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In this monumental work, Raphael Patai opens up an entirely new field of cultural history by tracing Jewish alchemy from antiquity to the nineteenth century. Until now there has been little attention given to the significant role that Jews played in the field of alchemy. Here, drawing on an enormous range of previously unexplored sources, Patai reveals that Jews were major players in what was for centuries one of humanity's most compelling intellectual obsessions.
Originally published in 1994.
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List of contents
Illustrations Ch. 2Biblical Figures as Alchemists Ch. 3Alchemy in Bible and Talmud? Pt. 2The Hellenistic Age Ch. 5Maria the Jewess Ch. 6Zosimus on Maria the Jewess Pt. 3The Early Arab World Ch. 8A Hebrew Version of the Book of Alums and Salts Ch. 9Pseudo-Khalid ibn Yazid Pt. 4The Eleventh to Thirteenth Centuries Ch. 11The Great Jewish Philosophers Ch. 12Kabbalah and Alchemy: A Reconsideration Pt. 5The Fourteenth Century Ch. 14The Quinta Essentia in Hebrew Ch. 15Flamel's Jewish Masters Ch. 16Two Spanish Jewish Court Alchemists Ch. 17Abraham Eleazar Ch. 18Themo Judaei Pt. 6The Fifteenth Century Ch. 20Solomon Trismosin and His Jewish Master Ch. 21Abraham ben Simeon's Cabala Mystica Ch. 22Isaac Hollandus and His Son John Isaac Ch. 23Johanan Alemanno and Joseph Albo Ch. 24Pseudo-Maimonides Ch. 25Three Kuzari Commentators Pt. 7The Sixteenth Century Ch. 27Taitazak and Provencali Ch. 28Hayyim Vital, Alchemist Ch. 29An Alchemical Miscellany Ch. 30Labi, Hamawi, and Portaleone Ch. 31The Manchester (John Rylands) Manuscript Pt. 8The Seventeenth Century Ch. 33Four Seventeenth-Century Manuscripts Ch. 34Benjamin Mussafia Ch. 35Benjamin Jesse Pt. 9The Eighteenth Century Ch. 37The Comte de Saint-Germain Ch. 38Jacob Emden; de Bar Ilan Manuscript Pt. 10The Nineteenth Century Ch. 40Mordecai Abi Serour Conclusion: A Profile of Jewish Alchemy Appendix: An Alchemical Vocabulary from Jerba Notes Index
About the author
Raphael Patai (1911-1996) was a prominent cultural anthropologist, historian, and biblical scholar of international reputation. He was the author of more than three dozen books on Jewish and Arab culture, history, politics, psychology, and folklore.
Summary
In this monumental work, Raphael Patai opens up an entirely new field of cultural history by tracing Jewish alchemy from antiquity to the nineteenth century. Until now there has been little attention given to the significant role that Jews played in the field of alchemy. Here, drawing on an enormous range of previously unexplored sources, Patai rev
Additional text
"Groundbreaking and highly original treatise. . . . Before Patai's monumental study, the exact knowledge of the Jewish input into alchemy was minimal. . . . [Raphael Patai] has brought the searching light of his extraordinary excavation skills into the unearthing of a dusty but now glimmering vein of the Jewish experience."---Arnold Ages, Midstream
