Tradition of Hermes Trismegistus

Christian H. Bull, Ph.D. (2014), University of Bergen, is a Marie Curie research fellow at the University of Oslo and Princeton University. He has published several articles on the Hermetica and the Nag Hammadi Codices, as well as a book of Norwegian translations of the Corpus Hermeticum. He co-edited Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature (Brill, 2012).

"Bull’s work represents an accessible yet profound and thoughtful introduction and handbook to the Hermetica, providing both a fair and thorough summary of previous work and a lucid approach to understanding them, and it is likely to become an invaluable reference work and source of further ideas in years to come."- Korshi Dosoo, Würzburg, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2020.02.23."Par sa qualité, ses ambitions et ses positions interprétatives, l’ouvrage ne méritait pas une collection moins prestigieuse (...) Aussi peut-on être certain que cette thèse brillante fera date dans les études sur l’hermétisme."- Florian Audureau, Université Paris Diderot Paris 7, Revue de l'histoire des religions 1, 2020.

• AcknowledgementsAbbreviations1 Introduction1.1 The Status Quaestionis1.2 The Aim of the Present Contribution1.3 Theoretical ConsiderationsPart 1: Who is Hermes Trismegistus?2 The Myth of Hermes Trismegistus2.1 The Egyptian Pre-History of the Thrice-Greatest Thoth2.2 Greek Sources for the Egyptian Hermes3 The Primordial Egyptian Kings in the Hermetica3.1 SH XXIII (Korê Kosmou): An Egyptian Account of Creation3.2 SH XXIV: The Emanations of Royal Souls3.3 SH XXV: Cosmology and the Location of the Royal Souls3.4 SH XXVI: Hermes as a Royal Soul3.5 CH I: Poimandres the King3.6 Kmeph and Protology in the Hermetica3.7 De Anima: The Creation of the Souls and the Primal Human3.8 The Bronze Age in CH I: Erroneous Love and Its Remedy3.9 The Hermetic Transmigration of Souls3.10 Hermes, Nature, and the Royal Souls in Manilius’ Astronomica3.11 Hermes, Nature, and the Royal Souls in Petosiris and Nechepsos3.12 The Importance of Myth in the Hermetic TraditionConclusion to Part 1Part 2: What is the Way of Hermes?4 Introduction to the Way of Hermes4.1 Testimonies to the Existence of a “Way”4.2 The Way of Thoth4.3 The Order of the Tradition4.4 Conversion4.5 First Stage: Knowing Oneself4.6 Second Stage: Becoming a Stranger to the World5 The Ritual of Rebirth5.1 CH XIII: General Remarks5.2 The Phase of Separation5.3 Limen: The Threshold Phase5.4 The Aggregation or Incorporation Phase5.5 Concluding Remarks on the Rebirth6 Heavenly Ascent: The Discourse on the Eighth and the Ninth (NHC VI,6)6.1 Introduction: The Sequence of the Tradition (52,1–13)6.2 Explanation of Spiritual Generation (52,14–55,23)6.3 The Visionary Ascent (55,24–61,17)6.4 Epilogue: Erection of a Votive Stela (61,18–63,32)Conclusion to Part 2Part 3: Who Were the Hermetists?—Situating the Way of Hermes7 The True Philosophy of Hermes7.1 The Way of Hermes as a Philosophical School7.2 Philosophy as a Hermetic Self-Designation7.3 The Hermetic Science of the Stars7.4 Priestly Philosophers8 The Magician and the Temple8.1 On the Term ‘Magic’8.2 The Thebes-Cache8.3 Hermetism in the Thebes-Cache?8.4 Thessalos and Thebes8.5 Vision and Divination8.6 Rebirth and Ascent: The Mithras or Pšai-Aion Liturgy9 The Egyptian Priesthoods and Temples9.1 Egyptian Priests as Purveyors of Native Tradition9.2 The Idealized Priests of Chaeremon and the Perfect Discourse9.3 The Temple as a Dwelling-Place of Priests and Gods9.4 Egypt as the Temple of the World and The Twilight of Its Gods9.5 The New Law9.6 The Hermetic Sitz-im-Leben: A SuggestionConclusionBibliography