Cleopatra the Alchemist

Common card · No. 340885

Cleopatra the Alchemist (Greek: Κλεοπάτρα; fl. c. 3rd century AD), also referred to as, Cleopatra the Wise, was an Egyptian alchemist, writer, and philosopher, born and raised in Alexandria, Ancient Egypt. She experimented with practical alchemy but is also credited as one of the four female alchemists who could produce the philosopher's stone. Some writers consider her to be the inventor of the alembic, a distillation apparatus. Cleopatra the Alchemist appears to have been active in Alexandria in the 3rd century or 4th century A.D. She is associated with the school of alchemy typified by Mary the Jewess and Comarius. These alchemists used complex apparatus for distillation and sublimation.

Read on Wikipedia · Image Johann Daniel Mylius. Engraved by Matthaus Merian., Public domain