Source books · Hermetism
Emerald Tablet
How this book fits
- Role in the tradition
- Primary source Written from inside the tradition: scripture, revelation, a grimoire, a manifesto or a practical treatise.
- Public attention
- Landmark Wikipedia has an article about it in 39 languages.
Read it
- Read at sacred-texts.com ↗ sacred-texts.com checked against the Internet Archive's copy of May 11, 2026, because the site refuses scripts · archived copy
From Wikipedia
The Emerald Tablet, also known as the Smaragdine Table or the Tabula Smaragdina, is a compact and cryptic text traditionally attributed to the legendary Hellenistic figure Hermes Trismegistus. The earliest known versions are four Arabic recensions preserved in mystical and alchemical treatises between the 8th and 10th centuries CE—chiefly the Secret of Creation and the Secret of Secrets. It was often accompanied by a frame story about the discovery of an emerald tablet in Hermes' tomb.
From the Wikipedia article Emerald Tablet, revision 1351989472, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Wikidata Q181681: “Hermetic text”.
In this study
In the chronology, among the works with no securely known author.
A very short alchemical text that eventually produces the formula usually paraphrased as 'as above, so below'. Its legendary attribution to ancient Hermes is much older than the surviving evidence for the text itself.