History of the Arabic Hermes
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sent [by God], and that he was Idrīs, peace upon him. They base on his authority their religious laws concerning worship of the seven planets and the twelve signs of the zodiac, their offering of sacrifices to them, and such doctrines of theirs as these. Abū Ma<šar al-Balxī said: He was the first to discuss celestial phenomena concerning movements of stars. His grandfather GˇayūmarT, who is Adam, peace be upon him, taught him the hours of the nychthemeron, and he is the first who built temples and glorified God in them. He was the first to investigate medicine and to discuss it. He composed for his contemporaries many books in metric verses in their language on knowledge of celestial and terrestrial things. He was the first to give advance warning of the Flood, and he thought that heavenly ruin would afflict the earth from water and fire. His dwelling was Egypt; in that place (<inda Dālika) he built the pyramids and the cities of dust. He feared that knowledge would pass away in the Flood, so he built the monumental temples (al-barābī) and the mountain known as the birbā of Axmīm, and portrayed in it, in carvings, the arts and their practitioners, indicating the features of the sciences for whoever was after him, out of desire thereby to preserve the sciences forever after him. The Ṣābians [i.e., pagans] claim that Asclepius had the prophethood after him. His name was Balīnūs [Apollonius] but it was lengthened (zīda fīhi) as an honorific (ta<z.īman) for him [so that it became “Asclepius”].156 Likewise this is said in the case of Arist ̣ūt ̣ālīs, for his name was Arist ̣ū. Everyone who became an expert in his sciences had his name increased (zīda fī smihī). Balīnūs had taken the sciences and the secrets from this Hermes, Hermes of the Hermeses. Others claim that Hermes, the master of Balīnūs, was after the Flood, and was not this one [who was just described]. Al-Kindī157 said: He is the author of Poisonous Animals. He was a physician and a philosopher, knowledgeable in the natures of medicines. He traveled around the earth, wandering in different countries, knowing the foundations of cities, their natures, and the natures of their peoples and their medicines. He is the master of the Andalusian talismans like the Sudanese [?], the brass, and others.158 This Balīnūs was his student. He traveled with him through the countries, and when they left India for Persia, he put him in charge of Babylon. He had taken from him all his sciences. Miraculous events appeared to him
156. MS Salisbury 64 adds here, “according to their custom,” <alā <ādatihim. 157. MS Salisbury 64 gives qāla Ya<qūb al-Kindī, “Ya<qūb al-Kindī said,” making the identification of the philosopher al-Kindī explicitly clear. 158. Clearly there is a textual problem with the designations of the talismans in this passage.