The Shelves · Natural science
Leiden Papyrus X and Stockholm Papyrus
Conjecturedin Alexandria?Conjectured · Our reconstructionour placement
I · The entry, in his form
In the table of Natural science
Conjectured · Our reconstructionour placementAnonymous craftsmen's recipe books
Leiden Papyrus X and Stockholm Papyrus
Opening words not preserved.
Length: not counted
Above, his entry form, filled from what we know. Below, ours.
II · Does it survive? Where to read it
Survives whole
Probably from one Theban cache sold by the dealer Giovanni Anastasi in the 1820s, along with Greek magical papyri.
Was it in Alexandria?
ConjecturedOf the Egyptian milieu.
On the ledge: written in Egypt or in a tradition the city shaped; not known in the Library.
Read it today
Greek text and French translation in Halleux (1981); English in Caley (1926-1927).
III · In the show
- Egyptian mysteries, Mithraism, and Zosimos, episode 4, at 37 minutes 34 secondsTranscriptKnown: probable
- What the Egyptian mysteries may have taught, episode 4, at 44 minutes 31 secondsTranscriptWhat the Egyptian mysteries may have taught: metallurgy, statuary, the opening of the mouth.Known: probable
Correction
- What was said
- Porphyry says Pythagoras spent 22 years in Egyptian temples.
- What the sources say
- The twenty-two years come from Iamblichus, not from Porphyry's Life of Pythagoras.
Reference
- Iamblichus, On the Pythagorean Life 4.19
- Fixing the Volatile & The Great Work, episode 33, at 45 minutes 38 secondsTranscript“we found this pattern in metals and we found it in plants”Zosimos's extension of the work from metals to the soul, as read in the conversation with Daniel Wiseman.Known: probable
+ 5 more
- Alchemy · Chronology: Greco-Egyptian foundationsKnown: probable
- Alchemy · Three principles, seven metalsKnown: probable
- Planetary CorrespondencesDays, metals and the Chaldean order as 'the common inheritance'; the metal–planet pairings took centuries to settle, as the alchemy page shows.Known: probable
IV · Sources and the living entry
Ancient references (2)
- P.Leiden I 397 (Leiden Papyrus X)
- Stockholm Papyrus (P.Holm.)
Modern scholarship (3)
- R. Halleux, Les alchimistes grecs I: Papyrus de Leyde, Papyrus de Stockholm, Recettes (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1981).
- E. R. Caley, 'The Leyden Papyrus X', Journal of Chemical Education 3.10 (1926): 1149-1166; and 'The Stockholm Papyrus', ibid. 4.8 (1927): 979-1002.
- L. M. Principe, The Secrets of Alchemy (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013)
Entry checked 31 Oct 2026 · no corrections · Suggest a correction ›
LEIDEN PAPYRUS X AND STOCKHOLM PAPYRUS
Beside it on the ledge
- Maria the Jewess (Maria Hebraea), Writings of Maria the Jewessbefore c. 300 CE (often placed 1st-3rd century) · Survives in fragments
- 'Cleopatra' (pseudonymous; not the queen), Chrysopoeia (Gold-Making) of Cleopatra3rd-4th century CE (uncertain) · Survives whole
- Zosimos of Panopolis, The Final Count (Final Abstinence), to Theosebeiac. 300 CE · Survives whole
- Zosimos of Panopolis, Authentic Memoirs: On the Letter Omega, and On Apparatus and Furnacesc. 300 CE · Survives in fragments