Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (c. 150–c. 215 AD) was a Christian theologian and head of the Catechetical School of Alexandria. He is crucial to the study of Hermeticism for his detailed ethnographic description of Egyptian priestly processions.

The 42 Books of Hermes

In his Stromata (Miscellanies), Clement describes a sacred procession of Egyptian priests carrying the "forty-two indispensable books of Hermes." These books contained hymns, astrological charts, cosmography, temple construction rules, and medical texts. As M. David Litwa and Christian Bull emphasize, Clement's account proves that in the 2nd century AD, "Hermes" was explicitly identified with the Egyptian god Thoth, the author of the sacred temple archives.

The "Egyptian Hermes"

Garth Fowden uses Clement's testimony as the cornerstone of The Egyptian Hermes. Clement's 42 books do not directly match the philosophical Corpus Hermeticum; rather, they represent the "technical" Hermetica (astrology, magic, medicine) that formed the daily lived reality of the Egyptian priesthood. Bull argues that the authors of the philosophical Hermetica were likely native Egyptian priests, like those described by Clement, who were Hellenized and translating their temple wisdom into the idiom of Greek philosophy for a broader audience.