Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 46838
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Carlotta , Vincenzo,
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: Anonymous: Dialogue of the Philosophers and Cleopatra (c. 600–700 CE)
  • Source: Women in the History of Science: A Sourcebook.   Edited by Hannah Wills, Sadie Harrison and Erika Jones.  UCL Press, 2023.  Pages 35 - 39. The text is from Dialogue of the Philosophers and Cleopatra, ll. 21–64. Carlotta, Vincenzo. "The Alchemical Teachings of Cleopatra", Ambix: Sources of Alchemy and Chemistry (forthcoming, 2023). Available open access from JSTOR: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2w61bc7.12
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Translation
  • Subject (See Also): Alchemy Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, in Literature Science
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: Eastern Mediterranean
  • Century: 7
  • Primary Evidence:
  • Illustrations:
  • Table:
  • Abstract: This source is an excerpt from the Dialogue of the Philosophers and Cleopatra, an alchemical text written in Greek and surviving to various extents in most Byzantine anthologies of alchemical works. Although the dating of the Dialogue remains uncertain, the surviving version of the work can be dated around the seventh century CE. As for most Greek alchemical writings (and many later works on alchemy), the Dialogue is a case of pseudo-epigraphy. That is to say, it was written by an anonymous author and falsely attributed by that author to a famous name in the field of alchemy. In this case, the alchemical teachings are ascribed to Cleopatra VII (69–30 BCE), the last queen of Egypt. [Reproduced from the chapter page on the JSTOR website: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2w61bc7.12]
  • Related Resources:
  • Author's Affiliation: University of Bologna
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 2023.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 9781800084162 (print); 9781800084155 (online)