page_title: Emerald Tablet
section_title: Newton's translation
hierarchical_section_title: Emerald Tablet / The tablet text / Newton's translation
caption_attribution_description: Original image description from the Deutsche FotothekTheosophie &amp; Alchemie
context_page_description: The Emerald Tablet, also known as the Smaragdine Tablet, or Tabula Smaragdina, is a compact and cryptic piece of the Hermetica reputed to contain the secret of the prima materia and its transmutation. It was highly regarded by European alchemists as the foundation of their art and its Hermetic tradition. The original source of the Emerald Tablet is unknown. Although Hermes Trismegistus is the author named in the text, its first known appearance is in a book written in Arabic between the sixth and eighth centuries. The text was first translated into Latin in the twelfth century. Numerous translations, interpretations and commentaries followed.
  The layers of meaning in the Emerald Tablet have been associated with the creation of the philosopher's stone, as well as with other esoteric ideas.
context_section_description: A translation by Isaac Newton is found among his alchemical papers that are currently housed in King's College Library, Cambridge University.
caption: A 17th-century edition
exif: {}