Hermeticism and Kabbalah. On the historical connection between Hermetic and Jewish mysticism
ΣΧΟΛΗ Ancient Philosophy and the Classical Tradition January 1, 2024 Eugene Afonasin
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola's Hermeticism draws not from the classical Hermetic Corpus but from medieval Jewish and Arabic traditions, particularly through Kabbalistic works that emerged from the Spanish Renaissance of Alfonso X. Recent scholarship suggests a synthesis of Kabbalah and Hermeticism in Jewish mystical philosophy predates Pico, challenging Frances Yates's claim that he first supplemented Hermeticism with Kabbalah. The connection between the two traditions may have roots in the Hellenistic period, as textual inconsistencies in Hermetic treatises could reflect original philosophical content rather than later interpolations. Hermeticism originally a mystical anthropological doctrine, gradually shifted toward astrology, attracting diverse authors from antiquity to the Renaissance.