Maria the jewess biography graphic organizer

Main achievements: Inventor of several kinds of chemical apparatus.

Mary or Maria the Jewess (Latin: Maria Prophetissima), also known as Mary the Prophetess, is an early alchemist who is known from the works of the Gnostic Christian writer Zosimos of Panopolis.

On the basis of Zosimos's comments, she lived between the first and third centuries A.D. French, Taylor and Lippmann list her as one of the first alchemical writers, dating her works at no later than the first century.

She is credited with the invention of several kinds of chemical apparatus and is considered to be the first true alchemist of the Western world.

The primary source for the existence of "Mary the Jewess" within the context of alchemy is Zosimos of Panopolis, who wrote, in the 4th century, the oldest extant books on alchemy.

Zosimos described several of Mary's experiments and instruments. In hi