The Shelves · Mathematics (incl. astronomy)
Book of Hermes Trismegistus (Liber Hermetis) and the decan tradition
Conjecturedin Alexandria?Conjectured · Our reconstructionour placement
◇ Doubted: pseudonymous; its date is uncertain. Attributed to Hermes Trismegistus; a late Latin compilation of older Greek material.
I · The entry, in his form
In the table of Mathematics (incl. astronomy)
Conjectured · Our reconstructionour placementAnonymous Hermetic astrologers
Book of Hermes Trismegistus (Liber Hermetis) and the decan tradition
Opening words not preserved.
Length: not counted
◇ Doubted: pseudonymous; its date is uncertain. Attributed to Hermes Trismegistus; a late Latin compilation of older Greek material.
Above, his entry form, filled from what we know. Below, ours.
II · Does it survive? Where to read it
Survives only in translation
A Latin compilation in a single 15th-century manuscript (British Library, Harley 3731), edited by Gundel in 1936.
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
Latin text in Feraboli (1994).
III · In the show
- Hermes Trismegistus Anachronism Clarified, episode 21, at 36 minutes 47 secondsTranscriptThe Plato–Hermes anachronism corrected.Legend: told story
- Hermes Trismegistus: Historical vs Mythic Figure, episode 21, at 45 minutes 56 secondsTranscriptHistorical versus mythic Hermes (station 1 of Foundations of Hermeticism).Legend: told story
- Thoth, Divine Knowledge & Sacred Authorship, episode 21, at 1 hour 3 minutes 53 secondsTranscriptLegend: told story
+ 27 more
- Hermes Trismegistus as Archetype, Not Deity, episode 21, at 1 hour 11 minutes 10 secondsTranscriptLegend: told story
- Thoth, Nous & the Divine Mind, episode 21, at 1 hour 12 minutes 17 secondsTranscriptThoth, Nous and the divine mind in the modern orders.Legend: told story
- Plato: Philosophy, Truth & Misconceptions, episode 21, at 36 minutes 14 secondsTranscript“it's anacronistic to think that Plato Plato learned from Hermes Trish Migistus” (intended: Trismegistus)The co-host's correction, which the next chapter develops.Legend: told story
- Hermes Trismegistus: Historical vs Mythic Figure, episode 21, at 45 minutes 56 secondsTranscript“up until fairly recently it was believed that um Hermes Tris Meistus was a contemporary of Moses the biblical patriarch.”The redating is Casaubon's (1614).Legend: told story
- Hermes Trismegistus as Archetype, Not Deity, episode 21, at 1 hour 11 minutes 10 secondsTranscript“Hermes Tris Magajistus was not a god.”Legend: told story
- Pythagoras in Egypt: Initiation & Study, episode 20, at 40 minutes 11 secondsTranscript“Plato talks about the Egyptian god thought you know writing see this great scribe god who invented did numbers, letters, and words”Phaedrus 274c–275b: Theuth (Thoth) invents number, calculation, geometry, astronomy, draughts, dice and letters.Legend: told story
- Path: Foundations of Hermeticism, station 1Meet Thrice-Greatest Hermes. Meet Thrice-Greatest Hermes.Legend: told story
- Hermeticism · Chronology: Thoth becomes Hermes TrismegistusThoth becomes Hermes Trismegistus.Legend: told story
- Decan CalculatorThe decans, Egyptian star-clocks absorbed into Hellenistic astrology; the brief lists Hermeticism among its subjects.Legend: told story
- Fixed StarsThe Behenian stars come from the Liber Hermetis de quindecim stellis, a Latin text of the 12th–13th century: Hermes as an authority-name long after Alexandria.Legend: told story
- Priest-Astronomers & Early Astrology, episode 20, at 14 minutes 11 secondsTranscriptPriest-astronomers and early astrology (station 1 of Astrology and Cosmic Order).Known: probable
- The Thema Mundi and Planetary Rulerships, episode 36, at 49 secondsTranscriptThe Thema Mundi and planetary rulerships (station 2 of Astrology and Cosmic Order).Known: probable
- Chaldean Order, Luminaries, and Planetary Houses, episode 36, at 7 minutes 14 secondsTranscriptThe Chaldean order, the luminaries and the planetary houses.Known: probable
- Theurgic Astrology & Natal Charts, episode 22, at 58 minutes 44 secondsTranscriptTheurgic astrology.Known: probable
- The Thema Mundi and Planetary Rulerships, episode 36, at 1 minute 28 secondsTranscript“much like Vidius Valins and those early kind of Greco Roman Egyptian”'Vidius Valins' is Vettius Valens, whose Anthology leans on Egyptian authorities.Known: probable
- Hellenistic Roots of Western Esotericism, episode 24, at 1 hour 4 minutes 40 secondsTranscript“his book, Henistic Astrology, I think came out in 2017”Chris Brennan, Hellenistic Astrology (2017).Known: probable
- Path: Astrology and Cosmic Order, station 1Start with the priest-astronomers.Known: probable
- Path: Astrology and Cosmic Order, station 2Draw the birth chart of the world.Known: probable
- Path: Astrology and Cosmic Order, station 5Use the chart as a map.Known: probable
- Astrology · Chronology: The Hellenistic synthesisThe Hellenistic synthesis.Known: probable
- Astrology · Chronology: Ptolemy's TetrabiblosPtolemy's Tetrabiblos.Known: probable
- Astrology · The Atlas: houses, aspects, dignitiesKnown: probable
- Planetary Day'The seven-day week of planetary days is Hellenistic'; Cassius Dio 37.18–19.Known: probable
- Planetary HoursSeasonal hours and the Chaldean order.Known: probable
- Zodiacal HoursPtolemy, Almagest II.Known: probable
IV · Sources and the living entry
Ancient references
- British Library, Harley MS 3731
Modern scholarship (3)
- W. Gundel, Neue astrologische Texte des Hermes Trismegistos (Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1936).
- S. Feraboli (ed.), Hermetis Trismegisti de triginta sex decanis (Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis 144; Turnhout: Brepols, 1994).
- G. Fowden, The Egyptian Hermes: A Historical Approach to the Late Pagan Mind (Cambridge, 1986)
Entry checked 31 Oct 2026 · no corrections · Suggest a correction ›
BOOK OF HERMES TRISMEGISTUS (LIBER HERMETIS) AND THE DECAN TRADITION