Plato

Plato (c. 428–348 BC) is the foundational philosopher of Western thought. While predating the Hermetic texts, his cosmology was retroactively claimed by the Hermetic tradition through the concept of the Prisca Theologia.

The Timaeus and the Demiurge

Plato's dialogue the Timaeus describes the Demiurge crafting the physical universe by looking at eternal ideal forms. This text introduced the concept of the Anima Mundi (World Soul) and the mathematical structure of the elements. When the Corpus Hermeticum was composed centuries later in Roman Egypt, its authors utilized the vocabulary and cosmology of the Timaeus to translate indigenous Egyptian theology into Greek. During the Renaissance, Ficino explicitly argued that Plato was merely the Greek translator of the wisdom originally revealed by Hermes Trismegistus.