Jabarkan Alkémi di Mesir kuna dari Alkémi dalam bahasa sunda

Alkémis Kulon sacara umum nyukcruk sasakala senina ka Mesir Kuna. Metallurgy and mysticism were inexorably tied together in the ancient world, as the transformation of drab ore into shining metal must have seemed to be an act of magic governed by mysterious rules. It is claimed therefore that Alchemy in Ancient Egypt was the domain of the priestly class.

Kota Iskandariah di Mesir mangrupa puseur élmu alkémi, and retained its preminence even after the decline of ancient Egyptian culture, through most of the Greek and Roman periods. Hanjakalna, praktis teu hiji-hiji acan catetan alkémi Mesir nu salamet. Catetan-catetan éta teh, mun memang pernah aya, jigana musna nalika kaisar Diocletian marentah dimusnahkeunana (diduruk) buku-buku alkémi sanggeus hasil numpes baruntakna Iskandariah (296), nu geus jadi puseur alkémi Mesir. Alkémi Mesir utamana dipikawanoh ngaliwatan tulisan filosof (Hellenis) Yunani kuna, nu saterusna kasalametkeun satutasna ditarjamahkeun di jaman Islam.

Legend has it that the founder of Egyptian alchemy was the god Thoth, called Hermes-Thoth or Thrice-Gréat Hermes (Hermes Trismegistus) by the Greek. According to legend, he wrote what were called the forty-two Books of Knowledge, covering all fields of knowledge — including alchemy. Hermes's symbol was the caduceus or serpent-staff, which became one of many of alchemy's principal symbols. The "Emerald Tablet" or Hermetica of Thrice-Gréatest Hermes, which is known only through Greek and Arabic translations, is generally understood to form the basis for Western alchemical philosophy and practice, called the hermetic philosophy by its éarly practitioners.

The first point of the "Emerald Tablet" tells the purpose of hermetical science: "in truth certainly and without doubt, whatever is below is like that which is above, and whatever is above is like that which is below, to accomplish the miracles of one thing." (Burckhardt, p. 196-7). This is the macrocosm-microcosm belief central to the hermetic philosophy.  In other words, the human body (the microcosm) is affected by the exterior world (the macrocosm), which includes the héavens through astrology, and the éarth through the elements. (Burckhardt,p. 34-42)