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| Hermetica: The Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius in a New English Translation, with Notes and Introduction | 
 enlarge | Creator: Brian P. Copenhaver
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Category: Book
List Price: $43.00 (101.23 RON)
Buy New: $38.70 (91.10 RON)
You Save: $4.30 (10.12 RON) (10%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 433516
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 408
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.5 x 1
ISBN: 0521425433
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780521425438
ASIN: 0521425433
Publication Date: November 24, 1995
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 1-5 of 9 | | NEXT » |
 scholarly doesn't have to be boring. December 18, 2007
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
Thankfully I got mine used. This translation is good for academics writing a thesis on the subject. To the layman it is completely unreadable. I've read plenty of dry historical texts in my time, and this one ranks up there with the dryest. Much of the book is reference material, also unreadable. Elitists scorn translations written so people can actually understand them, but for my money (a new or even used copy of this book here is, for a paperback, rediculously expensive), I'll take a translation where my eyes don't glaze over every other paragraph. Yawn.
 Very good, could have been better... September 26, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Copenhaver's new edition and translation of the Greek corpus hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius provide the interested reader with an immensely readable and professionally done English translation, as well as a solid introduction and copious notes.
Copenhaver intends to replace Scott's classic edition and translation, and claims to improve upon what he sees as the rather idiosyncratic Greek and Latin texts which Scott put together and from which he translates. But the extent to which he succeeds is difficult to judge--read on.
The one, major drawback of this volume is that while Copenhaver offers extensive endnotes which fill in--to some extent--for a full critical apparatus, he does not give us the Greek and Latin texts. Without these, it is difficult for a professional scholar or an informed general reader to evaluate Copenhaver's work for him/herself.
In fairness to Copenhaver, it was never his intent to produce a work that could be used in the way I describe. In one sense, then, he succeeds magnificently at what he set out to do. But the addition of facing page texts in the original languages (provided in Scott's classic edition) would have made this book much, much better--and much more useful to a wider audience. Although the size of such an audience is not exactly vast, it may well be greater than Copenhaver imagined.
In short, it's an excellent text for anyone interested in the Hermetica who does not read Greek or Latin. It is a very good text for students and scholars who will find much in Copenhaver's insightful editing, translation, and commentary, but may feel disappointment over the missing original texts and will only be able to use it within its obvious limitations. If he ever puts out a fuller edition with the Greek and Latin, I'll be first in line to buy it.
 A Western Spiritual Classic September 8, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Modern "occult" and "channeled" works pale before the spiritual sublimity of this all-time Greco-Egyptian classic. In my opinion the Corpus Hermeticum is one of the most galvanizing expressions of spirituality to emerge from the Western tradition (along with Plotinus' Enneads). This is a superb translation of an amazing ancient text.
Excellent scholarly collection of the Hermetic Corpus November 18, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
The Hermetica is a corpus of mystical-theological-philosophical literature on diverse themes which was originally believed to have been supernatural wisdom passed down to man by the mysterious Egyptian deity Thoth. It was initially thought these works pre-dated the Bible and also the works of Plato and Aristotle, though it is now accepted they were written in about the 3rd century CE.
The Hermetica contain thirteen diverse discourses between divine figures or teachers and various initiates. They cover several themes, including God and his relationship to humans, the relationship between the world and the divine, practices of mystery religions, the nature of true reality, mystical Gnosis and ethics. At times the literature can rise to beautiful heights, but at many others it is deeply incoherent and overall, the Corpus is not self-consistent and often contains contradictory notions about the world and the divine.
Nevertheless it is an important document from the ancient world and worth studying by anyone interested in this time.
better than Scott's July 2, 2005
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Although I enjoy the poetic spirit of Walter Scott's translation, this is undeniably a superior translation and is important for reasons aptly mentioned by other reviewers. I think this is the definitive translation. Superb.
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