ABSTRACT
Esotericism has always occupied that charged field between philosophy and religion. The Corpus Hermeticum represents a collection of seventeen Greek treatises gathered by Byzantine scholars in the tenth century. The Corpus Hermeticum plays a prominent role in the history of esotericism, especially once it was rediscovered in the fifteenth century and then regarded as evidence of an ancient wisdom tradition. The importance of Manichaeism for esotericism is illustrated by the role of astrology. Platonism, Pythagoreanism and Orphism clearly show the rich variety of Greek philosophical and religious discourse and how certain concepts of man and the world developed into important building-stones of ancient esotericism. During the Hellenistic period ancient Egyptian traditions merged with Greek religion and mythology. 'Gnosis' is a difficult concept, not least because it is not the self-description of individual ancient communities, but a polemic employed by the established Christian Church.
