Zosimos of Panopolis (fl ca 300 AD) is the earliest historical figure recognisable amongst the Hellenistic alchemists whose works we possess. He was a prolific author who exerted a strong influence on the subsequent alchemical tradition, but only a small portion of his works survives in the original Greek. These texts have been edited and studied, and summarised translations have been printed of texts attributed to him that survive in Syriac. This thesis, the first in-depth study of the Arabic writings attributed to Zosimos and of his wider reception in the Arabic/Islamic world, adds to our understanding of the development of the alchemical tradition and of the nature of the Greek heritage in the Arabic/Islamic world. The thesis begins by assessing Zosimos's influence on and reputation in Arabic literature, which is shown to be generally less pronounced than has been suggested by previous scholars, but still greater than in the analogous literature of the Greek-speaking world. The corpus of Arabic texts attributed to Zosimos is divided into 4 groups: (1) directly authenticated translations; (2) indirectly authenticated translations; (3) dialogues and (4) forgeries. In group (1) the first Arabic translations of extant Greek works of Zosimos (or, indeed, any Greek alchemical author) are identified and analysed. The authenticity of the texts in group (2) is argued for on the basis of similarities to the Greek Zosimos texts. Finally, the texts in group (3) are shown not to have been translated from the Greek, but to contain much authentic material, and the first Latin version of an Arabic Zosimos text is identified.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:505802 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Hallum, B. C. |
| Publisher | University of London |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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