ABSTRACT
Mary the Prophetess, also called Maria the Jewess, is one of the few women associated with alchemy, although she and a Cleopatra (not the queen) were held even in ancient times to have been among the earliest practitioners. While many legends grew up around her name, the historical Maria may have been an Alexandrian living in the second or third century A.D. 1 No Greek texts of hers have survived, but she is often quoted at length by early Hellenistic alchemists, and her theoretical teachings can be inferred from these passages and from those preserved in later Arabic translations or citations. 2
