Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. I — G. R. S. Mead (1906)
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Texts and Translations .... 8
II. THE HISTORY OF THE EVOLUTION OF OPINION . 17-46
The Chief Points of Interrogation . . .17
The Opinions of the Humanists . . .18
The First Doubt ..... 20
The Launching of the Theory of Plagiarism . 21
The Only Argument Adduced . . .22
The Theory of Hilgers . . . .25
The German Theory of Neoplatonic " Syncretismus " 26
The French Theory of Egyptian Origin . . 27
The Views of Me"nard . . . .27
English Encycloptedism . . . .33
Chambers' Opinion . . . . .34
German Encyclopsedism . . . .35
A Recent Article by Granger . . .36
Reitzenstein and the Dawn of Right Views . 40
A Key to Egypt's Wisdom . . . .44
The Answers to our Questions . . .44
III. THOTH THE MASTER OF WISDOM . . . 47-81
Thoth-Tehuti ..... 47
Thoth according to Pietschmann . . .48
The Three Grades of the Egyptian Mysteries . 50
Thoth according to Reitzenstein . . .51
Thoth according to Budge . . . .52
CONTENTS
PAQK
His Deific Titles . . . . . 53
His Symbols and Name . . . .54
The Shrine of Thoth . 56
Thoth and his Company of Eight . . .57
The "House of the Net" . . 58
Thoth the Logos . . 63
The Words of Thoth . . . 63
Thoth and the Osirified . 65
Thoth the Measurer ..... 66
The Title " Thrice-greatest " . . 66
The Supremacy of Thoth . . . .67
The Views of a Scholar-Mystic . . .68
The Spiritual Nature of the Inner Tradition of
Egyptian Wisdom . . . .69
The Holy Land of Egypt and its Initiates . . 70
Thoth the Initiator ..... 71
Some of the Doctrines of Initiation . . .73
The Temples of Initiation . . . .74
The Mystery of the Birth of Horns . 75
" The Book of the Master " . . . .77
The Steps of the Path . . . .79
An Illuminative Study . . 80
IV. THE POPULAR THEURGIC HERMES- CULT IN THE
GREEK MAGIC PAPYRI .... 82-98
The " Religion of Hermes " .... 82 i. An Invocation to Hermes as the Good Mind . 84 ii. An Invocation to Lord Hermes . . 86 iii. An Invocation to Lord Hermes . . 87 iv. An Invocation to Thoth as Logos . . .90 v. An Invocation to Hermes as the Spiritual Light 90 vi. The Mystic Rite of the Flame . " . .93 vii. A Prayer of Consecration . . .97
V. THE MAIN SOURCE OF THE TRISMEGISTIC LITERA-
TURE ACCORDING TO MANET HO HlGH PRIEST
OF EGYPT . . . . 99-127
Hermes at the Beginning of the Hellenistic Period . 99
Petosiris and Nechepso . . . .IOC
Manetho the Beloved of Thoth . . . 102
The Letter of Manetho to Ptolemy Philadelphus . 103 The Importance of Manetho's Statement in his
" Sothis " 105
CONTENTS XI
PAOK
Is " Sothis " a Forgery ? . . .107
The Arguments of Encycloprcdism refuted . . 108
The Seriadic Land . . . . .110
The Stelae of Hermes . . . .112
The Sons of Seth-Hermes . . . . 1 13
The Epithet " Thrice-greatest " . . .116
The Clue of Griffiths. . . . .118
The Earliest Trismegistic Literature . •'. 121
Philo Byblius . . . . .122
Are his " Phoenician Histories " a Forgery ? . 123
Sanchuniathon and the " Books of Hermes " .124
VI. AN EGYPTIAN PROTOTYPE OF THE MAIN FEATURES
OF THE PffiMANDRES' COSMOGONY . 128-138
The Higher Criticism of the " Pcemandres " . 128
A Prototype of its Cosmogenesis . . . 129
A Praise-giving to Ptah . . . .131
Ptah-Thoth the Wise One . . . .132
Egyptian Syncretism 1000 B.C. . . .135
The Doctrine of " Premandres " Compared with that of its Prototype . . . . .136
The Man-Doctrine . . •* . .138
VII. THE MYTH OF MAN IN THE MYSTERIES . 139-198
The Gnostic Tradition . . . .139
The " Philosophumena " of Hippolytus . . 140
The Naassenes . . . . .141
Analysis of Hippolytus' Account of the Naassene
Document . . . . .142
Hippolytus' Introduction . . . .146
The Material for the Recovery of the Original