The Alchemy Timeline

Ancient Era (Before 1000 BC)

• 10,000 BC: Egyptian Thoth credited as the inventor of writing, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, and music; called the Supreme Alchemist.
• 3400 BC: Athothis, a deified being with healing and learning abilities.
• 3000 BC: Ayurveda emerges in India, using alchemical gold in medicines.
• 2650 BC: Imhotep, builder of the first pyramid, a philosopher, astronomer, and healer.
• 2670 BC: Arrival of Hiram Ibif (Hermes) according to Freemasonry.

Ancient Texts and Teachings (2000–500 BC)

• 2000 BC: Berlin Papyrus.
• 1500 BC: Papyrus of Ani.
• 1450 BC: Egyptian “Book of the Dead.”
• 1364 BC: Pharaoh Akhenaten rediscovered the Emerald Tablet and introduced a monotheistic religion based on Thoth’s writings.
• 650 BC: Zoroaster, Persian philosopher, considered another Thoth incarnation.
• 500 BC: Alchemy arises in China.
• 450 BC: Greek philosopher Empedocles introduces the Four Elements theory.
• 400 BC: Plato uses and expands on Empedocles’ theory in “Timaeus.”

Classical Antiquity (350 BC–500 AD)

• 350 BC: Aristotle adapts the Four Elements theory.
• 332 BC: Alexander the Great discovers the Emerald Tablet at Siwa and commissions Greek translations.
• 300 BC: Alchemy gains popularity in China.
• 100 BC: Maria Prophetissa invents the Bain-Marie.
• 32 AD: Apollonius of Tyana introduces the teachings of the Emerald Tablet to the West.
• 400 AD: Alexandrian Library destroyed, including works of Apollonius.

Medieval Period (500–1500 AD)

• 650 AD: Earliest surviving translation of the Emerald Tablet appears in Arabic in the “Book of Balinas.”
• 790 AD: Another Emerald Tablet translation appears in “Kitab Sirr al-Asar.”
• 711 AD: The Moors bring Arabic alchemical texts, including the Emerald Tablet, to Europe.
• 865–925 AD: Rhazes (Al-Razi), Arabian physician and alchemist.
• 980–1037 AD: Avicenna (Ibn Sina), renowned Persian physician and philosopher.
• 1144 AD: Robert of Chester translates the first Western alchemical treatise, “De compositione alchemiae.”
• 1200–1280 AD: Albertus Magnus writes “De mineralibus.”
• 1235–1316 AD: Ramon Llull develops the “Ars Magna.”
• 1317 AD: Pope John XXII issues a papal bull against alchemical fraud.

Renaissance and Early Modern Period (1500–1700)

• 1493–1541: Paracelsus revolutionizes medicine using alchemy; develops the “tria prima” theory.
• 1530: Georgius Agricola publishes “De re metallica,” a foundational text on mining and metallurgy.
• 1564: Heinrich Khunrath publishes “Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae.”
• 1602–1680: Athanasius Kircher publishes works on alchemical symbolism.
• 1620: “Gloria Mundi,” a key alchemical text, is published.
• 1661: Robert Boyle writes “The Sceptical Chymist,” marking the transition from alchemy to modern chemistry.

Enlightenment to Modern Times (1700–1930)

• 1702: Georg Stahl develops the Phlogiston Theory.
• 1774: Joseph Priestley isolates oxygen (“dephlogisticated air”).
• 1789: Antoine Lavoisier’s “Traité Élémentaire de Chimie” marks the foundation of modern chemistry.
• 1930s: Carl Jung and Manly P. Hall study and interpret alchemical symbolism in psychology and philosophy.

Adrian B. Constantine

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