Alchemy

Abstract: This landmark book represents the first attempt in two decades to survey the science of the ancient world, the first attempt in four decades to write a comprehensive history of medieval science, and the first attempt ever to present a full, unified account of both ancient and medieval science in a single volume. In "The Beginnings of Western Science," David C. Lindberg provides a rich chronicle of the development of scientific ideas, practices, and institutions from the pre-Socratic Greek philosophers to the late-medieval scholastics. Lindberg surveys all the most important themes in the history of ancient and medieval science, including developments in cosmology, astronomy, mechanics, optics, alchemy, natural history, and medicine. He synthesizes a wealth of information in superbly organized, clearly written chapters designed to serve students, scholars, and nonspecialists alike. In addition, Lindberg offers an illuminating account of the transmission of Greek science to medieval Islam and subsequently to medieval Europe. And throughout the book he pays close attention to the cultural and institutional contexts within which scientific knowledge was created and disseminated and to the ways in which the content and practice of science were influenced by interaction with philosophy and religion. Carefully selected maps, drawings, and photographs complement the text. Lindberg's story rests on a large body of important scholarship produced by historians of science, philosophy, and religion over the past few decades. However, Lindberg does not hesitate to offer new interpretations and to hazard fresh judgments aimed at resolving long-standing historical disputes. Addressed to the generaleducated reader as well as to students, his book will also appeal to any scholar whose interests touch on the history of the scientific enterprise.

Abstract: Introduction A. The Principles of Islam B. The Perspectives within Islamic Civilization 1. The Universal Figures of Islamic Science 2. The Basis of the Teaching System and the Educational Institutions 3. Cosmology, Cosmography, Geography, and Natural History 4. Physics 5. Mathematics 6. Astronomy 7. Medicine 8. The Sciences of Man 9. The Alchemical Tradition 10. Islamic Alchemy and its Influence in the Western World 11. Philosophy 12. The Controversies of Philosophy and Theology 13. The Gnostic Tradition Selected Bibliography Index.

Abstract: This is the first book on the sage, scientist and sorcerer Hermes Trismegistus who was the culture-hero of Hellenistic and Roman Egypt. A human according to some, who had lived about the time of Moses, but now indisputably a god, he was credited with the authorship of a whole library of books on magic and the supernatural, alchemy, astrology, theology and philosophy. Starting from the complex fusions and tensions that moulded Graeco-Egyptian culture, and in particular Hermetism, in the centuries after Alexander, Dr Fowden goes on to argue that the technical and philosophical Hermetica, apparently so different, might be seen as aspects of a single 'way of Hermes' that led the initiate from knowledge of the World through knowledge of the Self to knowledge of God. The focus and conclusion of the book is an assault on the problem of the social milieu of Hermetism by looking at the mythological facade of the texts themselves and deploying the numerous allusions to be found in other sources of the period.