Moses of Alexandria, often known simply as Moses or Moses the Alchemist, was an early
alchemist
Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscience, protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in Chinese alchemy, C ...
who wrote Greek alchemical texts around the first or second century. He has also been called "Moses the thrice happy".
[Raphael Patai. ''The Jewish Alchemists: A History and Source Book.'' Princeton University Press, 2014. p.30-34] The author of these alchemical texts was likely Jewish, since his writings show traces of Jewish monotheism and other Jewish beliefs.
Encyclopedia Judaica.
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Moses the alchemist is often conflated with the biblical Moses
Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...
. The opening passage of his work is an altered version of the Book of Exodus
The Book of Exodus (from grc, Ἔξοδος, translit=Éxodos; he, שְׁמוֹת ''Šəmōṯ'', "Names") is the second book of the Bible. It narrates the story of the Exodus, in which the Israelites leave slavery in Biblical Egypt through t ...
31: 2–5.[Taylor, F. Sherwood. “A Survey of Greek Alchemy”. ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'' 50 (1930): 109–139.] In antiquity, the biblical Moses was believed to be the founder of the arts and sciences including philosophy and medicine. Magical papyri were also attributed to him.chrysopoeia
In alchemy, the term chrysopoeia (from Greek , ', "gold-making") refers to the artificial production of gold, most commonly by the alleged transmutation of base metals such as lead. A related term is argyropoeia (, ', "silver-making"), referring ...
.
Works
* Μωσεως διπλωσις.
References
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Ancient alchemists
Greek alchemists