Ancient Alchemical Wisdom Stories:Part 3

Zosimos and the Mystical Laboratory

Zosimos of Panopolis was an alchemist and Gnostic mystic. He was born in Panopolis, and likely flourished ca. 300. He wrote the oldest known books on alchemy, which he called “Cheirokmeta,” using the Greek word for “things made by hand.” Pieces of this work survive in the original Greek language and in translations into Syriac or Arabic. He is one of about 40 authors represented in a compendium of alchemical writings that was probably put together in Constantinople in the 7th or 8th century AD, copies of which exist in manuscripts in Venice and Paris.