Chapter 121: Chapter 121: Miriam Hebraea (first century CE)

The Witch

Miriam Hebraea (also known as Mary the Jewess) was born in the city of Alexandria, which at that time was the capital of Hellenistic Egypt, the home of the Library of Alexandria, and a major center of Greek learning. She studied magic at the Alexandria Academy of Magic, where she excelled in potions and transfiguration. She is credited with establishing the theoretical and practical foundation of alchemy. Although her theoretical contributions remained influential into the middle ages, she became more famous for being the first to develop and describe the three following vessels used in the brewing of potions: the bain-marie (a water bath for the gentle heating and distillation of liquids), the tribikos (a still for separating substances in liquids), and the kerotakis (a still for reacting metals with distillates). She was one of the first to do serious (if ultimately unsuccessful) work on the transmutation of base metals into gold.