Thrice Greatest Hermes

Studies in Hellenistic Theosophy and Gnosis, Volumes 1-3

By: G.R.S. Mead

Narrated by: Matthew Schmitz

Length: 26 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

This is a collection of all three of G.R.S. Mead's comprehensive surveys of the literature attributed to the legendary Egyptian sage, Hermes Trismegistus. The so-called Hermetic writings have been known to Christian writers for many centuries. The early church fathers (Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria) quote them in defense of Christianity. Stobaeus collected fragments of them. The Humanists knew and valued them. They were studied in the 16th and 17th centuries, and in modern times have again been diligently examined by many scholars.

G. R. S. Mead has issued a translation of the whole body of extant literature, with extended prolegomena, commentary, etc. There is a wide difference of opinion as to the date at which this literature was produced. Mead believes that some of the extant portions of it are at least as early as the earliest Christian writings, while von Christ assigns them to the third Christian century and thinks that they show the influence of neo-Platonism. To affirm that they influenced New Testament usage would be hazardous, but they perhaps throw some light on the direction in which thought was moving in New Testament times.

Volume contents are: Vol. 1. Prolegomena., Vol. 2. Sermons, Vol. 3. Excerpts and Fragments. This work exemplifies all that is best in Mead's dedicated, scholarly, but eminently comprehensible studies of the spiritual roots of Christian Gnosticism and, more generally, of personal religion in the Greco-Roman world. His work encompassed much more than this; Mead was equally at home with Sanskrit texts, Patristic literature, Buddhist thought, and the problems of contemporary philosophy and psychical research. He devoted his intellectual energy to the complex interplay of Gnosticism, Hellenism, Judaism, and Christianity. This three-volume set presents his insights into the formation of the Gnostic worldview and establishes him as an outstanding translator of these Hermetic books and as the first modern scholar of Gnostic tradition.

Inside you will find translations of such Hermetic works as the Corpus Hermeticum and The Perfect Sermon and other texts including The History of the Evolution of Opinion, Thoth the Master of Wisdom, The Popular Theurgic Hermes-Cult in the Greek Magic Papyri, The Main Source of the Trismegistic Literature According to Manetho, High Priest of Egypt, An Egyptian Prototype of the Main Features of the Poemandres’ Cosmogony, 7.: The Myth of Man in the Mysteries, and Philo of Alexandria and the Hellenistic Theology.

If you are interested in the character and archetype of Hermes Trismegistus and Hermeticism in general, this audiobook is vital to any collection.

©2023 Matthew Schmitz (P)2023 Matthew Schmitz

A Scholarly Overview

This really is an in-depth academic review of the bulk of writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus. Definitely a valuable resource for those on the path.