Artephius

Artephius

Artephius (Arthephius, Artefius) is a name to which a number of alchemical and magical texts, first extant in Latin, are ascribed. [These include the "De Vita Propagandi", The Art of Prolonging Human Life. The claimed antiquity of this text is not directly supported.]

Although the origin of the texts is unclear and the identity of their author obscure, at least some of them may go back to Arabic antecedents. Roger Bacon alludes to "The Secret Book of Artephius," indicating that it goes back at least to the thirteenth century. In the sixteenth century there were numerous allusions.

In printed form, works attributed to Artephius became well know in the seventeenth century. A work "Artefii clavis majoris sapientiae" was printed in Paris in 1609. Later it would also appear within Volume IV of Theatrum Chemicum, printed originally in 1613.cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title =The Alchemy web site on Levity.com | work = | publisher =Levity.com | date = | url =http://www.levity.com/alchemy/theatchm.html | format =HTML | doi = | accessdate =8 July 2008 ] Then in 1624, Eirenaeus Orandus provided an English translation of the 'secret booke'.cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title =The Alchemy web site on Levity.com - Secret Book of Artephius | work = | publisher =Levity.com | date = | url =http://www.levity.com/alchemy/artephiu.html | format =HTML | doi = | accessdate =8 July 2008 ]

A Renaissance tradition held that Artephius had been born in the first or second century and died in the twelfth, thanks to having discovered the alchemical elixir that made it possible to prolong life. In his "Secret Book", Artephius indeed claims to be more than a thousand years old.

Artephius is sometimes identified with Apollonius of Tyana. There also seems to be some tendency to confuse him with Orpheus, perhaps because both figures are supposed to have had the ability to converse with birds.

ources

*Austin, H.D. 1937. "Artephius-Orpheus." "Speculum" 12: 251–54.
*Levi della Vida, G. 1938. "Something More about Artefius and His Clavis Sapientiae." Speculum 13: 80–85.

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