This article's
lead sectionmay be too short to adequately
summarize the key points. Please consider expanding the lead to
provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article.(September 2021)
Poimandres (
Greek: Ποιμάνδρης; also known as Poemandres, Poemander or Pimander) is the first tractate in the Corpus Hermeticum.
Etymology
Originally written in
Greek, the title was formerly understood to mean "shepherd of men" from the words
ποιμήν and
ἀνήρ. For example, this is how
Zosimus of Panopolis interpreted the name.[1] Others, such as
F. Ll. Griffith, proposed that it is actually derived from the
Coptic phrase ⲡⲉⲓⲙⲉ ⲛ̅ⲧⲉ ⲣⲏ peime nte rē meaning "the knowledge of
Re" or "the understanding of Re".[2][3] Yet another theory is that the name ultimately derives from the name of the popular deified Egyptian pharaoh
Amenemhet III, whose name was transliterated into Greek as various forms including Πορεμανρῆς.[1]
Description
The character Poimandres can be considered to be a sort of
deity, or attribute of
God as nous or "mind" as expressed in the following translations.
"I am," quoth he, "Poemander, the mind of the Great Lord, the most Mighty and absolute Emperor: I know what thou wouldest have, and I am always present with thee."
Hermetica, writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus
Hermeticism, philosophical systems based on the writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus
References
^
abBull, Christian H. (2018). The tradition of Hermes Trismegistus: the Egyptian priestly figure as a teacher of Hellenized wisdom. Religions in the Graeco-Roman world. Leiden: Brill. pp. 122–125.
ISBN978-90-04-37081-4.