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| (Hermes Trismegistus, Siena Cathedral mosaic) |
Emeralds - in and of themselves - have been viewed as precious for centuries.
Therefore, when Hernan Cortes had the Latin text of Matthew 11:11 (English translation – with reference to John the Baptist: “ Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater”) inscribed on an exquisite emerald that he had “discovered” in Latin America, the 16th-century historian Brantome was horrified by this “sacrilegious” addition to one of nature’s simple gifts.
In fact, Brantome was so appalled by this act that he attributed Cortes’ subsequent loss of an extremely valuable pearl to it.
However, not everyone felt that way about the engraving of sacred text upon nature’s gems. The Emerald Tablet of Hermes (which may not have been emerald at all - but rather green granite, green jasper, or green glass according to sacred-texts.com) has been revered for centuries by those of many faiths. According to Wikipedia, it is “a text purporting to reveal the secret of the primordial substance and its transmutations.”
Its author is said to be Hermes Trismegistus, which can be translated into English as “Hermes the Thrice-Greatest.“
What makes Hermes the Thrice-Greatest (and not merely the Twice-Greatest)? Isaac Newton, who deemed the Tablet important enough to make his own translation of it, wrote that Hermes had “the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world.” Some think
that the name was derived from this echoing epithet of the Egyptian god Thoth: “Thoth the
great, the great, the great.” Others of Christian persuasion (such as
Augustine of Hippo) believed Hermes to have anticipated the coming of Christianity. Some thought Hermes to be a contemporary of Moses - and that he was a “Thrice Great” philosopher, priest and king.
Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_Tablet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald
http://www.sacred-texts.com/alc/emerald.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermes_Trismegistus
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