The Name Poimandrēs

Author(s): Ralph Marcus

Source: Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Jan., 1949), pp. 40-43
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/542439
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 THE NAME POIMANDRES

RALPH MARCUS

THE origin and meaning of the name

More recently, scholars who have stud-
ied first
Poimandres, the title of the the oriental-Hellenistic background of
the Hermetic Corpus, particularly of the
treatise of the Corpus Hermeticum,
best known
have been subjects of speculation from the of the treatises, namely,
time when the Corpus first took Poimandres,
shape, have taken as their point of
probably in the second or third centuryin discussing the meaning of
departure,
A.D. Since the Hermetic writings,the
in name,
what- the statement made in the
treatise
ever language most of them were original- itself in chapter 2: "I am Poi-
mandres,
ly composed, circulated chiefly among the nous of authentia." Here we
have the
Greek readers, it is natural that the name possibility, though not the cer-
tainty,con-
Poimandres was at an early period that the author was attempting to
convey
nected with iro~iv 3vp6v, "shepherd to of
Greek readers the meaning of a
men." This connection was probably non-Greek name. In view of the persistent
strengthened by the resemblance which tradition that Hermes Trismegistos came
originally
early readers, like some recent scholars from Egypt,4 one might suppose
that
(see below), seemed to find between parts an Egyptian etymology for the name
of the Hermetic Corpus and the ShepherdPoimandres would have been suggested by
Reitzenstein,
of Hermas. So, for example, the author of one of the earliest of recent
Treatise XIII, which Puech thinks may philologists to explore the oriental back-
contain reminiscences of the Gospels,' rep-ground of Hermetic literature and a vigor-
resents the speaker as saying to God, ous proponent of the theory that the
"Nous pastures (OrolalveL) thy Logos."2 treatise Poimandres was chiefly influenced
This etymology continues to appear in the by Egyptian thought.' Reitzenstein, how-
commentaries of some of the Neo-Plato- ever, operated entirely with Greek sources
nists of the Renaissance and of seven- in this case, since he believed that the
treatise and the Shepherd of Hermas were
teenth- and eighteenth-century scholars.3
based on common material and explained
At the same time there were early modern
scholars, like Fabricius, for instance, who
that "der Name Poimandres ist nattirlich
called attention to the existence of the als redender gedacht, wie so mancher
name IIolcavpos in Greek literature, gnostische
used G6ttername: dass man den
Zusammenfall
as the name of a mythological person in mit dem Personennamen
Plutarch's Moralia 299 C, D. IIolpavpos vermeiden wollte, ward wohl
Anlass der Missbildung." But Reitzen-
1 In A. D. Nock and A. J. Festugiore, Corpus
Hermeticum (Paris, 1945), II, 199.
stein did advance the discussion consid-
2 See Nock's note in ibid. on Treatise XIII. 19. erably by stressing the Gnostic connota-
He refers to a study on the Logos Poimin by J.
Quasten in Heilige Ueberlieferung ("Herwegen Jubilee
tions of the two words, nous and authentia,
Volume," ed. O. Casel [Miinster, 19381), pp. 51 ft. 4 See, e.g. Iamblichus De mysteriis viii. 4.
* E.g., in Casaubon, Exercitationes Baronianae de a Reitzenstein's arguments for Egyptian sources of
rebus sacris (London, 1614), cited by F. Granger in the Treatise I have been sharply criticized by W. Kroll,
article mentioned below. "Hermes Trismegistos," P WRE, XV (1912), 792-823.

40

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 THE NAME "POIMANDRNS" 41

used in the statement from the treatise relevance to the explanation of Poi-
quoted above. In the case of authentia he mandris as "the nous of authentia"; and
called attention to the fact that Ficino in (3) the absence of any reference in Her-
his Latin rendering of the Hermetic litera- metic literature to Hermes as a witness or
ture had translated it by potestas and fur- herald of a witness.
ther cited Hippolytus and Irenaeus to Granger's theory was decisively re-
show that the word here means "a higherjected two years later by Mead, who did
power" or "das Himmelsreich."' not, however, specify his reasons for so
Apparently the first scholar to suggestdoing. Mead did admit that the name
an Egyptian etymology for the name might be of Egyptian origin but Demotic
Poimandrss was Frank Granger, whose rather than Coptic, and he expressed
article on the treatise appeared in the doubt that "the witness" suits the theme.
same year as Reitzenstein's book.' Assum- "In any case 'Man-Shepherd' was cer-
ing that there is some merit in the state- tainly the idea conveyed to the non-
ments of ancient Greek writers that the Egyptian by the name, however philologi-
Hermetic books had first been written in cally unsound its form may be."8
Egyptian, and arguing further that Poi- Kroll in his important article on Her-
mandres is not a plausible Greek form, metic literature' ignores the possibility of
Granger suggested a (Sahidic) Coptic an Egyptian origin for Poimandres and
etymology, ni-irp6, "the witness." An-assumes that it is Greek and is based on
ticipating objections to this etymology, the concept of Hermes as shepherd. To
Granger cites the name Pior as an examplepassages from ancient literature illustrat-
ing this idea which had been cited by
of the incorporation of the Coptic definite
article in a personal name and also gives earlier scholars he adds one from Philo
examples of similar titles of ancient books,
De agricultura 39 ff., in which the shep-
such as The True Word of Celsus and The herd is treated as a symbol of the educator
Perfect Word, an alternative title of of mankind and ultimately as an aspect of
Asclepius. "The term Poemandres, there-the Nous and God.
fore, on this supposition, contains an allu- Similarly, Eduard Meyer retains the
sion to the widely spread legend of Hermes traditional explanation of the name as
as the witness, a legend which is verified"Menschenhirt" and follows Reitzenstein
for us from several sources. But the writer in translating the exegetical phrase "nous
has adapted the details to his purpose. of authentia" as "der Verstand der
Hermes is not himself the witness, but the Allmacht" and in taking it as an hyposta-
herald of the witness." sis of the Deity.'o
To this etymology one might think of The theory of an Egyptian origin of the
three objections: (1) the phonetic incon-name Poimandres was taken up again by
gruity of the Coptic and Greek forms (on Walter Scott, partly because of his dis-
which see Scott's remarks below); (2) the
satisfaction with Reitzenstein's assump-
fact that the meaning "witness" has notion that the PoimandrEs of Treatise I is a
6 Richard Reitzenstein, Poimandres: Studien zur 8 G. R. S. Mead, Thrice-Greatest Hermes: Studies in
Hellenistic Theosophy and Gnosis (London and Be-
griechisch-4gyptischen und frithchristlichen Literatur
(Leipzig, 1904), pp. 8, 328. nares, 1906), I, 50-52.
9 See n. 5 above.
7 "The Poemandres [sic] of Hermes Trismegistus,"
Journal of Theological Studies, V (1904), 395-412; 10 Ursprung und Anfdnge des Christentums (Berlin
see p. 400, and Stuttgart), II (5th ed., 1925), 374.

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42 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

shepherd and that the treatise has

gist F. Ll. some
Griffith, who seems not to have
connection with the Shepherd of Hermas.
published it but to have made it privately
to long
Into all the details of Scott's Scott. The latter reproduces it as
discus-
sion of the name we need not follows:
go." It may
suffice to note that he rejects the likeli-
HIIoi*vaps is the Coptic n-eime-N-pn, "the
hood of a Greek origin only after of
knowledge a the
verySun-god." (He tells me that
full and fair discussion of thepnarguments
"the sun" is usually
in preceded by the article
n, but
its favor. He also entertains the that the omission of the article is not
possibility
that an Egyptian name has unparalleled
been assimi-in late times, and that pn with-
out the article would have a more learned and
lated to a Greek name like Poimandros,
which "may have been ansolemn appearance than the ordinary n-pu.)
epithet like
Hermes Kriophoros or the name
Afterof a local
dealing briefly with the phonetic
deity who was identified with Hermes of
correspondence inthe Coptic and Greek
later times." forms, Scott proceeds to consider the cor-
Assuming, then, that the Greek formrespondence in meaning.
Poimandres conceals an Egyptian name, If we assume that it [eIMe] is here used as
Scott examines the etymology proposedan equivalent for the Greek vogs, Poimandres
by Granger. He finds fault with it on
would mean "the voDs of the Sun-god"; and
phonetic grounds, since "it is difficult to
seeing that not only in Egypt but in the Ro-
account for the substitution of the diph- man empire at large the sun was very generally
thong ot for the faint vowel-sound of theregarded as the supreme God, this name might
very well be taken to signify that which the
Coptic article," but he is prepared to ad-
mit that the meaning "the witness" mightwriter of Corp. I says it denotes, namely 6 7"
avOevrLas vo^s," the mind of the Sovereign
fit the name on the ground that in Trea-
Power" (i.e. of the Supreme God).
tise XII. 8 the Agathos Daimon seems to
play the part of a witness. In making this Scott concludes his discussion of the name
generous but, it seems to me, unwarrantedby quoting passages from Hippolytus and
concession to Granger's theory, Scott cites Epiphanius to show that authentia could
several passages from the New Testament very well mean "supreme authority" or
as parallels, among them Rom. 8:16, in "the sovereignty of God."
which Paul says that the pneuma wit- With Scott's interpretation of the
Greek phrase most scholars versed in
nesses to our being children of God. But
this parallel would be convincing only if itGnostic and semi-Gnostic literature will
were certain that Scott is right in takingreadily agree. And no one is likely to find
the Pauline pneuma to be equivalent to fault with Griffith's suggestion that the
the theios nous of the Hermetists, which syllable poim represents Coptic neme and
seems to me a doubtful assumption, and if is equivalent to nous and, in this context,
he is right in equating the Pauline and can mean "understanding" or "reason" as
Hermetic conceptions of "witnessing." At well as "mind" and "knowledge." But
any rate, Scott himself admits that a Griffith's idea that the latter part of the
better explanation than Granger's can be Greek name, andris, represents Coptic
found.
Np- seems to me to cause difficulties.
This supposedly better explanation is Aside from the objection which one might
supplied by the distinguished Egyptolo- make, though admittedly on rather sub-
11 Hermetica (Oxford, 1925), ii. 14--18. jective grounds, to Griffith's explanation

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 THE NAME "POIMANDRES" 43

of the absence of the nese

Coptic definite
NTINTrepO,13 which in ar-
this context
ticle which is usually would mean "the
placed reason ofthe
before sovereignty."
In is
word RE or "sun," there broad phonetic
the transcription
further the phrase
ob-
jection that Re or Helios wouldcorresponds
be peimentmentero. Because
onlyof the
reduplication
loosely to authentia, "sovereignty." More- of the syllable ment, it
would
over, while it is true that Helios appears not be unlikely for haplophony to
as a lower demiurge in Gnostic
occur, giving a form litera-
peimentero. This, in
ture,12 it would seemturn, awkward toitshave
especially through resemblance to
Helios connected with nous in a treatise the Greek name Poimandros, might easily
which tells how the fictive narrator was have become Hellenized as Poimandres.
enlightened about the nature of the uni-Not only does this reconstructed Egyp-
verse by his god, nous, whose divine son tian
is form or nominal phrase closely cor-
the "luminous Logos." The close proxim- respond in meaning to the Greek "nous of
ity of references to Helios and the lumi-authentia" but it also seems to offer a clue
nous Logos as agents of enlightenment to the philosophical connotation of the
would not, in my opinion, be in keeping name. If we remember that in Late Egyp-
with the structure of the treatise, whichtian,
is including Coptic, there were few true
adjectives
clear in outline if not always clear in par- and that a phrase like "the
ticular statements. holy man" was expressed by the construc-
It seems to me that another Coptic tion "the man of holiness" or "the man
equivalent for authentia might be found who was-holy" (the latter compound
which would be more in keeping with the being intended to represent the Egyptian
context and with the general structure of a use of relative auxiliary and qualitative
treatise so full, as is Poimandres, of partly form of the verb), we see that the assumed
Gnosticized Greek ideas and terms de- meaning of Poimandres, "the reason of
rived in large part from Stoicism. In sovereignty"
of- is equivalent to the Greek or
fering a new etymology, I assume that,English phrase "the sovereign reason."
while the name Poimandres is Egyptian inThus we are led to the further discovery
that
origin, the disguised original form was in the name Poimandres reflects the
Stoic concept of "the sovereign reason,"
turn based on Greek terminology; in other
words, a Greek phrase was translated to
into
higemonikon (meros tas psyches), which
Egyptian and then retranslated into (dif-
they identified with logismos and dianoia,
ferently worded) Greek by the authorand of later writers, like Philo and Plotinus,
the treatise. with nous.
The etymology here proposed is CopticUNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
12 See, e.g., the passage from Stobaeus, cited by
Kroll, op. cit., p. 807, who follows Cumont (La 1s This is the usual Coptic spelling according to
Thdologie solaire) in attributing Hellenistic solar the- W. E. Crum, A Coptic Dictionary (Oxford, 1939),
ology to Syrian sources mediated by Posidonius. p. 299b.

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