Emerald Tablet
The Emerald Tablet, also known as the Smaragdine Table or the Tabula Smaragdina, is a compact and cryptic text traditionally attributed to the legendary Hellenistic figure Hermes Trismegistus. The earliest known versions are four Arabic recensions preserved in mystical and alchemical treatises between the 8th and 10th centuries CE—chiefly the Secret of Creation and the Secret of Secrets. It was often accompanied by a frame story about the discovery of an emerald tablet in Hermes' tomb.
From the 12th century onward, Latin translations—most notably the widespread so-called vulgate—introduced the text to Europe, where it attracted great scholarly interest. Medieval commentators such as Hortulanus interpreted it as a "foundational text" of alchemical instructions for producing the philosopher's stone and making gold. During the Renaissance, interpreters increasingly read the text through Neoplatonic, allegorical, and Christian lenses; and printers often paired it with an emblem that came to be regarded as a visual representation of the Tablet itself. Vernacular translations of the Latin vulgate also started to appear, such as an English translation prepared by Isaac Newton.
Following the 20th-century rediscovery of Arabic sources by Eric Holmyard and Julius Ruska, modern scholars continue to debate its origins. They agree that the Secret of Creation, the Tablet's earliest source and its likely original context, was either wholly or at least partly compiled from earlier Greek or Syriac materials. The Tablet remains influential in esotericism and occultism, where the phrase as above, so below has become a popular maxim. It has also been taken up by Jungian psychologists, artists, and figures of pop culture, cementing its status as one of the best-known Hermetica.
Background and early Arabic versions
Beginning from the first century BCE onwards, Greek texts attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, a syncretic combination of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth, appeared in Greco-Roman Egypt. These texts, known as the Hermetica, are a heterogeneous collection of works that in the modern day are commonly subdivided into two groups: the technical Hermetica, comprising astrological, medico-botanical, alchemical, and magical writings; and the religio-philosophical Hermetica, comprising mystical-philosophical writings.These Greek pseudepigraphal texts found receptions, translations, and imitations in Latin, Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, and Middle Persian prior to the emergence of Islam and the Arab conquests in the 630s. These conquests brought about various empires in which a new group of Arabic-speaking intellectuals emerged. These scholars received and translated the aforementioned wealth of texts and also began producing Hermetica of their own. By the tenth century, some Arabic-speaking Muslims had come to identify Hermes with the prophet Idris, thereby elevating the Hermetica to the level of other Islamic prophetic revelations. Until the early twentieth century, only Latin versions of the Emerald Tablet were known in the Western world, with the oldest dating back to the twelfth century. The older Arabic versions were rediscovered by Eric John Holmyard and Julius Ruska.
''Secret of Creation''
The oldest version of the Emerald Tablet is found as an appendix in an encyclopaedic treatise on natural philosophy meant as a cosmogony. It is believed to have been compiled in Arabic in the late eighth or early ninth century. The treatise bears the title Book of the Secret of Creation and the Craft of Nature. Some scholars consider it plausible that this work is a translation of a much older Greek or Syriac original, although no such manuscript is known. At the same time others think it is more likely that it was an original Arabic composition based on older materials. The Arabic text presents itself as a translation of a work by Apollonius of Tyana. Pseudepigraphal attributions to Apollonius were common in medieval Arabic texts on magic, astrology, and alchemy. If the Tablet originally hailed from a pseudo-Apollonian context, it could be considered a text of late antiquity, like other such works.This earliest known version reads as follows:
The introduction to the Book of the Secret of Creation presents a narrative that outlines key philosophical and alchemical ideas. It explains that all things are composed of four elemental qualities—heat, cold, moisture, and dryness—drawn from Aristotelian theory. These elements and their combinations are said to determine the sympathetic or antagonistic relationships between beings. In the frame story, Balīnūs, a legendary figure known as the Master of Talismans, discovers a crypt beneath a statue of Hermes Trismegistus. Inside, he finds a tablet made of emerald, held by an old man seated with a book. The central part of the text is an alchemical treatise, notable for introducing—for the first time—the theory that all metals are formed from two basic substances: sulphur and mercury. This concept later became a foundational idea in medieval alchemy. Emerald was the stone traditionally associated with Hermes, while quicksilver was his metal and Mercury his planet. Mars was associated with red stones and iron, and Saturn with black stones and lead. People in antiquity thought of various green-coloured minerals—such as green jasper and even green granite—as emerald.
The text of the Emerald Tablet appears in the Book of the Secret of Creation as an appendix. It has long been debated whether it is an extraneous piece, solely cosmogonic in nature, or whether it is an integral part of the rest of the work, in which case it could have had an alchemical significance from the outset. It has been suggested that the Emerald Tablet was originally a text of talismanic magic that was only later understood as being alchemical in nature. This may have been due to it having been divorced from its original context in the Book of the Secret of Creation; and instead having been commonly transmitted through the alchemical treatise containing the vulgate.
File:1620 Woodprint Guǎn Zǐ Vol 4 Scroll 16 Chapter 49 Nèi Yè Fol 2.jpg|left|thumb|217x217px|1620 woodblock print of the beginning of the Guanzi section Tzu-Kung hypothesised to be the origin of the Emerald Tablet.
Julius Ruska observed that the Tablet
Jabir ibn Hayyan
Another early version of the Emerald Tablet is found in the Second Book of the Element of the Foundation attributed to the eighth-century alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan. In this somewhat shorter version, lines 6, 8, and 11–15 as found in the Secret of Creation are missing. Other parts appear to be corrupt. It reads:''Secret of Secrets''
Another text of the Emerald Tablet is found towards the end of the tenth-century pseudo-Aristotelian work known as the Secret of Secrets. This entire treatise is framed as a pseudepigraphical letter from Aristotle to Alexander the Great during the latter's conquest of Persia and is introduced via a number of letters between the two. It discusses politics, morality, physiognomy, astrology, alchemy, medicine, and more.It reads:
Ibn Umayl
Similarly, an Arabic treatise called the Book of the Silvery Water and the Starry Earth by Ibn Umayl reproduces a version of the Tablet. This treatise was translated as . In this version of the frame story, an alchemical stone table is discovered, resting on the knees of Hermes Trismegistus in the secret chamber of a pyramid. However, this table does not contain the Tablet text which is repeated later in the treatise. It is instead inscribed with writing described as. Its "hieroglyphic" contents are then visually depicted together with an alchemical exegesis thereof.The literary theme of the discovery of Hermes' hidden wisdom can be found in other Arabic texts from around the tenth century. The introduction of the Book of Crates provides one such example. In the narrative a Greek philosopher named Crates is praying in the temple Sarapieion. While in prayer he has a vision of the ancient sage. It reads:
European medieval period
''On the Secrets of Nature''
The Book of the Secret of Creation was translated into Latin in by Hugo of Santalla. This text does not appear to have been widely circulated. Its translation of the Tablet reads as follows:''Secret of Secrets''
The Tablet was also translated into Latin as part of the thirteenth-century translation of the Secret of Secrets by Philip of Tripoli. This entire treatise has been called "the most popular book of the Latin Middle Ages". Its translation of the Tablet differs significantly from both Hugo of Santalla's version and the vulgate translation. In Roger Bacon's 1255 edition it reads:''Vulgate''
A third Latin version can be found in an alchemical treatise likely from the twelfth century. This latter, most circulated version is called the vulgate, as it was widespread and formed the subsequent basis for all later editions and translations into European vernacular languages. It is found in an anonymous compilation of commentaries on the Emerald Tablet, translated from a lost Arabic text–variously called the Book of Hermes on Alchemy, the Book of Dabessus, or the Book of the Rebis. Its translator has been tentatively identified as Plato of Tivoli, who was active in. However, this is merely conjecture, and although it can be deduced from other indices that the text dates to the first half of the twelfth century, its translator remains unknown.Its translation of the Tablet reads:
The translator of this version did not understand the and therefore merely transcribed it into Latin as telesmus or telesmum. This accidental neologism was variously interpreted by commentators, thereby becoming one of the most distinctive, yet ambiguous, terms of alchemy. The word is of Greek origin, from. The obscurity of this word's meaning brought forth many interpretations. In the Book of Hermes on Alchemy the cryptic telesmus line was left out entirely. The vulgate's final line referring to the operation of Sol is commonly interpreted as a reference to the alchemical Great Work. The Emerald Tablet was seen as a summary of alchemical principles, wherein the secrets of the philosopher's stone were thought to have been described. This belief led to its consequent popularity and the wide array of European translations of and commentaries on the text, beginning in the High Middle Ages and persisting to the present.