Description
Marathankis, Ioannis; Skinner, Stephen
Golden Hoard Press, Singapore, 2011. 376 pages. Limited hand-bound leather edition, limited to 150 copies, this is copy no. 149.
The Magical Treatise of Solomon or Hygromanteia also called the Apotelesmatike Pragmateia, Epistle to Rehoboam, Solomonike. Translated and edited by Ioannis Marathakis. Foreword by Stephen Skinner.
This is the true ancestor of the Key of Solomon. Containing the full translation of the Hygromanteia. This book is sometimes called the Hygromanteia, and this book has hidden behind the mistaken idea that all of it is a work on water divination, a scholarly mistake that has hidden the true value of this book for centuries. Throughout history thousands of people have been fascinated by the grimoire the Key of Solomon. This is the original Greek book of magic that was the source of the Key of Solomon, and in turn the ancestor of most of the grimoire-based ceremonial magic practiced in Europe and the US today.
This is a ground-breaking work. For the first time (outside of a handful of pages in academic works) the full Greek original of the Key of Solomon appears in English.
Contrary to popular opinion the Key of Solomon was not translated from a Hebrew original. During the gradual decline and fall of the Byzantine Empire, this precious text, along with many others, was taken to Italy. This may even have happened when Constantinople was sacked in 1453. It is quite likely that it was taken to Venice, where parts of it were translated into Latin and Italian.
Abridged Latin copies entitled the Clavicula Salomonis circulated in Europe, going through many changes, languages and versions to become the Key of Solomon as we know it (some of those manuscripts are published as Volume IV of the present series). Now for the first time you can read the whole text (large portions of which were left out of the Latin translations).
