The Hermetic Corpus Map
A topographical guide to the Theological and Technical Hermetica.
I. Theological Hermetica (Philosophical)
Treatises focused on the nature of God (Nous), the soul's ascent, and the spiritual rebirth of the practitioner.
CH I: Poimandres
The opening revelation of the Corpus Hermeticum....
CH II: To Hermes
A discourse where Hermes explains the nature of the cosmos as a container and God as the container of all....
CH III: A Sacred Discourse
A brief, highly dense cosmogony describing the emergence of the elements and the zoidia (zodiac)....
CH IV: The Mixing Bowl (Krater)
Treatise on the immersion in the Mind....
CH IX: On Thinking and Sense
Distinguishes between divine thinking (noesis) and human sense perception (aisthesis)....
CH V: God is Manifest
A treatise arguing that God, though invisible, is manifest through the order and beauty of his creation....
CH VI: God is the Good
Explores the philosophical identity of God with the concept of the absolute Good....
CH VII: The Greatest Evil
A polemical discourse against ignorance, which is described as the greatest evil among men....
CH VIII: Nothing is Lost
Arguments for the immortality of the soul and the permanence of the cosmos....
CH X: The Key
A comprehensive summary of Hermetic doctrine....
CH XI: Mind to Hermes
A revelation from the Mind (Nous) to Hermes about the infinity of God and the cosmos....
CH XII: On the Common Mind
Discusses the presence of the 'Common Mind' in all rational beings....
CH XIII: On Rebirth
A ritual-dialogue on the secret discourse of the mountain....
CH XIV: To Tat
A summary discourse from Hermes to his son Tat on the nature of the creator....
CH XVI: Definitions of Asclepius
A collection of definitions regarding God, matter, and the sun, translated from an 'original' Egyptian source....
CH XVII: To a King
A brief fragment of a discourse addressed to a king (likely of Egypt) regarding the worship of God....
CH XVIII: Praise of Kings
A rhetorical panegyric that utilizes Hermetic themes to praise earthly rulers....
Definitions of Hermes to Asclepius (Armenian)
A collection of Hermetic definitions preserved in Armenian, reflecting an early stage of the tradition....
Hermetic Fragments in Cyril of Alexandria
Fragments preserved in Cyril's 'Against Julian', often providing Greek originals for texts known only in translation....
Hermetic Fragments in Lactantius
Quotes and summaries of lost Hermetic works preserved in the Divine Institutes of the Christian apologist Lactantius....
The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth
A Coptic Hermetic text from Nag Hammadi (NHC VI, 6) describing a ritual initiation....
The Prayer of Thanksgiving (NHC VI, 7)
A liturgical prayer found at Nag Hammadi, also known from the Latin Asclepius and a Greek papyrus....
The Stobaean Fragments (SH 1-29)
A collection of 29 fragments of Hermetic treatises preserved by the 5th-century anthologist John of Stobi (Stobaeus)....
The Vienne Fragment
A Greek fragment of a Hermetic treatise discovered in Vienne, dealing with the nature of the soul....
II. Technical Hermetica (Practical)
Writings attributed to Hermes concerning the practical sciences of alchemy, astrology, and natural magic (sympatheia).
Iatromathematica of Hermes
A collection of Hermetic texts on medical astrology, linking planetary decans to bodily ailments....
Liber Hermetis
An extensive Latin Hermetic astrological treatise on the decans and lots....
Liber Hermetis (25 Chapters)
A Latin translation of a Greek Hermetic astrological work focusing on the decans and their physical effects....
Liber Vaccae (The Book of the Cow)
A notorious Late Antique/Medieval work of 'astral' and 'natural' magic attributed to Hermes, involving extreme biological operations....
Liber de stellis beibeniis
A foundational Hermetic text on the 'beibian' stars (fixed stars of magical significance)....
PGM VII: The Stele of Hermes
A Greek magical papyrus containing a ritual invocation of Hermes as the 'Lord of the World'....
The Brontologion of Hermes
A Late Antique technical treatise on thunder-divination attributed to Hermes Trismegistus....
The Centiloquium (Hermetic)
A collection of 100 astrological aphorisms attributed to Hermes....
The Cyranides (Kyranides)
A massive compendium of Hermetic natural magic, lapidaries, and herbalism....
The Golden Tractate (Tractatus Aureus)
One of the most widely circulated medieval alchemical texts attributed to Hermes Trismegistus....
The Salmeschoiniaka
An ancient Egyptian-Hermetic work on the decans and their influence on human fate and health....
The Seven Chapters of Hermes
An ancient alchemical work detailing the seven steps of the Great Work....