Hearth of Hellenism 11 - The Hieroglyphica - Hellenism between Horapollon and Today w/ Dr. Sasha Chaitow
Hello listeners, today I have a fantastic interview with Dr. Sasha Chaitow from the amazing Thyrathen substack.
Sasha Chaitow, PhD, is a British-Greek scholar of the history of Western Esotericism with a background in Literature and Communication Studies. Her doctoral thesis (University of Essex, 2014) focused on the French visionary author Joséphin Péladan in relation to Symbolist art and literature in the French Occult Revival (Theion Publishing, 2022), and she has published her MA thesis (University of Exeter, 2008) as a monograph on the Renaissance alchemist Michael Maier and the initiatory content of his 1618 emblem book, Atalanta Fugiens (2020). She has published several peer reviewed articles on related topics, and has also led a parallel career as a medical editor for Elsevier.
A native speaker of Greek, Sasha has worked as an academic translator since 1999, in the Greek press industry as a columnist and reporter, and has published a monograph and several chapters in a Greek university textbook.
Her current research involves folk magical practices in Modern Greece and the history of their transmission, the entanglements of Greek Orthodox theology in relation to Hermetism and Neoplatonic theurgy, and the theology and symbolism of Orthodox icons.
She has taught extensively on the academic study of Western Esotericism, topics in Greek myth and culture, and their reception in Anglophone academic studies. She is also a visual artist and a trained iconographer and has exhibited internationally in 14 solo and several group exhibitions.
The Hieroglyphica is a captivating late antique gem that embodies the twilight of Mediterranean paganism and hieratic philosophy. Frustratingly elusive, this extraordinary text offers a thrilling glimpse into a struggle to safeguard knowledge amid clashing worldviews and the fervent religiocultural passions of its time. Echoing the harmonising tendency of late Neoplatonism, its entangled strands of Greek and Egyptian thought and language do not vie for supremacy, but merge in a battle for interpretation, reinvention, and survival. The journey of the Hieroglyphica is one of transmission and reception: we know more about this than about its creator, provenance, or intent. Its rediscovery and reinterpretation in the Renaissance renders it a touchstone for the development of Renaissance emblematics and alchemical iconography. However, until recently, its legacy was muddled by errors in dating, authorship, and interpretation, and its significance was diminished by biased commentary. The scholarship itself demands a bold reckoning, entangled as it is in ethnocentric and colonialist lenses that still cloud this artifact’s true significance. This new English translation directly from the original Greek opens a door for both curious readers and scholars alike, balancing rich context with a sharp, reliable rendering—sidestepping the pitfalls of past efforts. In this full length scholarly study, Sasha Chaitow has unearthed three groundbreaking insights that reshape our grasp of the Hieroglyphica: Compelling evidence points to its roots in oral tradition, likely penned by a student of Horapollon; a vivid blend of Alexandrian syncretism, Greek Neoplatonism, Hermetic currents; and traces of late antique alchemical hermeneutics woven between its lines. These revelations demand a fresh, urgent look at this remarkable manuscript.
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