Heliodo'rus
Works
an iambic poem, in 269 verses, on the art of making gold
There is an iambic poem, in 269 verses, on the art of making gold, which is attributed by a MS. in the royal library at Paris to Heliodorus the bishop of Tricca.
Editions
It exists in MS. in several libraries in Europe, and is
printed, from the Paris MS., in Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. viii. p. 119.
The title is
Ἡλιοδώρου φιλοσόφου πρὸς Φεοδόσιον τὸν μέλαν *Basile/a, peri\ th=s tw=n filoso/fwn *Mustikh=s te/xnhs (i. e. Alchymy),
δἰ Ἰάμβων Kühn and Hoffmann (
Lex. Bibl. s. v.) believe the poem to be genuine, but Jacobs calls it the clumsy fabrication of a later time, to which the name of Theodosius was prefixed to give it the semblance of authority; and he suggests that the name
Heliodorus may have been used, after the fashion of the Alchymists and Rosicrucians, on account of its etymological signification.
Further Information
Ersch and Gruber's
Encyclopädie, s. v. 
