Originally published: Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1986. With new pref.

Modes of Cultural Interaction --The durability of Egypt -- The gods of Egypt -- Hermes Trismegistus -- The Hermetica -- Translation and interpretation -- Aretalogies of Isis and Asclepius -- Manetho and Chaeremon -- Books of Thoth and technical Hermetica -- Instructions and philosophical Hermetica -- The Way of Hermes -- Magister omnium physicorum -- Sympatheia -- Magic -- Occult properties and alchemy -- Astrology -- Religio mentis -- The philosophical paideia -- Gnosis -- Towards a via universalis -- Technique and philosophy: interactions -- Zosimus of Panopolis -- Pre-Iamblichan theurgy -- Iamblichus of Apamea -- Hermetism and theurgy -- The role and understanding of ritual -- Bitys -- The Milieu of Hermetism -- Hermetism in Egypt -- The evidence of the Hermetica -- First-century Alexandria -- and beyond -- Temples and priests -- Upper Egypt -- Late antique Alexandria -- The milieu of Hermetism: a socio-intellectual description -- Aegypti sacra deportata -- Earliest testimonies to the name 'Hermes Trismegistus'.