siculus alludes to
the number of slaves employed for
this purpose. The finely ground
gold-ore was washed out, and the
heavy residue melted. In the time
of Rameses II the mines are said
to have yielded gold to the value
of £125,000,000 sterling per annum.

The metal was also found in a
matrix of quartz, and obtained by
crushing and washing. Represen¬
tations of these processes, showing
gold - washing, fusion, and the
weighing of the metal, are incised on a tomb dating about 2500
B.c. at Beni Hassan. The use of a furnace and the blow-pipe
is also depicted, the raised portion of the former being used for
the purpose of concentrating the heat upon the crucible on the
principle of the reverberatory furnace.

There is further evidence given in the Bible of the richness
of the country in the precious metal, for it is recorded 1 that the
Queen of Sheba brought much gold and precious stones and

1 1 Kings x, 10, 14.

HERMES TRISMEGISTUS

From an ancient Egyptian stone
carving

26

IN THE NEAR EAST

gave to King Solomon 120 talents, a sum equivalent to £240,000.
The navy of Hiram also brought gold from Ophir, and the

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN GOLDSMITHS AT WORK

The processes represented are making jewellery, blowing the furnace for melting gold,
weighing the gold, washing gold, and preparing the metal before working it.

From an incised carving found at Beni Hassan
Wilkinson, “Ancient Egyptians ”

weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents,
estimated at about 37,296 pounds avoirdupois.

The use of gold for making jewellery dates back to a remote
age, and the perfection to which
the art of the goldsmith at¬
tained may be judged from the
beautiful specimens of the craft
discovered in many Egyptian
tombs. The Egyptians produced
most elaborate and exquisite or¬
naments of beaten gold in the
shape of flowers, leaves, pecto¬
rals, bracelets, rings, and sta¬
tuettes. They drew gold wire
for the purpose of embroidery,
and also used the metal for inlay¬
ing. They practised the art of enamelling, a beautiful specimen
of which, in the form of an amulet, was found on the mummy of

27

AN EGYPTIAN SMELTING AND
FUSING METAL

He is using a blow-pipe and small furnace
with cheeks to confine and reflect the heat.

From an incised carving found at Thebes
Wilkinson, “ Ancient Egyptians ”

LURE & ROMANCE OF ALCHEMY

Queen Aahotep, who lived about 1700 B.c. They acquired great
skill in colouring glass with various metallic oxides, and made
beads and imitation precious stones as early as 1475 B.c. In
one of the papyri are several interesting formulae for making
artificial emeralds and hyacinths; these are said to have been
taken from the Book of the Sanctuary. In another papyrus are
three recipes for making silver.

The art of dyeing was known and practised in ancient Egypt,
and the Egyptians understood the effect of acids on some
colours, and were acquainted with mordants for fixing the
colouring matter in the fabrics. They made and dyed linen
over five thousand years ago, using indigo which they obtained
from India. They employed sulphur, alum, antimony, copper,
cobalt, verdigris, zinc oxide, white lead, and arsenic in the arts,
the latter in the form of realgar, the red disulphide, and orpi-
ment, the yellow trisulphide of the metal.

Of their knowledge of alchemical operations very little is known.
Zosimus mentions that, apart from the knowledge contained in
the hermetic books, all the learning of the priests was secrets
which it was forbidden to reveal and was enveloped in mystery.

In his treatises John the High Priest states that Thebais,
Heracleopolis, Lycopolis, and Elephantine, all great cities of
Egypt, were strongholds of the priesthood, where probably they
purified gold and other minerals and also pursued endeavours
to make them. Zosimus observes that there were strong reasons
for treasuring alchemy as a religious secret, and even after the
removal of the seat of the Roman Empire to Constantinople the
art appears to have been regarded as a sacred mystery to be
revealed only to the priesthood and jealously guarded by them.

From the frequent communication between Babylonia and
Egypt in ancient times it is natural that we should find evidence
of the practice of the hermetic art among the early races that
inhabited Assyria and Mesopotamia. A translation of a series
of texts from clay tablets of the period of Assur-bani-pal, who
flourished between 668 and 626 B.c., shows that the Assyrians
28

IN THE NEAR EAST

at that early period practised the art of smelting metals and knew
how to make glass and colour it by means of metallic oxides.

Recipes are recorded for making blue-glaze with sand, alkali
ash, and gum styrax. Arsenic, red alum, cinnabar, and salt¬
petre were employed in the manufacture of purple glass, and
rust, saltpetre, and oxide of tin were used for green crystal.
Another text reads :

When thou settest out the plan of a furnace for minerals thou
shalt choose out a favourable day in a fortunate month, and thou
shalt set out the ground-plan of the furnace. While they are
making the furnace thou shalt watch them and shalt work thyself.
Thou shalt bring in embryos [born before their time] ; another, a
stranger, shall not enter, nor shall one that is unclean tread before
them ; thou shalt offer the due libation before them ; the day when
thou puttest down the mineral into the furnace thou shalt make
a sacrifice before the embryos; thou shalt set a censer of pine
incense.

This allusion to the choice of a favourable time for carrying
on an operation is especially interesting as showing the con¬
nexion of astrology with the process of smelting. Notable also
is the propitiatory libation and incense offered to the gods. The
use of the foetus , or embryo, probably originated in the Assyrian
belief that the spirit of an incomplete being must be propitiated,
as it might have some mysterious or malign influence over the
substances about to be used in the operation.

Olympiodorus alludes to a similar tradition common among
the Greek alchemists, who believed that “certain demons were
jealous with regard to the making of some recipes.”

Another text deals with the making of oxide of copper, which
the Assyrians used for colouring glass blue. It is directed to
be prepared as follows :

Thou shalt put io mana of copper into a clean melting-pot;
thou shalt put it down into the furnace which has been let grow
hot . . . ; thou shalt keep a fierce fire burning until the glass-
copper fuses. Thou shalt beat . . ., thou shalt open . . . until the
Zuku . . . glass . . . and thou shalt spread the copper on the roof.

29

LURE & ROMANCE OF ALCHEMY

In another text various chemicals used for colouring glass are
recorded. Thus, for making red glass gold and oxide of tin
(probably the purple of Cassius) were employed, together with
antimony and saltpetre; for purple-tinted glass oxide of man¬
ganese, and for red-purple glass copper scales were used.

Several recipes are given for making artificial precious stones,
including carnelian, spangled redstone, or aventurine, and also
for making opaque alabaster. Orpiment, the yellow trisulphide
of arsenic, was employed as a paint for the eyes, and a “marrow
of arsenic” is mentioned, which appears to have been a pre¬
paration for giving the effect of gold, for it was to be employed
for redecorating a crown of alabaster. The process of over¬
laying one metal with another was known at this early period,
for in another text allusion is made to the casting of a bronze
vessel which was to be overlaid with silver. Among other pig¬
ments used in the arts mention is made of vermilion, lapis
lazuli (ground to powder), malachite (ground to powder), and
white lead.

The art of dyeing and the method of tempering iron were
known to both the Babylonians and the Assyrians, and it is
probable that from them the Phoenicians, who were the inter¬
mediaries between Babylon and Egypt, acquired their know¬
ledge of these arts, the traditions concerning which were passed
to the Arabs and the Persians.

30