Artephius (or Artefius) (c. 1150) is a writer to whom a number of alchemical texts are ascribed. Although the roots of the texts are unclear and the identity of their author obscure, at least some of them are Arabic in origin. He is named as the author of several books, the ''Ars sintrillia'', ''Clavis sapientiae'' or ''Clavis maioris sapientiae'', and ''Liber secretus''.

Confusion over identity

Alchemical

pseudepigraphy Pseudepigrapha (also anglicized as "pseudepigraph" or "pseudepigraphs") are falsely attributed works, texts whose claimed author is not the true author, or a work whose real author attributed it to a figure of the past.Bauckham, Richard; "Pseu ...

makes it difficult to identify who the historical Artephius may have been. His identity remains an open question. As ''The Secret Book of Artephius'' was respected and mentioned by

Roger Bacon Roger Bacon (; la, Rogerus or ', also '' Rogerus''; ), also known by the scholastic accolade ''Doctor Mirabilis'', was a medieval English philosopher and Franciscan friar who placed considerable emphasis on the study of nature through empiri ...

many times, Artephius’ writing is dated to around 1150. One author,

Restoro d'Arezzo Ristoro or Restoro d'Arezzo was an Italian monk and scientist of the Middle Ages. Italian scholar Enrico Narducci calls him the ' Humboldt' of the thirteenth century. Life and works Restoro was born in Arezzo, Tuscany, at an unknown date in the ...

, conflated

Orpheus Orpheus (; Ancient Greek: Ὀρφεύς, classical pronunciation: ; french: Orphée) is a Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet in ancient Greek religion. He was also a renowned poet and, according to the legend, travelled with Jaso ...

with Artephius in his ''Composizione del Mondo'' in 1282.Austin, H.D. 1937. "Artephius-Orpheus." ''Speculum'' 12: 251–54. This mistake was due to a translation error, with the Arabic for Orpheus and Artephius being very similar. This transcription error gave us "Artephius", an alchemist without a historical personality.Levi della Vida, G. 1938. "Something More about Artefius and His Clavis Sapientiae." Speculum 13: 80–85 Artephius has also been misidentified as a Jewish convert,Patai , Raphael. ‘‘The Jewish alchemists: A history and source book.’’ Princeton University Press. 1994. p. 142

Apollonius of Tyana Apollonius of Tyana ( grc, Ἀπολλώνιος ὁ Τυανεύς; c. 3 BC – c. 97 AD) was a Greek Neopythagorean philosopher from the town of Tyana in the Roman province of Cappadocia in Anatolia. He is the subject of ''L ...

Stephanos of Alexandria Stephanus of Alexandria (; fl. c. 580 – c. 640) was a Byzantine philosopher and teacher who, besides philosophy in the Neo-Platonic tradition, also wrote on alchemy, astrology and astronomy. He was one of the last exponents of the Alexandrian aca ...

Al-Tughrai Mu'ayyad al-Din Abu Isma‘il al-Husayn ibn Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Abd al-Samad al-Du'ali al-Kināni al-Tughra'i (Arabic: العميد فخر الكتاب مؤيد الدين أبو إسماعيل الحسين بن علي بن محمد بن عبد ا ...

, and

Ibn Umail Muḥammad ibn Umayl al-Tamīmī ( ar, محمد بن أميل التميمي), known in Latin as Senior Zadith, was an early Muslim alchemist who lived from to Very little is known about his life. A Vatican Library catalogue lists one manusc ...

. The discovery of a 13/14th-century copy of ''Clavis Sapientia'' confirms that the text was first written in Arabic by a Muslim author.

Legacy

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

tradition held that Artephius had been born in the first or second century and died in the twelfth, thanks to having discovered the alchemical elixir that made it possible to prolong life. In his ''Secret Book'', Artephius indeed claims to be more than a thousand years old. In printed form, works attributed to Artephius became well known in the seventeenth century. A work ''Artefii clavis majoris sapientiae'' was printed in Paris in 1609. Later it would also appear within Volume IV of

Theatrum Chemicum (''"Chemical Theatre"'') is a compendium of early alchemical writings published in six volumes over the course of six decades. The first three volumes were published in 1602, while the final sixth volume was published in its entirety in 1661. re ...

, printed originally in 1613. Then in 1624, Eirenaeus Orandus provided an English translation of the 'secret booke'. The Latin editions of ''Clavis Sapentia'' are highly abridged and lack the original diagrams found in the Arabic text.

Notes

Sources

*Austin, H.D. 1937. "Artephius-Orpheus." ''Speculum'' 12: 251–54. *Levi della Vida, G. 1938. "Something More about Artefius and His Clavis Sapientiae." Speculum 13: 80–85. {{DEFAULTSORT:Artephius 12th-century Arabic writers 12th-century alchemists Alchemists of the medieval Islamic world Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown