Morienus

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Morienus (also Marianos and Morienus Romanus, i.e. Morienus the Romans) is a legendary Christian hermit from the end of the 7th century, who is said to have lived in the mountains near Jerusalem, and an alchemist .

The first Latin translation of an alchemical treatise from Arabic (12th century, around 1144), usually attributed to Robert von Chester - Liber de compositione alchimiae - is, according to form and tradition, a dialogue between this Morienus and Chalid ibn Yazid (around 665-704) , Son of the second Umayyad caliph Yazid I. The text was printed in Paris in 1559 (according to this edition, the translation is from 1182), as De transfiguratione metallorum , and in Basel in 1593 (by Konrad Waldkirch ). No Arabic texts were found. Julius Ruskatherefore considered the attribution to the son of caliph to be apocryphal. In the script, however, chemical names with Arabic roots appear (such as Alnatron).

Morienus' text marks the beginning of occidental occupation with alchemy, which was previously largely unknown in medieval Central Europe. Soon after him there was a Latin translation of the 70 books (Liber de Septuagint) ascribed to Geber , and of the Book of the Secrets of Rhazes .

The writing ascribed to him describes him as a monk who lived in the fourth year after the death of the emperor Herakleios near Jerusalem and was a student of Hermes Trismegistus and Stephanos of Alexandria . He is said to have revealed the secret of the elixir for the Philosopher's Stone to the Arab Prince Khalid. It is likely a made-up story to show Christian scholars priority in alchemy. In Fihrist Morienus is referred to as a doctor and scholar from Alexandria.

Michael Maier counts Morienus among the great alchemists.

literature

  • Lee Stavenhagen (editor and translator) A testament of alchemy, being the revelations of Morienus, ancient adept and eremit of Jerusalem to Khalid ibn Yazid ibn Mu'awiyya, King of the Arabs, of the divine secrets of the magisterium and accomplishment of the alchemical art , University Press of New England 1974
    • A translation of De compositione alchymiae also appeared by EJ Holmyard A Romance of Chemistry , Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry, Volume 44, 1925, pp. 75-77, 105-108, 136-137, 272-276, 300-301 , 327-328. The Latin text is also printed in Jean-Jacques Manget Bibliotheca Chemica Curiosa , Volume 1, 1702
  • Julius Ruska: Arabian Alchemists I: Khalid ibn Yazid ibn Muawiya, Heidelberg files of the von Portheim Foundation, No. 6, 1924
  • Lee Stavenhagen: The Original Text of the Latin Morienus, Ambix, Volume 17, 1970, 1-12
  • Heike Hild, Morienus, in: Claus Priesner , Karin Figala : Alchemie. Lexicon of a Hermetic Science, Beck 1998, p. 242

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Karin Ryding Alchemy in Islam , in Helaine Selin Encyclopedia of the History of Science, Technology and Medicine in non-western cultures , Kluwer / Springer 2008
  2. ↑ Ruska Arab Alchemists 1924
personal data
SURNAME Morienus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Marianos; Morienus Romanus; Morienus the Romans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Christian hermit and alchemist
DATE OF BIRTH 7th century
DATE OF DEATH 7th century or 8th century