Hermes Trismegistus
（
Ἑρμῆς Τρισμέγιστος). The Greek name for the Egyptian
god Thoth, regarded as the author of civilization, the inventor of writing, of art, science,
and religion. The sacred canon of the Egyptians, in forty-two books divided into six sections,
constituting an encyclopaedia of general learning, was ascribed to him under the name of the
“Hermetic Books.” They treat of religion, and of the arts and sciences,
hieroglyphics, astronomy, medicine, mathematics, cosmography, etc. The date of the composition
of this canon is not known, but it is evidently late, as the influence of Hellenic culture and
the Neo-Platonic philosophy is clearly traceable. The Greek and Latin texts of these books
exist only in fragments gathered from Stobaeus, Cyril, Lactantius, Suidas, and others. The
Ebers Papyrus
(1877) is regarded as one of the medical books of the series. See
Ménard, Hermès Trismégiste
(1866); and Pietschmann,
Hermes Trismegistos (Leipzig,
1876).
