Zosimos of Panopolis

Anna Maria Zieglerin was a sixteenth century female alchemist. Alchemy, a science of the Middle Ages, was used with the goal being to turn normal metals into gold. Anna Maria was tried, and found guilty, of murder of a courier, attempted poisoning of a Duchess, and the intent to steal papers from a Duke’s chamber. She was burned alive for her crimes at the age of 25 on February 7, 1575. Most of what we know about Zieglerin and her early life comes from court documents during her trial in 1575. Her birth was an unusual one. She was born prematurely and because of that, wrapped in the skin from a women’s body that had been rubbed with balsam. She stayed like this for two weeks until her body had fully matured (2). She spent her childhood in the Dresden Court of Augustus, Elector of Saxony because her parents came from minor nobility. Zieglerin also had princes and other nobles as her godparents (3). At fourteen years old, Zieglerin’s mother tried to marry her off to Nikolaus von Hamdorff. However, he became angry when she rejected him and in turn he raped her and she became pregnant. She brought the baby to full term and after birth she wrapped the child in a linen cloth and threw it into the water (5). At the age of sixteen Anna Maria married yet again, this time to a nobleman from Rothenburg. This marriage was short lived and lasted only nine weeks because her husband died in an accident involving horse riding (6). Her brother then forced her into an unhappy marriage with…

Maria the Jewess as Framed by Zosimos of Panopolis The way that we perceive history is eternally limited and there are things that we will never be able to learn. We can only pick up the pieces of the puzzle that remain and hope that that’s enough to understand the entire puzzle. Maria the Jewess goes by many names. Maria the Hebrea, Mary the Jewess, Maria Prophetissa… Each name indicates what the person in question prioritized about her, and how they saw her. The majority of extant…