Abstract:
The current inquiry into the Corpus Hermeticum IV.3-6a deals with an object of the History of the Contemporary World of the New Testament, the History of the Ancient Mediterranean Religions and the History of Philosophy. As such, it aims to analyze the conception of βαπτίζω [baptizo] in Ὁ Κρατήρ (Corpus Hermeticum IV.3-6a), taking into account its intertextuality and its religious-historical correlation. Specifically, the conception of βαπτίζω is analyzed in this text, with the intention of examining its correlation with the hymn of the Dreamlike Apparition of Hathor (Stela Wien 8390) and its intertextuality, through the Allegory of the Crater, with Timaeus 41D, De Somniis II. 183, 190, 249, and Proverbs 9.1-6 (LXX). In particular, this inquiry demonstrates that the Corpus Hermeticum IV.3-6a describes a banquet or symposium. Moreover, comparing sentences in which the verbs ϰεράννυμι and μίγνυμι take place in connection with ϰρατήρ, one perceives that the sense of the verb βαπτίζω, in the sentence βάπτισον σεαυτὴν ἡ δυναμένη εἰς τοῦτον τὸν ϰρατῆρα (of the Corpus Hermeticum IV.3-6a), means to mix. Finally, the present inquiry asserts that the verb βαπτίζω, in this sentence, with the sense of mixing, has Egyptian influence and correspondence with the word jʻj and the word tḫ and its derivations.
