Overview
The Magical Treatise of Solomon, often called the Hygromanteia, is a Byzantine and post-Byzantine Greek family of ritual-magic manuscripts attributed pseudonymously to Solomon. It is not one stable ancient book and is not limited to water divination despite the literal implications of the modern title. Manuscripts use several headings, including forms meaning “effective treatise”, “Solomonic” and an epistle or instruction from Solomon to Rehoboam. Individual witnesses differ in chapter order, prayers, spirit lists, tools, diagrams and operations. Across the textual family, material can incl…
Historical Origins
British Library Harley MS 5596 is a fifteenth-century Greek paper codex containing several divinatory and magical works. The catalogue identifies the Hygromanteia of Solomon at folios 18v–39v. The same codex also contains a Testament of Solomon witness, showing that distinct Solomonic texts could circulate together without being identical. Other Byzantine and post-Byzantine Greek witnesses survive across European libraries. Ioannis Marathakis collated numerous manuscripts for a modern edition and English translation under the title The Magical Treatise of Solomon, or Hygromanteia. Specialists including Pablo A. Torijano and Marathakis argue that Greek Solomonic ritual material formed an important background to the Latin and vernacular Clavicula Salomonis or Key of Solomon. Shared structures include planetary timing, tool consecration, ritual purity, prayers and talismanic material. The cautious conclusion is that the Hygromanteia family is a major Greek predecessor or source environment for later Keys. Calling Harley MS 5596 or one reconstructed Greek text “the original Key” overstates the evidence because the Western Key developed through many translations, adaptations and manuscript branches. The Testament of Solomon is a separate Greek narrative centred on Solomon’s ring, demons and Temple construction. The Key of Solomon is a later Latin and vernacular grimoire family. Related manuscript transmission does not make the three works identical. Solomon and Rehoboam are authority figures rather than verified authors or recipients. Individual layers may predate or postdate the fifteenth-century Harley witness, but each claim needs separate textual criticism.