Athanor

In alchemy, an athanor is a furnace used to provide a uniform and constant heat for alchemical digestion. Etymologically, it descends from a number of Arabic texts of the period of the Califate which use the term "al-tannoor" in talismanic alchemy, meaning a bread-oven, from which the design portrayed evidently descends.

The athanor was also called Piger Henricus ("Slow Harry"), because it was chiefly used in slower operations, and because when once filled with coals, it keeps burning a long time. For this reason the Greeks referred to it as "giving no trouble", as it did not need to be continually attended. It was also called the Philosophical furnace, Furnace of Arcana, or popularly, the Tower furnace.

Other references

In the work Life of Apollonius by Philostratus the Athenian, an allegorical description is given of an occult hill. The author gives this hill the name "Athanor".

Athanor is also the name of two works by Anselm Kiefer: one currently displayed in the Toledo Museum of Art and the other commissioned by the Louvre museum in 2007 and displayed there.