Modern Scholarship
Key academic authorities and commentary traditions.
Compact Directory
Antiquity and Late Antique Studies
Brian P. CopenhaverChristian H. BullGarth FowdenJean-Pierre MahéKabbalistic and Related Studies
Moshe IdelMedieval and Arabic Hermetica
Dan AttrellDavid PorrecaLiana SaifMark Damien DelpPaolo LucentiniModern Esotericism and Historiography
Abu Ma'sharAlbertus MagnusAndreas LibaviusAntoine FaivreArthur VersluisAthanasius KircherBruce CodexCarl JungChristoph KriegsmannClement of AlexandriaCyril of AlexandriaDidier KahnElias AshmoleFlorian EbelingG.R.S. MeadGuillaume PostelHeinrich Cornelius AgrippaHereward TiltonIsaac CasaubonIsaac NewtonJohannes ReuchlinJohannes TrithemiusJohn DeeKocku von StuckradLactantiusM. David LitwaMarco PasiMarsilio FicinoNicholas Goodrick-ClarkeRobert BoyleRobert FluddRobert GrossetesteRoger BaconSir Kenelm DigbyThomas AquinasWouter J. HanegraaffRenaissance and Early Modern Studies
Carlos GillyD.P. WalkerFrances YatesPaola ZambelliPeter J. ForshawAntiquity and Late Antique Studies
Brian P. Copenhaver
Translator of the 'Hermetica' and major historian of magic....
Christian H. Bull
Expert on the Egyptian context of Hermetism....
Garth Fowden
Garth Fowden is a historian of Late Antiquity whose work The Egyptian Hermes (1986) fundamentally challenged the 'Greek' reading of Hermeticism championed by Festugière. Fowden...
Jean-Pierre Mahé
French orientalist and preeminent scholar of Hermetic and Armenian traditions....
Kabbalistic and Related Studies
Medieval and Arabic Hermetica
Dan Attrell
Co-translator (with David Porreca) of the Latin Picatrix (Penn State Press, 2019). Scholar of Hermetic and Renaissance occult traditions....
David Porreca
Scholar of medieval intellectual history and Hermetic transmission....
Liana Saif
Historian of Arabic occult sciences and Islamic influences on Western magic....
Mark Damien Delp
Specialist in medieval cosmology and Hermetic reception....
Paolo Lucentini
Italian scholar and editor of the Hermes Latinus series (Brepols/Corpus Christianorum), responsible for the critical edition of De sex rerum principiis....
Modern Esotericism and Historiography
Abu Ma'shar
Highly influential Persian astrologer who formalized the historical lineage of the three Hermes....
Albertus Magnus
Doctor Universalis who integrated Aristotelianism and alchemy....
Andreas Libavius
Critic of Paracelsus; author of the first chemistry textbook, 'Alchemia'....
Antoine Faivre
French scholar of Western esotericism....
Arthur Versluis
Expert on Christian Theosophy and American Transcendental esotericism....
Athanasius Kircher
Jesuit polymath who attempted to decode Egyptian hieroglyphs as Hermetic symbols....
Bruce Codex
The Bruce Codex (Codex Brucianus) is a Gnostic and Hermetic manuscript discovered in Egypt in 1769, containing the Books of Jeu and other essential texts...
Carl Jung
Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology....
Christoph Kriegsmann
Christoph Kriegsmann was a 17th-century scholar who attempted to reconcile the Emerald Tablet with biblical and Phoenician antiquities, representing the late stage of the pre-Casaubon...
Clement of Alexandria
Christian theologian who described the 42 Books of Hermes....
Cyril of Alexandria
Patriarch of Alexandria who quoted the Hermetica against Julian the Apostate....
Didier Kahn
French scholar specializing in Paracelsianism and Libavius....
Elias Ashmole
English antiquary, politician, and student of astrology and alchemy....
Florian Ebeling
Historian profile of the Hermetic tradition....
G.R.S. Mead
A key figure in the Theosophical Society whose 'Thrice-Greatest Hermes' was the first comprehensive collection of Hermetic texts in English....
Guillaume Postel
French linguist and Christian Kabbalist who translated the Zohar and Sefer Yetzirah....
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa
Author of 'De Occulta Philosophia Libri Tres'....
Hereward Tilton
Authority on Michael Maier and Rosicrucianism....
Isaac Casaubon
The brilliant philologist whose 1614 dating of the Hermetica effectively ended their status as ancient Egyptian revelations....
Isaac Newton
Key figure of the Scientific Revolution who covertly translated the Emerald Tablet and practiced alchemy....
Johannes Reuchlin
The founder of Christian Kabbalah....
Johannes Trithemius
Abbot, cryptographer, and theorist of angelic magic....
John Dee
Elizabethan polymath and author of the 'Monas Hieroglyphica'....
Kocku von Stuckrad
Proponent of a discursive approach to studying esotericism....
Lactantius
Early Christian apologist who heavily utilized Hermetic texts....
M. David Litwa
Translator of newly discovered Hermetic fragments....
Marco Pasi
Expert on Western Esotericism and modern occultism....
Marsilio Ficino
Translator of the Corpus Hermeticum into Latin....
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke
Historian of modern occultism, Ariosophy, and Paracelsianism....
Robert Boyle
Pioneer of modern chemistry who simultaneously practiced highly secretive alchemy....
Robert Fludd
Engish physician and author of the 'Utriusque Cosmi Historia'....
Robert Grosseteste
Bishop of Lincoln (c. 1175–1253), first Chancellor of Oxford, who cited De sex rerum principiis and pioneered the use of mathematics in natural philosophy....
Roger Bacon
Early advocate of the experimental method....
Sir Kenelm Digby
English courtier, natural philosopher, and alchemist, famously associated with the Powder of Sympathy....
Thomas Aquinas
Synthesized Aristotelian philosophy with Christian principles....
Wouter J. Hanegraaff
Professor of History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents. Author of Hermetic Spirituality and the Historical Imagination....
Renaissance and Early Modern Studies
Carlos Gilly
Preeminent historian of the early Rosicrucian manifestos and their historical origins....
D.P. Walker
Pioneering historian of spiritual and demonic magic in the Renaissance....
Frances Yates
Frances Yates (1899–1981) was a British historian who revolutionized the study of the Renaissance by placing the Hermetic tradition and magic at its center. Her...
Paola Zambelli
Historian of Renaissance magic, astrology, and the ambiguous nature of magical philosophy....
Peter J. Forshaw
Expert on Khunrath and Christian Cabala....