Jewish Invention Myths: Alchemy

One of the more bizarre ‘jewish invention’ claims is that jews invented the science of chemistry via their ‘invention of alchemy’, which is made by Pam Karp as follows:

‘Mary the Jewess (anywhere bet. I - III CE) She is attributed with the invention of several chemical apparatus and is considered to be the first non-fictitious alchemist in the Western world.’ (1)

You might argue here that Karp doesn’t actually say that alchemy was invented by ‘Mary the Jewess’ (or ‘Maria the Jewess’) - who we know almost purely from the works of the Greek alchemist and Gnostic mystic Zosimos of Panopolis writing around 300 A.D. with ‘Mary the Jewess’ writing around 100 A.D – but by saying that she was the ‘first non-fictitious alchemist in the Western world’ necessarily implies as much as does Raphael Patai’s statement that was ‘the first’ suggests the same claim. (2)

The problem with this claim is that while by ‘Mary the Jewess’ is often seen as the by first quoted alchemist ‘Mary the Jewess’ it may also actually be a Greco-Roman alchemist operating around the same time as ‘Mary the Jewess’ called Chymes (3) who seems to have been regarded as the ‘founder of alchemy’ (4) despite that traditionally being attributed to the legendary (and probably mythical) Hermes Trismegistus. (5)

However, the truth is that the evidence suggests that ‘Western alchemy’ actually began far before ‘Mary the Jewess’ and Chymes in ancient Mesopotamia with Babylonian clay tablets mentioning and describing alchemic research and formulae. (6) So, it cannot be reasonably argued that ‘Mary the Jewess’ was the first – and thus the creator of – alchemy as both Karp and Patai try to imply.

The truth is that alchemy was practised thousands of years before they ever lived!

References

(1) https://www.geni.com/projects/Jewish-Inventors/12388 also see https://www.geni.com/people/Mary-the-Jewess/6000000013216287320

(2) Raphael Patai, 1994, ‘The Jewish Alchemists: A History and Source Book’, 1st Edition, Princeton University Press: Princeton, p. 60

(3) Sherwood Taylor, 1930, ‘A Survey of Greek Alchemy’, The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 50, pp.109-139

(4) Jamal Elias, 2012, ‘Aisha’s Cushion: Religious Art, Perception, and Practice in Islam’, 1st Edition Harvard University Press: Cambridge, p. 177

(5) H. Stanley Redgrove, 1922, ‘Alchemy: Ancient and Modern’, 1st Edition, William Rider: London, p. 39

(6) A. Leo Oppenheim, 1966, ‘Mesopotamia in the Early History of Alchemy’, Revue d'Assyriologie et d'archéologie orientale, Vol. 60, No. 1, pp. 29-45 esp. pp. 44-45