Description
Book SynopsisThis book gives us a new perspective on the Philosophy according to the Chaldean Oracles by Porphyry of Tyre (ca. 232/305 CE), demonstrating that much of what we thought we knew about this work and its fragments is mistaken. Here, for the first time, the attempt is made at reconstructing the original text by following the vicissitudes of its reception and transmission from Late Antiquity through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance up to modern scholarship. The extensive and painstaking study of the surviving fragments leads to the radically innovative conclusion that this encyclopedic treatise, written by Porphyry in the last decades of the 3rd century CE, consisted of fifteen books organized in various sections. After an initial discussion of the nature of theurgy and of its subordinate role with respect to philosophy, Porphyry describes the entire history of Greek philosophy from Homer up to his own teacher Plotinus, to then go on to present “introductions” to the seven encyclical disciplines whose study is required for the comprehension of theosophy, that is, the esoteric speculation on the three parts of philosophy: anthropology-ethics, physics, and metaphysics-theology. By harmonizing the teachings of Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, and the Chaldean Oracles, Porphyry intends to present the complete and definitive philosophic system, with the aim of showing the universal way for the liberation of the souls of initiates and of contextually fighting the final battle of the Greco-Roman civilization against Christianity.
Table of ContentsPreface and Acknowlegments Abbreviations Introduction Part 1 Preliminary Questions 1 A Philosophy Conforming with the “Chaldean Oracles” 2 An Esoteric Philosophy for the Salvation of the Soul 3 The First Commentary on the “Chaldean Oracles” 4 Zoroaster, the Magi, and the “Chaldean Oracles” 5 Polemics against the Christians 6 Some Further Consequences Part 2 Χρηστικη Πραγματεια Statues, Sacrifices and Oracles 7 Philosophy versus Theurgy 8 The Orphic Prorrhesis and the Statues of the Gods 9 The Universal Way for the Salvation of the Soul 10 Sacrifices and Oracles 11 The Letter to Anebo and the Response by Iamblichus 12 Chaldean Philosophy versus Chaldean Theology 13 The Anti-Christian Oracles of Hekate and Apollo 14 Against Origen’s Allegorical Interpretation of the Jewish Scriptures 15 Against Origen’s Allegorical Interpretation of Homer Part 3 Πολλων Των Κατα Φιλοσοφιαν Δογματων Αναγραφη The History of Philosophy and the Encyclical Disciplines 16 The Chronicle of Greek Philosophy from the Fall of Troy to the Reign of Claudius 17 The History of Greek Philosophy from Homer to Plato 18 The History of Greek Philosophy from the Old Academy to Plotinus 19 The Two Editions of the Life of Plotinus 20 The Truest Philosophy of Pythagoras, Plato, and Aristotle 21 The Oracle of Apollo on Plotinus’s Soul 22 Porphyry and the Encyclical Disciplines 23 The Mathematical Disciplines 24 Augustine on the Encyclical Disciplines 25 The Encyclical Disciplines against the Christians Part 4 Θεοσοφια Theological Wisdom for the Salvation of the Soul 26 The Threefold Division of Philosophy 27 Two Preliminary Methodological Issues 28 On the Union of Soul and Body 29 A Collection of Hieroi Logoi on the Soul 30 The Immortality of the Soul 31 Self-Determination and Transmigration of the Soul 32 Homer’s Philosophy of the Soul 33 From Anthropology-Ethics to Physics 34 From Physics to Metaphysics-Theology 35 Theology as the Fulfilment of Theosophy 36 Further Theological Fragments 37 Three Books against the Religion and Name of the Christians Part 5 Reception in the Latin, Byzantine, and Arabic Traditions 38 The Latin Reception 39 Augustine and Macrobius 40 The Byzantine Reception 41 The Relationship with “On Abstinence” 42 A Byzantine Epitome of Porphyry’s Theosophy 43 An Arabic Translation of Porphyry’s Theology 44 The Philosophy of the Few Conclusion: A Tentative Reconstruction of the Philosophy according to the Chaldean Oracles Bibliography Index of Ancient, Medieval and Modern Authors
