  In any case, we can be quite sure that the Neoplatonist Olympiodorus did not write this piece of alchemy. Nevertheless, it seems to be clearly he whom the manuscripts refer to as the work’s author. Since pseudepigraphy is one of the defining characteristics of the genre of alchemist literature, it seems safe to assume that the commentary on Zosimus is a false attribution. There never was another Alexandrian named Olympiodorus whose expertise was alchemy rather than Platonic philosophy.