Members-only podcast episode

Storytime: Reading the Hermetic Kyranides, Part I

[NB: We have communicated with Richard Greenfield, and he very kindly filled us in on the new edition of the Kyranides underway, to wit: Richard Greenfield and Alexander Alexakis, editors. The Kyranides: A Handbook of Traditional Medicine from Byzantium. Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library. Dumbarton Oaks/Harvard University Press, Washington, DC/Cambridge, MA, forthcoming 2028.]

We begin an exploration of the Kyranides with discussion of the very messy state of the texts and of some of the weird treasures hidden within it, from acrostic poems to ancient Hermetic books. We then have a read through of the compiler’s introduction, which gives us many interesting tangents to chip off on.

Works Cited in this Episode:

Primary:

Proklos on ‘Kyranos’ (maybe): In R. II p. 318 l. 22 Kroll.

Dimitris Kamakis, editor. Die Kyraniden. Number 76 in Beiträge zur klassischen Philologie. Anton Hain, Meisenheim, 1976.

Secondary:

Klaus Alpers. Untersuchungen zum griechischen Physiologus und den Kyraniden. Vestigia Bibliae: Jahrbuch des deutschen Bibel-Archivs, 6:12–87, 1984., citing pp. 17 ff. on the dating of the Kyranis.

Harland’s translation of the introduction to Book I: https://www.philipharland.com/Blog/2023/01/assyrian-wisdom-the-kyranides-cyranides-on-a-journey-to-learn-from-a-foreign-inscription-fourth-century-ce-or-earlier/

M.D. Litwa. Hermetica II. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2018, p. 286–7.

Jean-Pierre Mahé, editor. Hermès Trismégiste: Paralipomènes. Les Belles Lettres, Paris, 2019.

Charles-Émile Ruelle. Les Cyranides. In F. de Mély, editor, Les lapidaires de l’antiquite et du moyen age. Ernest Leroux, Paris, 1898-1899.

Recommended Reading:

SHWEP Storytime on the Kyranides Recommended Reading