Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. 1, by G.R.S. Mead, [1906]
| Preface | v |
| I. The Remains of the Trismegistic Literature | 1-16 |
| Writer and Reader | 1 |
| The Extant Trismegistic Literature | 3 |
| The Original MS. of our Corpus | 6 |
| Texts and Translations | 8 |
| II. The History of the Evolution of Opinion | 17-46 |
| The Chief Points of Interrogation | 17 |
| The Opinions of the Humanists | 18 |
| The First Doubt | 20 |
| The Launching of the Theory of Plagiarism | 21 |
| The Only Argument Adduced | 22 |
| The Theory of Hilgers | 25 |
| The German Theory of Neoplatonic “Syncretismus” | 26 |
| The French Theory of Egyptian Origin | 27 |
| The Views of Ménard | 27 |
| English Encyclopædism | 33 |
| Chambers’ Opinion | 34 |
| German Encyclopædism | 35 |
| A Recent Article by Granger | 36 |
| Reitzenstein and the Dawn of Right Views | 40 |
| A Key to Egypt’s Wisdom | 44 |
| The Answers to our Questions | 44 |
| III. Thoth the Master of Wisdom | 47-81 |
| Thoth-Teḥuti | 47 |
| Thoth according to Pietschmann | 48 |
| The Three Grades of the Egyptian Mysteries | 50 |
| Thoth according to Reitzenstein | 51 |
| Thoth according to Budge | 52 |
| His Deific Titles | 53 |
| His Symbols and Name | 54 |
| The Shrine of Thoth | 56 |
| Thoth and his Company of Eight | 57 |
| The “House of the Net” | 58 |
| Thoth the Logos | 63 |
| The Words of Thoth | 63 |
| Thoth and the Osirified | 65 |
| Thoth the Measurer | 66 |
| The Title “Thrice-greatest” | 66 |
| The Supremacy of Thoth | 67 |
| The Views of a Scholar-Mystic | 68 |
| The Spiritual Nature of the Inner Tradition of Egyptian Wisdom | 69 |
| The Holy Land of Egypt and its Initiates | 70 |
| Thoth the Initiator | 71 |
| Some of the Doctrines of Initiation | 73 |
| The Temples of Initiation | 74 |
| The Mystery of the Birth of Horus | 75 |
| “The Book of the Master” | 77 |
| The Steps of the Path | 79 |
| An Illuminative Study | 80 |
| IV. The Popular Theurgic Hermes-Cult in the Greek Magic Papyri | 82-98 |
| The “Religion of Hermes” | 82 |
| i. An Invocation to Hermes as the Good Mind | 84 |
| ii. An Invocation to Lord Hermes | 86 |
| iii. An Invocation to Lord Hermes | 87 |
| iv. An Invocation to Thoth as Logos | 90 |
| v. An Invocation to Hermes as the Spiritual Light | 90 |
| vi. The Mystic Rite of the Flame | 93 |
| vii. A Prayer of Consecration | 97 |
| V. The Main Source of the Trismegistic Literature according to Manetho High Priest of Egypt | 99-127 |
| Hermes at the Beginning of the Hellenistic Period | 99 |
| Petosiris and Nechepso | 100 |
| Manetho the Beloved of Thoth | 102 |
| The Letter of Manetho to Ptolemy Philadelphus | 103 |
| The Importance of Manetho’s Statement in his “Sothis” | 105 |
| Is “Sothis” a Forgery? | 107 |
| The Arguments of Encyclopædism refuted | 108 |
| The Seriadic Land | 110 |
| The Stelæ of Hermes | 112 |
| The Sons of Seth-Hermes | 113 |
| The Epithet “Thrice-greatest” | 116 |
| The Clue of Griffiths | 118 |
| The Earliest Trismegistic Literature | 121 |
| Philo Byblius | 122 |
| Are his “Phœnician Histories” a Forgery? | 123 |
| Sanchuniathon and the “Books of Hermes” | 124 |
| VI. An Egyptian Prototype of the Main Features of the Pœmandres’ Cosmogony | 128-138 |
| The Higher Criticism of the “Pœmandres” | 128 |
| A Prototype of its Cosmogenesis | 129 |
| A Praise-giving to Ptah | 131 |
| Ptah-Thoth the Wise One | 132 |
| Egyptian Syncretism 1000 B.C. | 135 |
| The Doctrine of “Pœmandres” Compared with that of its Prototype | 136 |
| The Man-Doctrine | 138 |
| VII. The Myth of Man in the Mysteries | 139-198 |
| The Gnostic Tradition | 139 |
| The “Philosophumena” of Hippolytus | 140 |
| The Naassenes | 141 |
| Analysis of Hippolytus’ Account of the Naassene Document | 142 |
| Hippolytus’ Introduction | 146 |
| The Material for the Recovery of the Original Hellenistic Document | 148 |
| Hippolytus’ Conclusion | 186 |
| Conclusion of Analysis | 192 |
| The Hellenist Commentator | 193 |
| The Jewish and Christian Overwriters | 194 |
| Zosimus and the Anthropos-Doctrine | 196 |
| Philo of Alexandria on the Man-Doctrine | 197 |
| VIII. Philo of Alexandria and the Hellenistic Theology | 199-254 |
| Concerning Philo and his Method | 199 |
| The Great Importance of his Writings | 204 |
| Concerning the Mysteries | 205 |
| Concerning the Sacred Marriage | 216 |
| Concerning the Logos | 225 |
| The Son of God | 226 |
| The True High Priest | 227 |
| The Elder and Younger Sons of God | 229 |
| Yet God is One | 230 |
| The Logos is Life and Light | 231 |
| The Divine Vision | 233 |
| The Sons of God on Earth | 233 |
| The City of God | 235 |
| God’s Shadow | 236 |
| The Mother-City of Refuge | 237 |
| The True Shepherd | 238 |
| The Apostles of God | 239 |
| The Ladder of the “Words” | 239 |
| The Logos the Spiritual Sun | 241 |
| The Disciples of the Logos | 243 |
| The River of the Divine Reason | 244 |
| Jerusalem Above | 245 |
| The Logos is as Manna and Coriander Seed | 246 |
| The Logos is the Pupil of God’s Eye | 247 |
| “Man shall not Live by Bread Alone” | 248 |
| The Logos-Mediator | 249 |
| The Yoga of Plotinus | 251 |
| The Race of God | 253 |
| IX. Plutarch: Concerning the Mysteries of Isis and Osiris | 255-368 |
| Foreword | 255 |
| Concerning Isis and Osiris | 261-366 |
| Address to Klea concerning Gnosis and the Search for Truth | 261 |
| The Art of Knowing and of Divinising | 262 |
| The True Initiates of Isis | 263 |
| Why the Priests are Shaven and wear Linen | 265 |
| Of the Refraining from Flesh and Salt and Superfluities | 267 |
| On the Drinking of Wine | 268 |
| On Fish Taboos | 269 |
| The Onion and Pig Taboos | 271 |
| The Kings, the Riddles of the Priests and the Meaning of Amoun | 273 |
| Of the Greek Disciples of Egyptians and of Pythagoras and his Symbols | 274 |
| Advice to Klea concerning the Hidden Meaning of the Myths | 276 |
| The Mystery-Myth | 278 |
| The Undermeaning, a Reflexion of a Certain Reason | 291 |
| Concerning the Tombs of Osiris | 292 |
| Concerning the Theory of Evemerus | 295 |
| The Theory of the Daimones | 298 |
| Concerning Sarapis | 301 |
| Concerning Typhon | 304 |
| The Theory of the Physicists | 307 |
| Concerning Osiris and Dionysus | 310 |
| The Theory of the Physicists Resumed | 312 |
| The Theory of the Mathematici | 318 |
| The Theory of the Dualists | 328 |
| The Proper Reason according to Plutarch | 333 |
| The Symbolism of the Sistrum | 344 |
| The True “Logos” again according to Plutarch | 345 |
| Against the Weather and Vegetation God Theories | 346 |
| Concerning the Worship of Animals and Totemism | 353 |
| Concerning the Sacred Robes | 361 |
| Concerning Incense | 363 |
| Afterword | 367 |
| X. “Hermas” and “Hermes” | 369-386 |
| An Anticipation | 369 |
| The Higher Criticism of “The Shepherd of Hermas” | 370 |
| The Introduction of the “Pastoral Hermas” | 370 |
| Comparison with our “Pœmandres” | 371 |
| The Popular Symbolic Representation of the Shepherd | 372 |
| The Name “Hermas” | 374 |
| An Early Form of the “Pœmandres” | 374 |
| The Holy Mount | 375 |
| “Gnostic” Elements | 376 |
| The Vices and Virtues | 377 |
| The Early Date of the Original “Hermas” | 378 |
| The Dependence Theory to be used with Caution | 379 |
| The Visions of Crates | 380 |
| The General Christian “Many” and the Gnostic “Few” | 382 |
| The Story of Abbot Olympius | 384 |
| A Final Word | 385 |
| XI. Concerning the Æon-Doctrine | 387-412 |
| The Scope of our Essay | 387 |
| The Orphic Tradition of the Genesis of the World Egg | 388 |
| Commentary | 392 |
| The Sethian Gnosis | 393 |
| The Mithriac Æon | 399 |
| Probable Date of Origin of the Hellenistic Æon-Doctrine | 401 |
| Abraxas | 402 |
| The Feast of the Æon | 403 |
| The Quintessence and the Monad | 403 |
| The Æon in Plato | 404 |
| Concerning the Hellenistic Origin of Æonology | 405 |
| The Æon the Logos | 406 |
| The Roman Sæculum Cult derived from Egypt | 407 |
| The Æonic Immensities of Egypt | 407 |
| A Song of Praise to the Æon | 408 |
| The Demiurgic Æon | 410 |
| The Æon in Theurgic Literature | 410 |
| XII. The Seven Zones and their Characteristics | 413-428 |
| Macrobius on “The Descent of the Soul from the Heights of Cosmos to the Depths of Earth” | 413 |
| The Tradition of Servius | 418 |
| Criticism of the Evidence | 419 |
| The “Ophite” Hebdomad | 421 |
| The Simpler Form of the Trismegistic Gnosis | 423 |
| Concerning Leviathan and Behemoth | 423 |
| The “Fence of Fire” | 427 |
| XIII. Plato: Concerning Metempsychosis | 429-436 |
| The Soul and her Mysteries in the “Phædrus” | 429 |
| Plotinus on Metempsychosis | 434 |
| Proclus on the Descent of Souls into Irrational Natures | 435 |
| XIV. The Vision of Er | 437-449 |
| Er Son of Armenius | 437 |
| From the Mysteries | 438 |
| The Cylinder | 439 |
| The Vision | 440 |
| Commentary | 448 |
| XV. Concerning the Crater or Cup | 450-456 |
| The Crater in Plato | 450 |
| In “Orpheus,” Macrobius, and Proclus | 451 |
| The Vision of Aridæus | 452 |
| The Origin of the Symbol to be sought in Orphic Tradition | 456 |
| XVI. The Disciples of Thrice-Greatest Hermes | 457-481 |
| Ptah, Sekhet and I-em-ḥetep (Asclepius) | 457 |
| Nefer-Tem | 458 |
| Imhotep-Imuth-Asclepius | 459 |
| Thāth-Tat | 461 |
| The Incarnations of Thoth | 463 |
| The Disciples of Lord Hermes in Petosiris and Nechepso | 464 |
| Tosothros-Asclepius | 465 |
| Imuth-Asclepius the Master-Mason and Poet | 466 |
| Æsculapius the Healer | 467 |
| Asclepius in Trismegistic Tradition | 469 |
| Concerning Ammon | 471 |
| Prophet and King | 472 |
| Amenhotep-Asclepius | 473 |
| The Sacred Group of Four | 474 |
| James, John and Peter | 475 |
| The Triad of Disciples | 476 |
| Chnum the Good Daimon | 477 |
| Osiris Disciple of Agathodaimon the Thrice-greatest | 478 |
| Logos-Mind the Good Daimon | 478 |
| Chnum Good Mind the Æon | 480 |
| Isis, Lady of Wisdom, Disciple of Thrice-greatest Hermes | 481 |