Inventions & Discoveries · Chemistry

Alchemy

1st century CE · 1st century

Alchemy is a philosophical and protoscientific tradition whose common aims were turning base metals into gold and making an elixir of immortality; in its Western form it is first attested in texts written in Greco-Roman Egypt in the first centuries CE, with Alexandria as its centre. Chinese and Indian alchemy appear to have been mostly independent in their earlier stages. Alchemy reached Latin Europe through translations from Arabic from 1144 onwards, and the Latin tradition played a significant role in the development of early modern chemistry and medicine.

Alchemy
Image: Unknown author · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

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First known
1st century CE
Where
Alexandria
Credited to
Roman Egypt

Also arose independentlyChina (by 317 CE); India (2nd–5th centuries)

NoteWhether the Western, Chinese and Indian traditions share an origin is an open question.

Built onDistillationc. 1200 BCE
Led toGunpowder808Modern chemistry1787

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See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Alchemy. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/alchemy
MLA
“Alchemy.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/alchemy. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Alchemy.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/alchemy.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Alchemy’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/alchemy (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻