Artephius

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Artephius (Arthephius, Artefius) is a name to which a number of alchemical and magical texts, first extant in Latin, are ascribed.^[1]

Although the origin of the texts is unclear and the identity of their author obscure, at least some of them may go back to Arabic antecedents. Roger Bacon alludes to The Secret Book of Artephius, indicating that it goes back at least to the thirteenth century. In the sixteenth century there were numerous allusions.

In printed form, works attributed to Artephius became well know in the seventeenth century. A work Artefii clavis majoris sapientiae was printed at Paris in 1609. Eirenaeus Orandus in 1624 provided an English translation of the 'secret booke'.[1]

A Renaissance tradition held that Artephius had been born in the first or second century and died in the twelfth, thanks to having discovered the alchemical elixir that made it possible to prolong life. In his Secret Book, Artephius indeed claims to be more than a thousand years old.

Artephius is sometimes identified with Apollonius of Tyana. There also seems to be some tendency to confuse him with Orpheus, perhaps because both figures are supposed to have had the ability to converse with birds.

[edit] Sources

Austin, H.D. 1937. "Artephius-Orpheus." Speculum 12: 251–54.
Levi della Vida, G. 1938. "Something More about Artefius and His Clavis Sapientiae." Speculum 13: 80–85.