The Hermetica are a body of theological-philosophical texts written in late antiquity, but long believed to be much older. Their supposed author, Hermes Trismegistus, was thought to be a contemporary of Moses, and the Hermetic philosophy was regarded as an ancient theology, parallel to the received wisdom of the Bible. This first English translation based on reliable texts, together with Brian P. Copenhaver's comprehensive introduction, provide an indispensable resource to scholars in ancient philosophy and religion, early Christianity, Renaissance literature, and history, the history of science, and the occultist tradition in which the Hermetica have become canonical texts.

‘A highly readable and reliable translation. Because it also embodies in its text and in its very extensive commentary the critical scholarship of the last ninety years, Copenhaver's translation will remain the canonical English version of the seventeen treatises of the Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius for a long time to come … Copenhaver's introduction, which runs some sixty pages, is a wonderful summing-up of the history, literature and problems of Hermeticism from antiquity to the present day … The commentary is virtually an encyclopedia of the scholarship … with generous citations of the relevant literature on Neoplatonism, Christian Gnosticism, the Bible and classical religious history thrown in to complete the picture.’

Source: British Journal for the History of Science