The Shelves · Natural science

Natural and Secret Matters (Physika kai Mystika) and the Four Books

Φυσικὰ καὶ μυστικά

Conjecturedin Alexandria?Conjectured · Our reconstructionour placementLegend · Told storya told story on its tag

◇ Doubted: pseudonymous. Attributed to Democritus of Abdera; written in Roman Egypt. Older scholarship named Bolus of Mendes as author.

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I · The entry, in his form

In the table of Natural science

Conjectured · Our reconstructionour placement

Pseudo-Democritus

1st century CE. The unknown author of the Physika kai Mystika and the other books on dyeing and making gold, silver, gems and purple that went under the name of the philosopher Democritus, the oldest layer of Greek alchemy. They have been linked to Bolus of Mendes, a Hellenistic writer on natural sympathies, and are commonly dated to the 1st century CE.

Natural and Secret Matters (Physika kai Mystika) and the Four Books

Φυσικὰ καὶ μυστικά

Opening words not preserved.

Length: not counted

◇ Doubted: pseudonymous. Attributed to Democritus of Abdera; written in Roman Egypt. Older scholarship named Bolus of Mendes as author.

Above, his entry form, filled from what we know. Below, ours.

II · Does it survive? Where to read it

Survives in fragments

Excerpts in the Byzantine alchemical collections; reconstructed by Martelli (2013).

Was it in Alexandria?

Conjectured

Of the Egyptian milieu.

On the ledge: written in Egypt or in a tradition the city shaped; not known in the Library.

Read it today

Berthelot and Ruelle, Collection des anciens alchimistes grecs vols 2-3 (1887-1888), Greek and French · original and translation · link checked 31 Oct 2026

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 · Source texts: Physika kai mystika; the Leiden and Stockholm papyri; the Zosimos fragmentsKnown: probable
Alchemy · The colours of the Work, with the Greek terms glossed from Zosimos and the Leiden papyrusKnown: 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

Synesius (alchemist), Commentary on Democritus

Modern scholarship (3)

M. Martelli, The Four Books of Pseudo-Democritus (Leeds: Maney, for the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry, 2013)
L. M. Principe, The Secrets of Alchemy (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013)
M. Berthelot and C.-E. Ruelle, Collection des anciens alchimistes grecs, 3 vols (Paris: G. Steinheil, 1887-1888).

Entry checked 31 Oct 2026 · no corrections · Suggest a correction ›

ΦΥΣΙΚΑ ΚΑΙ ΜΥΣΤΙΚΑ

Read what is told

The back of the tag: a story told of this work, in its teller's voice.

Legend

The books in the temple

The author who wrote as Democritus tells that he called up the shade of his dead master Ostanes, learned that the books were in the temple, and saw a column split open to show the maxim that nature delights in nature, conquers nature and masters nature.

Told by The author who wrote as Democritus, 1st century CE (perhaps earlier), some four centuries after Democritus

What the evidence supports

Democritus of Abdera did not write it. The recipes for gold, silver, gems and purple are the foundation of Greek alchemy in Egypt; the necromancy is the book's frame.

Sources

Synesius (alchemist), Commentary on Democritus

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