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Darrera modificació: 2025-09-17
Bases de dades: Sciència.cat
Merianos, Gerasimos, "Byproducts of Winemaking in Greek Alchemy: Pheklē and Trygi a", dins: Oberhelman. Steven M. (ed.), Tome 3: Remedies. Pharmacy, Drugs, Archaeology, Tradition, Berlín, De Gruyter (Medical Traditions, 6-3), 2025, pp. 587-610.
- Resum
- The term ‘alchemy' is conventionally used to describe a science or art that lacked a single name during Byzantine times. However, what did alchemy signify for the Byzantines? The most renowned and synoptic answer comes from the late 10th-century SudaLexicon, where chēmeia (a term roughly aligning with alchemy) is defined as “the preparation of silver and gold”. Despite this emphasis on the making of precious metals, we are aware that alchemical pursuits since antiquity encompassed a wider array of objectives, including techniques also for creating (or rather imitating) gems, pearls, and purple dye. Nonetheless, the narrower interpretation of alchemy primarily as gold-making (chrysopœia) and silver-making (argyropœia) became dominant in Byzantium. An additional aspect of the ‘sacred art' is worth noting. While alchemy's objective might be characterized as technical, the underpinning theory behind this objective was inherently philosophical. Consequently, alchemy employed philosophical principles within the laboratory, amalgamating philosophical concepts with technical processes—a fusion of ‘know-why' with ‘know-how'. Alchemy emerges as an eclectic discipline, engaged in a continuous discourse with philosophy, but also with medicine, pharmacy, metallurgy, golsdmithing, and other fields.
- Matèries
- Alquímia
Medicina - Farmacologia
- URL
- https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110780062-022
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