The Hermopolis Symposium
2025
Hermes From Egypt to Italy
Towards a New Renaissance
New Hermopolis
Tuna El Gebel, Minia, Egypt
27–30 October 2025The motif of rebirth pervades the classical Hermetica as the path of return from the realm of birth and death into primordial immortality. Hermetism itself as a historical phenomenon has also been subject to its own share of births, deaths, and rebirths. To study the Hermetic “tradition” thus invites historical but also hiero-historical perspectives. Historically: the origin, reception, and renaissance of Hermetism in Græco-Egyptian, Islamicate, and European cultural contexts remains vital. Hiero-historically: the potential presence of a deeper Hermetic “current” underpinning its historical appearances and disappearances also deserves to be explored in a responsible manner. This conference coordinates both exoteric and esoteric perspectives in order to illuminate the continued presence and florescence of the Hermetic vision.
Conference Programme
Arrival & Welcome
27 October 2025
Reception and Exhibition: Becoming a Lotus
Antonella Leoni
Day One
28 October 2025
Opening and Welcome
Mervat Abdel-Nasser
Session 1. Back to the Roots of Humanism: Hermes Mercurius Trismegistus Between Egypt and Italy; New Knowledge from Late Antiquity
The first part of this session presents recordings of the Italian prelude to the conference held at the Accademia dei Rozzi, Siena, 5 September 2025
The Discovery of the Corpus Hermeticum: A Bridge Between Antiquity and the Renaissance
Leonardo Lovari (Pre-recorded Presentation)
Anima Mundi: The Sacred Fire of the Renaissance
Nicola Bizzet (Pre-recorded Presentation)
In the Garden of Thoth: Knowledge is Light
Vinicio Serino (Pre-recorded Presentation)
Plotinus and Hermes Between Egypt and Italy
Charles Stang
Hermes and the Morning of the Soul: Philosophical Death and Rebirth in Western Esoteric Culture
Ike Baker
Session 2. Hermes in Mythology, Art, and Literature
The Mystery of the Messenger: Phenomenal, Noumenal, Liminal
Leon Conrad
Bruno’s Multiverse and his Hermetic World
Luca Valentini
Leonardo, Hermetic Mysteries, and the Quadrivium: A Showing of a Heavenly Effect in an Earthly Actor
Julia Cleave
Emblems of Hermes and the Renaissance Literary Imagination
Siri Vevle
The Royal Origin of the Soul: Luigi Pericle’s Hermetic Odyssey
Zsófia Johanna Szőke
Day Two
29 October 2025
Session 1. The Hermetic Soul and the Art of Rebirth
An Expanded View of Human Nature: Corpus Hermeticum in the Renaissance
David Fideler (Pre-recorded Presentation)
The Arabic Hermes and the Sufi Renaissance
Okasha El-Daly (Pre-recorded Presentation)
Hermes Trismegistus and the Hadith of the Hidden Treasure: A Hermetic ‘Terma’ Tradition in Græco-Arabic Alchemy
Aaron Cheak (Pre-recorded Presentation)
Hermes, Hermeneutics, and the Integrated Third
Mervat Abdel-Nasser
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Organised Trip: Hermopolis West, Tuna el-Gebel
Informal Discussion
Dinner followed by musical performance.
Patrons
His Excellency Michele Quaroni
Italian Ambassador, Egypt
Professor Maurizio Guerra
Italian Archaeological Centre
Italian Cultural Institute, Cairo
Professor Vinicio Serino
Former Professor of Anthropology
University of Siena
Organizing Committee
Conference Organiser
Mervat Abdel-Nasser in collaboration with
Vinicio Serino and Leonardo Lovari
Conference Programme and Website
Aaron Cheak
Media and Transmission
Ike Baker, the Arcanvm Channel
New Hermopolis
Minya Governorate, 2313012, Egypt
New Hermopolis is an Eco-village founded by Dr Mervat Abdel-Nasser with the mission of harnessing Middle Egypt’s heritage towards the cultural and economic development of this region. Our founding is connected to the thought and philosophy of Ancient Hermopolis with its belief in harmonious living and the regenerative power of human creativity.