AlchemEast project

[Paul Ferguson]

The AlchemEast project is devoted to the study of alchemical theory and practice as it appeared and developed in distinct, albeit contiguous (both chronologically and geographically) areas: Graeco-Roman Egypt, Byzantium, and the Near East, from ancient Babylonian times to the early Islamic period. This project combines innovative textual investigations with experimental replications of ancient alchemical procedures. It uses sets of historically and philologically informed laboratory replications in order to reconstruct the actual practice of ancient alchemists, and it studies the texts and literary forms in which this practice was conceptualized and transmitted. It proposes new models for textual criticism in order to capture the fluidity of the transmission of ancient alchemical writings.

https://alchemeast.eu/

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Here are details of one of their projects:

https://www.alchemiesofscent.org/events/...oman-egypt

[Paul Ferguson]

https://phys.org/news/2023-06-alchemy-ma...ience.html

"What has long been seen as a deluded effort to turn base metals into gold is being reassessed by researchers as a serious precursor to chemistry in which women were heavily involved."