Zosimus Arabus. The Reception of Zosimos of Panopolis in the Arabic/Islamic World
Zosimos of Panopolis (fl ca 300 AD) is the earliest historical figure recognisable amongst the Hellenistic alchemists whose works we possess. He was a prolific author who exerted a strong influence on the subsequent alchemical tradition, but only a small portion of his works survives in the original Greek. These texts have been edited and studied, and summarised translations have been printed of texts attributed to him that survive in Syriac. This thesis, the first in-depth study of the Arabic writings attributed to Zosimos and of his wider reception in the Arabic/Islamic world, adds to our understanding of the development of the alchemical tradition and of the nature of the Greek heritage in the Arabic/Islamic world. The thesis begins by assessing Zosimos's influence on and reputation in Arabic literature, which is shown to be generally less pronounced than has been suggested by previous scholars, but still greater than in the analogous literature of the Greek-speaking world. The corpus of Arabic texts attributed to Zosimos is divided into 4 groups: (1) directly authenticated translations; (2) indirectly authenticated translations; (3) dialogues and (4) forgeries. In group (1) the first Arabic translations
Hallum, B. C.
Zosimus Arabus. The Reception of Zosimos of Panopolis in the Arabic/Islamic World. Zosimos of Panopolis (fl ca 300 AD) is the earliest historical figure recognisable amongst the Hellenistic alchemists whose works we possess. He was a prolific author who exerted a strong influence on the subsequent alchemical tradition, but only a small portion of his works survives in the original Greek. These texts have been edited and studied, and summarised translations have been printed of texts attributed to him that survive in Syriac. This thesis, the first in-depth study of the Arabic writings attributed to Zosimos and of his wider reception in the Arabic/Islamic world, adds to our understanding of the development of the alchemical tradition and of the nature of the Greek heritage in the Arabic/Islamic world. The thesis begins by assessing Zosimos's influence on and reputation in Arabic literature, which is shown to be generally less pronounced than has been suggested by previous scholars, but still greater than in the analogous literature of the Greek-speaking world. The corpus of Arabic texts attributed to Zosimos is divided into 4 groups: (1) directly authenticated translations; (2) indirectly authenticated translations; (3) dialogues and (4) forgeries. In group (1) the first Arabic translations
reception arabic islamic_world early historical_figure recognisable amongst hellenistic whose_work posse prolific author exert strong_influence subsequent tradition small portion work survive original greek text edit studied translation print texts attribute survive syriac first_in_depth study arabic writing attribute wide reception arabic islamic_world add development tradition nature greek heritage arabic islamic_world begin_assess influence reputation arabic_literature show generally less pronounced suggest previous scholar still great analogous literature greek_speaking world corpus arabic_text attribute divide group directly translation indirectly translation dialogue forgery group first arabic_translation