Review article

THE ALCHEMIC POEM OF DANIEL JUSTINOPOLITANUS

Snježana Paušek-Baždar

Abstract

The fourteenth-century alchemic poem by Daniel Justinopolitanus, teacher of grammar
in Koper, Slovenia and Pula, Croatia, is almost unknown of in the history of science.
Today the text is located in St Mark’s Library in Venice. In 1599, it was published in
Della Tramutatione metallica, an anthology edited by Giovanni Battista Nazari.
This article gives an interpretation of the poem, showing that Daniel was actually
explaining how to make the Philosopher’s stone. His argument is based on the hermetic
statement that similar produces similar, and therefore, “natural gold produces synthetic[
goldÆ”. Daniel also determined the role of the Stone in the preparation of an
elixir, or universal cure.
The value of Daniel’s poem is that it makes a distinction between “true” and “false”
alchemies. “True” alchemy is the skill by which the Stone can be made from natural
gold, rather than from the distillation of organic substances, which was the tradition of
Arabic and medieval alchemy.

Keywords

gold, silver; mercury; Philosopher’s stone; elixir; God; true alchemy; false alchemy

Hrčak ID:

101651

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/101651

Publication date:

15.6.2005.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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