The Corpus Hermeticum

A collection of philosophical-religious writings from the late Hellenistic era, attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, the Latin Mercury also identified with the Egyptian Thot, the God who gives men writing. The basic characteristics of these texts are summarized in an esoteric doctrine, in a "divine revelation", given to men by Hermes not through rational demonstrations and logical deductions, but through a sort of mystery "initiation".