-
Alchemy
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Alcoholism of
—
tlie
immo Collin nil between
the years 123()iin<l 1065
for this nmniiseript. wliitli The reference to Home, is 11 copy nmde in ItiWO. tlumgli explicit enoii!;li. may refer only to the place where Yacopo hail heen, 1ml is not siitlicieiit to place the author of the compilalion: it points to Italy, at any rate, as his possible home. The manuscript was llie latest possitile iliilc
evidently compileil by a man who l<ncw one or more of the Humaiicc lani;iiajj;es Ix'siilis Latin: Italian anil Ijatin worils occur tliroujihout the book. It is shown besiilesin the form of the proper uaines of the authors, and of the names of ins^redient metals, etc., although they may just as well be considered as Catalan or even Provencal. It is an admitted fact that some of the oldest translations of alchemistic writinirs have been iuthese laiiguafres. In the wniksaltribulid to In fact, Lully, quotalions in Provencal are found. all the oldest translations were made in Spain or
Date of Compila-
Provence and
note),
(sec licrthilot.
/.<.
(U>,
i.
and
in the twelfth or thirteenth
One of made by Morienus,
century.
the oldest
is
that
in 11S2, while no Latin nuinusirii)ts earlier than 18()0are known to exist (//'/(/. j). 232). Undoubtedly the liist books formiii}; the foremost part of the inainisiri|)t were translated in Spain, cither from Ariibic or from Latin. Probably all the rest were translated from the latter lanjiuajie, at a period prior to the time of Jo-
tion.
hanan Alemanno, or before the
en<l of the lifteiiitb
century for, as stated above, he copied the portion of Abu Atlahin his collectanea. Anotherproof of an earlier period than the fifteenth century for the orij^inal comjiilation lies in the fact that notasinglealchemist who is known to have lived after that time is mentioned in the text. The absence of all the magic symbols is another proof for the early date of the compilation, as these symbols foimd in old Greek manuscripts disappear front the Latin and Arabic writings up to the fifteenth century (Herthelot, I.e. iii. 10). Its date must therefore be placed beJloreover, the author luust tween 1800 and 1450. have been an adejit; for on one occasion he remarks
18()/<) that Cristofano della Bolcmya "bad operated in our house." One might feel inclined to ascribe this comjiilation to Alemanno, were it not for the fact that he would not in that case have copied the siime text separately into his collectanea besides which there is the fact that a profound difTcrence exists between these alchemistic treatises and Picodella " (.Manget, Lc. ii. 558Mirandola's "Opus 5^5; "Theatrum Chemicum" (lG02),"ii. 357; (1659), pp. ?tV2 (t !<i<i.). Pico knows and (|Uotcsonly I'lassieal writers, and, with theexccption of Albertus .Magnus and Vincentius, not one single name of the whole host of Greek and Arabic alchemists is given. It woidd at least be surprising, considering that lie was the pujiil of Alemanno, that the latter should not have communicated to liini or drawn his attention to these alchemists. The closing iiages of the manuscript are devoted to the description of alchemic alembics, retort.s, furnaces, and other instruments. The drawings very closely resemble those made by Albertus JIagnus, Lully, and Isaac Ilollaiidiis, which again cfintirma the date suggested for the comiiilation. An alphabetical index of names and subjects concludes this manuscript, which contains 181 small folios, written in an Eastern Sephardic hand, and dated in the year (5)450 [1690|. More modern writers from the time of Theophrastus combine Alchemy with cabalistic notions, derived, no doubt, from the Cabala literature, but not a single Jewish author is mentioned. The sixteenth century is the period of this cabalistic Alchemy,
(folio
Annum
332
notably in the'MonasIIieroglyphiea "of the f/mdon John Dee, " Thealrum Chemicum " HWi), ii,
doctor, 2o;j <Y
i
luij.
nounced
in
and still more prothe "Ars et Theoiia Transmulatiouis of Johannes Augustiruis Panlheiis((7<iV/.
(1U5U), |)p. 178 it kk/.
Metalliiie " pp. 459, .528 it
Kii/.). Jews themselves apparently took no more interest in the science of Alchemy, depiived, as they were, from that period on, of any further intercourse with the world of science.
M. Ga.
ALCIMTJS (called also Jakim) : Lader of the antinational Hellenists in Jerusalem, under Demetrius 1. Soter of Syria (Joseplms, 'Ant." xi. 9, ^ 7); burn aliout 200 lie. died at Jerusalem 1(50. He wasof jirieslly family (I Mace. vii. 14). In con.sequence of the national movement under the Hasmoneans. and of the martial siicce.s.scs of Judas Maccabeus (lt)4lli;{), llic party lost iiitluence and was partially expelled from Jerusalem. Immediately after Demetrius ascended the throne, Alciiiius presented himself as a su])porler of the imperiled authority of Syria in Judea, and rei|Uesled the punishment of Judas Maccalieus. Demetrius entrusted liaccliides, the governor of Ciele syria. with this task, and sent him to install Alcimus in the ollice of high priest, the object of his amiiilion. In Judea, liecause of his priestly rank. Alcimus obtained the conlidetice of the scribes and the rigidly pious (Assideans). who objected to the conflict on general principles, and, therefore, asked him to liring about peace. Yet. in sjiite of iiledges of safety, he put many of them to death in order to intimiilati' the rest. Haichides himself mas.s;ured all the followers of Judas Maccabeus who fell into his hands: and connnitting .ludea, with a force sufficient for garrison duly, to the care of Al:
cimus, he returned to Syria. Alcimus,
Alcimus united now with liis.Iewish ])arlizans, and the look up armsagainst the JIaciabees to Maccabees, light for the supremacy in Judea and for lie post of d^;,i-/(^u(7i'iv/(liigli- priest hnod). He could not maintain hisjiosition, however, and repaired to the king for assistance (I Mace. vii. I
"Ant." xii. 1(1. ^S 1. 3: II .Mace. iv. 1-10). In order to restore him to the office of high priest (I I Mace. xiv. i;5), Demetrius, in the same year (162), despatched bis general Xieanor, who was defeated .5-25:
and
killed in
an encounter with Judas: andtheanni13, was celebrated in Jerusalem as the
veisarv, .Vdar
Nikan'or
Day
(I
.Mace. vii. 2(^.')0: " .iit."
xii.
10,
tj
4:
Mace. xiv. 12-xv. 36). Soon after, .lcimus appeared before Jerusidem with liaccbides. who attacked Judas at Eleasa in such superior numbers that II
Judas was defeated and slain. .Vlcimus and the Hellenists now assumed control in Jiidea and reveled in the |iersccution and slaughHerein ISacchiiles assisted ter of nationalist Jews. efTectively by continued war on the Hasmoneans Jonathan and Simon, and by the erection of a number of fortiticatioiis in Judea (I .Mace. ix. 1-53; " .Vnt." xii. 11,^1; -'^iu- L Alcimus does not S '>)• appear in the account of these struggles; only his death (160) is reported in connection with his attem|>t to tear down the wall of the court of the inner Templed .Mace. i.. 54: "Ant." xii. 10, ^6). He held ollice for three years (". t." xii. 10, tj 6: xx. 10, !j 3), and, as early as 163 under . tioclius V., was api)ointeil successor to Meiielaus (" . t." xii. 9. S; 7; XX. 10, s3: II Mace. xiv. 3). It is possible that what is related in I Maccabees (vii. .5-25) occurred in the time of Antiochus V. (Sclilatter, ".lason vou
Kyrene." p. 40). Without doubt .Mcimiis held some office, as appears from I Mace. vii. 9; ". t." xii. 9, ^ 7; XX.
