Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-2n9c9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-14T07:52:49.904Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Delphic Maxim ΓΝΩΘΙ ΣΑϒΤΟΝ in Hermetic Interpretation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2011

Hans Dieter Betz
Affiliation:
School of Theology, Claremont, California 91711

Extract

As early as 1906 R. Reitzenstein suggested in his study on “Poimandres” that the “holy word” spoken by the god in § 18 of that tractate comes from an older source. “Es sind Worte einer älteren heiligen Schrift; das zeigen die weiteren Zitate …” But Reitzenstein was unable to say anything more about this older source of “holy scripture” which he was suggesting. W. Scott firmly believed that the first line of the “holy word” came into the hands of the Hermetist from the Book of Genesis, but he was certain only about the first, and not about the second part of the quotation, where he thought the author “had in mind” God's covenant with man in Gen. 9:11ff. or the speech of God in Plato, Tim. 42a. Scott took the quotations in “Poimandres” § 21 also as insertions, but made no real effort to inquire about their origin.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1970

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable