People in the Legends

Paracelsus

Physician and alchemist
Switzerland
c. 1493–1541

Paracelsus was a Swiss-born physician and alchemist. Practicing medicine as he wandered across Renaissance Europe and using minerals as medicines, he is regarded as a forerunner of modern medicine and chemistry. He tried to put alchemy to use in medicine, and a book attributed to him describes how to make a homunculus.

In his posthumously published Book on Nymphs, Sylphs, Pygmies, and Salamanders, and on the Other Spirits, he taught that spirits live in each of the four elements of water, air, earth and fire. These became the “four elemental spirits,” the undine, sylph, gnome and salamander, which greatly influenced later fantasy works.

Entries Related to Paracelsus

Entries: 7

Mysteries & Phenomena ★★★★★ Egypt (Alexandria)

Alchemy

An art and philosophy from ancient to early modern times that sought to turn base metals such as lead into gold and to make an elixir of immortality. Born in Alexandria, Egypt, it developed in Europe by way of the Islamic world. It never achieved its goals, but its laboratory techniques became the foundation of modern chemistry.

Urban Legends ★★★★★ Europe

Philosopher's Stone

A legendary substance of alchemy believed to turn metals such as lead into gold, and even to grant immortality when drunk. Many alchemists of medieval Europe sought to make it, and a legend says the Paris scribe Nicolas Flamel succeeded.

Mysteries & Phenomena ★★★★★ Switzerland

Homunculus

A small artificial human said to be created in a flask through alchemy. A book attributed to the 16th-century alchemist Paracelsus describes how to make one. It also appears in Goethe's Faust and has become a motif of many works.

Spirits & Fairies ★★★★★ Europe

Gnome

The elemental spirit of earth among the four elemental spirits. Gnomes are little people said to move freely underground and guard minerals and treasure. They are also known from the ceramic "garden gnome" figures that originated in 19th-century Germany.

Spirits & Fairies ★★★★★ Europe

Salamander (Fire Spirit)

The elemental spirit of fire among the four elemental spirits, depicted as a lizard living in fire. Since ancient times it has been believed to be "a creature that can live even in fire," and its name is also the English name of real amphibians.

Spirits & Fairies ★★★★★ Europe

Undine

The elemental spirit of water among the four elemental spirits. Undines were said to gain a soul by marrying a human, and the idea spread as a tragic love story through Fouque's novel Undine. It also gave its name to the medical term "Ondine's curse."

Spirits & Fairies ★★★★★ Europe

Sylph

The elemental spirit of wind (air) among the four elemental spirits, described by the 16th-century physician Paracelsus. Sylphs are said to be slender and beautiful, and the feminine form "sylphide" also became the subject of a ballet.

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