Proclus and his Legacy

Layne, Danielle - Butorac, David D. (eds), Proclus and his Legacy, Walter De Gruyter, Berlin - New York 2017, pp. 449.

 Aims and Scope

This volume investigates Proclus' own thought and his wide-ranging influence within late Neoplatonic, Alexandrine and Byzantinian philosophy and theology. It further explores how Procline metaphysics and doctrines of causality influence and transition into Arabic and Islamic thought, up until Richard Hooker in England, Spinoza in Holland and Pico in Italy. John Dillon provides a helpful overview of Proclus' thought, Harold Tarrant discusses Proclus' influence within Alexandrian philosophy and Tzvi Langermann presents ground breaking work on the Jewish reception of Proclus, focusing on the work of Joseph Solomon Delmedigo (1591-1655), while Stephen Gersh presents a comprehensive synopsis of Proclus' reception throughout Christendom. The volume also presents works from notable scholars like Helen Lang, Sarah Wear and Crystal Addey and has a considerable strength in its presentation of Pseudo-Dionysius, Proclus' transmission and development in Arabic philosophy and the problem of the eternity of the world. It will be important for anyone interested in the development and transition of ideas from the late ancient world onwards.

New Book: All from One. A Guide to Proclus

All From One: A Guide to Proclus, edited by Marije Martijn and Pieter D’Hoine. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.

The following description is from Oxford's website - see here for more, including TOC.

Proclus (412-485 A.D.) was one of the last official "successors" of Plato at the head of the Academy in Athens at the end of Antiquity, before the school was finally closed down in 529. As a prolific author of systematic works on a wide range of topics and one of the most influential commentators on Plato of all times, the legacy of Proclus in the cultural history of the west can hardly be overestimated.

This book introduces the reader to Proclus' life and works, his place in the Platonic tradition of Antiquity, and the influence his work exerted in later ages. Various chapters are devoted to Proclus' metaphysical system, including his doctrines about the first principle of all reality, the One, and about the Forms and the soul. The broad range of Proclus' thought is further illustrated by highlighting his contribution to philosophy of nature, scientific theory, theory of knowledge, and philosophy of language. Finally, also his most original doctrines on evil and providence, his Neoplatonic virtue ethics, his complex views on theology and religious practice, and his metaphysical aesthetics receive separate treatments.

This book is the first to bring together the leading scholars in the field and to present a state of the art of Proclean studies today. In doing so, it provides the most comprehensive introduction to Proclus' thought currently available.

Via: AncientEsotericism.org :: Network for the Study of Esotericism in Antiquity.

Ο ΑΣΥΓΚΡΑΤΗΤΟΣ ΦΙΛΟΣΟΦΟΣ

Ο Γρηγόριος Ναζιανζηνός χαριτολογεί αποκαλώντας τον φιλόσοφο «δυσκράτητο» (δύσκολα συγκρατείται, περίπου ασυγκράτητο!): «Δύο ταύτα δυσκράτητα: Θεός και άγγελος∙ και το τρίτον φιλόσοφος, άυλος εν ύλη, εν σώματι απερίγραπτος, επί γης ουράνιος, εν πάθεσιν απαθής, πάντα ηττώμενος πλην φρονήματος, νικών τω νικάσθαι τους κρατείν νομίζοντας».

Γρηγόριος Ναζιανζηνός, Λόγος 26, 13: PG 35, 1245B. 

Wendt on Marx-Wolf

BMCR has just published Heidi Wendt's review of Heidi Marx-Wolf, Spiritual Taxonomies and Ritual Authority: Platonists, Priests, and Gnostics in the Third Century C.E. Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016. Pp. ix, 216. ISBN 9780812247893. $55.00. Marx-Wolf's book is a must-read for students of third-century Platonism, particularly as regards demonology and theurgy. Check out the review here.

Via AncientEsotericism.org :: Network for the Study of Esotericism in Antiquity

Ο δραστήριος και ευφυής λαός των Ελλήνων κατά τον Αριστοτέλη

Προτομή του Αριστοτέλη, μαρμάρινο
ρωμαϊκό αντίγραφο ενός μπρούτζινου έργου του Λύσιππου.
Εθνικό Μουσείο Ρώμης, Παλάτσο Αλτέμπς.

Επ’ ευκαιρία του εορτασμού του 2016 ως Παγκόσμιου Έτους Αριστοτέλη, με συμπλήρωση 2.400 χρόνων από τη γέννηση του μεγάλου Έλληνα φιλοσόφου, ας μνημονευθεί κάτι που σημειώνει σε ένα από τα πρωιμότερα βιβλία των Πολιτικών, αναφορικά με τους πολίτες των διαφόρων περιοχών της βόρειας Δύσης και της Ανατολής, σε σύγκριση με τους Έλληνες. (Το υλικό άντλησε από τον συγγραφέα της πραγματείας Περί αέρων, υδάτων, τόπων, ο οποίος κάνει λόγο για την επίδραση του περιβάλλοντος στη διαμόρφωση των εθνικών διαφορών): «Οι λαοί των ψυχρών περιοχών και της Ευρώπης είναι δραστήριοι και αποφασιστικοί, αλλά προικισμένοι με λιγότερη νοημοσύνη και επιδεξιότητα. Γι’ αυτό διατηρούν περισσότερο χρόνο την ελευθερία τους, αλλά δεν συγκροτούν κράτη και δεν είναι ικανοί να κυριαρχήσουν στους γείτονές τους. Οι ασιατικοί λαοί είναι ευφυείς και επιδέξιοι, αλλά είναι αδρανείς∙ γι’ αυτό παραμένουν διαρκώς καταπιεσμένοι και υπόδουλοι. Ο λαός των Ελλήνων, από άποψη χώρου, κατέχει μια ενδιάμεση θέση, γι’ αυτό και έχει κάτι και από τους δύο προηγούμενους, γιατί είναι τόσο δραστήριος, όσο και ευφυής. Γι’ αυτό διατηρεί την ελευθερία του, είναι καλά οργανωμένος πολιτικά και είναι σε θέση να κυριαρχεί σε όλους, όταν τελεί υπό ενιαίο πολίτευμα».

Κ. Σπ. Στάϊκος, Αριστοτέλους Βιβλιοθήκη. Η σπουδαιότερη συλλογή βιβλίων που συγκροτήθηκε ποτέ, εκδ. Άτων, Αθήνα 2015, 160-61.   

First issue of Gnosis: Journal for Gnostic Studies Published

The theme of the issue is "Gnostic Countercultures," with a slew of papers on Gnosticism (sensu lato) and transgression. Topics covered range from ancient Gnostic sources to Neoplatonic theurgy, the modern reception-history of Gnostic themes, Gnostic fiction (even in graphic novels), and American Hoodoo. The table of contents can be found here.

Via AncientEsotericism.org :: Network for the Study of Esotericism in Antiquity.

New translation of Calcidius

Medieval manuscript of Calcidius' Latin
translation of Plato's Timaeus.

John Magee's new translation of the fourth-century Latin commentary of Calcidius on Plato's Timaeus has now appeared, courtesy of Harvard University Press. Check it out here. This should be a very useful resource for anybody tangling with ancient philosophy.

More details from HUP: "Until the Renaissance, the work of Calcidius offered the medieval West almost the only direct access to Plato’s corpus not dispersed in fragments. In the 4th century CE, Calcidius translated into Latin an important section of Plato’sTimaeus, complemented by extensive commentary and organized into coordinated parts. The first part is broadly devoted to the architecture of the world, to its intelligible structure. The second delves into the nature of the living creatures that inhabit it. This basic division subsequently informed the sense of macrocosm and microcosm—of the world and our place in it—which is prevalent in western European thought in the Middle Ages. At the same time, this medieval volume altered perspectives on Plato by drawing on other philosophical traditions, particularly the Stoic and Peripatetic, while including Judeo-Christian cosmology and anthropology. The present edition provides the first English translation of Calcidius’s work."

Divination & Theurgy in Neoplatonism

A new book is out which may be of interest to readers which examines divination and theurgy in Neoplatonism. The book is authored by Crystal Addey and a full review (by Ilinca Tanaseanu-Doebler) was recently posted at the Bryn Mawr Classical Review.

Here is a brief excerpt of the review:

"The study offers a good overview of the ongoing discussion about ritual and religion in early Neoplatonism. Its perspective offers a fresh approach to the general question of theurgy and philosophy by focusing on a specific complex of ritual practices. Thus, it enables a more nuanced discussion and a better understanding of the detailed workings of Neoplatonic discourse on rituals."

Via AncientEsotericism.org :: Network for the Study of Esotericism in Antiquity

Η ΦΙΛΟΣΟΦΙΑ ΤΗΣ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑΣ ΤΟΥ ΙΟΥΛΙΑΝΟΥ

Μορφή ιερέα που αποδίδεται στον Ιουλιανό.

«Οι ανθρώπινοι όμως πολιτισμοί είναι εύθραυστες οντότητες υποκείμενες σε διαρκείς προκλήσεις, ενώ η Αδράστεια καραδοκεί στήνοντας τους παγίδες. Αν δεν κατορθώσουν να ανταποκριθούν στις πιέσεις που τους κυκλώνουν μένοντας πιστοί στο πνεύμα της παράδοσής τους, τότε οι πολιτισμοί αρχίζουν να εμφανίζουν τα πρώτα συμπτώματα κόπωσης και νόσου. Για τον Ιουλιανό η ύπαρξη μιας πλατωνικής Ιδέας –ενός αιώνιου προτύπου– για κάθε επίγειο πολιτισμό, και η αυτονόητη ευθύνη του έθνους να μείνει πιστό σ’ αυτό το πρότυπο, αποκλείουν την έννοια της παρακμής ως αναφαίρετου επακόλουθου της ιστορικής εξέλιξης. Αν η ιστορία της ανθρωπότητας βρίθει από παραδείγματα πολιτισμών που δεν κατόρθωσαν να διατηρήσουν την επαφή με την παράδοσή τους, αυτό οφείλεται σε παραβάσεις και εγκλήματα που θα μπορούσαν να είχαν αποφευχθεί. Σύμφωνα με την ανάλυση του Ιουλιανού, τα άτομα που, εθελημένα ή αθέλητα, προσβάλουν την εθνική τους παράδοση είναι οι τραγικοί ήρωας που με τις πράξεις τους επισύρουν στον εαυτό τους, στους απογόνους, αλλά και σε ολόκληρο το έθνος τους την ουράνια νέμεση. Αλλά σ’ αυτό το δράμα της ανθρώπινης ιστορίας υπάρχει πάντα η δυνατότητα κάθαρσης. Συχνά, την κρίσιμη ακριβώς στιγμή, εμφανίζεται ο λυτρωτής που θα σώσει τη φυλή του από την καταστροφή εναποθέτοντας τον κλονισμένο της πολιτισμό πάνω στα αρχικά θεμέλιά του».

Πολύμνια Αθανασιάδη, Ιουλιανός. Μια Βιογραφία, Μορφωτικό Ίδρυμα Εθνικής Τραπέζης, Αθήνα 2005, 235.         

New Journal: Studies in Late Antiquity

Studies in Late Antiquity: A Journal
eISSN: 2470-2048
Elizabeth DePalma Digeser, Editor

Studies in Late Antiquity: A Journal (SLA) is a new online quarterly journal published by the University of California Press. The journal is scheduled to launch in February, 2017.

SLA aims to publish scholarship on a wide range of topics pertaining to the world of Late Antiquity (150 – 750 CE). A defining focus of the journal is fostering multi- and interdisciplinary research that emphasizes the interconnectedness of the Mediterranean with other parts of the late ancient world. Comparative and methodologically innovative papers are especially welcome.

SLA encourages submissions from scholars working in the following regions and languages therein during the period 150-750 CE:

Africa, Anatolia, Arabia, the Baltic, the British Isles, Central and Western Asia, China, Europe, India, the Mediterranean, Persia, Scandinavia

SLA welcomes contributions that explore the following fields and topics:

Archaeology, Cultural Geography (including Cartography), Economics, History (including Cultural History), History of the Arts (including Architecture, Art, and Music), Law, Literature and Rhetoric, Material Culture (including Codicology, Epigraphy, Numismatics, and Papyrology), Historical Demography, Philology, Philosophy, Religion, Theology

Please direct any editorial inquiries including submission inquiries to Elizabeth DePalma Digeser via e-mail at edepalma@history.ucsb.edu

Via: AncientEsotericism.org :: Network for the Study of Esotericism in Antiquity

Platonism and Neoplatonism in Numen

The new issue of Numen (volume 63, issues 2-3) features a number of articles on later Platonism and religion in late antiquity. Looking forward to digging into them. The TOC is below, or see the issue online here.

The new issue of Numen (volume 63, issues 2-3) features a number of articles on later Platonism and religion in late antiquity. Looking forward to digging into them. The TOC is below, or see the issue online here.

• Divine Word and Divine Work: Late Platonism and Religion

  • Authors: Taneli Kukkonen and Pauliina Remes
  • Source: , Volume 63, Issue 2-3, pages: 139 –146

• Post-Hellenistic Philosophy, Neoplatonism, and the Doxastic Turn in Religion: Continuities and Ruptures in Ancient Reflections on Religion

  • Author: Tuomo Lankila
  • Source: , Volume 63, Issue 2-3, pages: 147 –166

• Socrates’ Debt to Asclepius: Physicians and Philosophers with Asclepian Souls in Late Antiquity

  • Author: Svetla Slaveva-Griffin
  • Source: , Volume 63, Issue 2-3, pages: 167 –195

• Divine or Human Images? Neoplatonic and Christian Views on Works of Art and Aesthetics

  • Author: Arja Karivieri
  • Source: , Volume 63, Issue 2-3, pages: 196 –209

• Byzantine Visual Culture: Conditions of “Right” Belief and Some Platonic Outlooks

  • Author: Anne Karahan
  • Source: , Volume 63, Issue 2-3, pages: 210 –244

• Christianity’s Content: (Neo)Platonism in the Middle Ages, Its Theoretical and Theological Appeal

  • Author: Willemien Otten
  • Source: , Volume 63, Issue 2-3, pages: 245 –270

• Al-Ghazālī on the Origins of Ethics

  • Author: Taneli Kukkonen
  • Source: , Volume 63, Issue 2-3, pages: 271 –298

• Synesius of Cyrene and the American “Synesii”

  • Author: Jay Bregman
  • Source: , Volume 63, Issue 2-3, pages: 299 –323

  Via: AncientEsotericism.org :: Network for the Study of Esotericism in Antiquity

Η ενότητα της ελληνικής παιδείας προς χάριν ενός απώτατου σκοπού

Πορτραίτο του Ιουλιανού σε χάλκινο νόμισμα
από την Αντιόχεια, 360-363.

«Από τη μελέτη των γραφών μας ο καθένας θα γινόταν καλύτερος ακόμα κι αν εστερείτο παντελώς φυσικής ικανότητας. Ένας άνθρωπος όμως προικισμένος από τη φύση, που επιπλέον θα τύχει της ημετέρας παιδείας, δεν είναι τίποτε λιγότερο για την ανθρωπότητα από δώρο των θεών, είτε γιατί θ' ανάψει το φως της επιστήμης είτε γιατί θα ιδρύσει κάποιο πολιτικό σύστημα, είτε γιατί θα τρέψει σε φυγή στρατιές πολεμίων είτε γιατί, εξερευνώντας γη και θάλασσα, θ' αποδείξει μ' αυτόν τον τρόπο την ηρωική του φύση».

Ιουλιανός, Κατά Γαλιλαίων 229de.  

Τα μόνα ασφαλή αγαθά της ζωής

«Ο Θεμίστιος ήξερε, εξίσου καλά με τους σύγχρονούς του ασκητές της ερήμου, πως τα μόνα αγαθά που κατέχει κανείς με ασφάλεια σ' αυτή τη ζωή ανήκουν στον πνευματικό και -ακόμη περισσότερο- στον μεταφυσικό χώρο».

Πολύμνια Αθανασιάδη, Ιουλιανός. Μια Βιογραφία, Μορφωτικό Ίδρυμα Εθνικής Τραπέζης, Αθήνα 2005, 146.

New edition of the Refutation of All Heresies

One of the most important ancient Christian sources regarding not only Gnosticism, but Elchasai and the Elchasaites, Orphism, Pythagoreanism, and much, much more is the anonymous Refutation of All Heresies. Scholars familiar with the work know the commonly used Greek text (of Marcovich) to be deficient due to the editor's zeal for emendation; meanwhile, the English translation in the Anti-Nicene Fathers series (accessible onlinehere) is not only completely unreliable, but uses a different numbering scheme than we find in Marcovich. A totally revised critical edition of the Greek and English alike has been a desideratum for a long time, and M. David Litwa (U. Virginia) has delivered the goods in this wonderful new edition published by the Society of Biblical Literature. More information is available here.

Via: AncientEsotericism.org :: Network for the Study of Esotericism in Antiquity

Stroumsa reviews Athanassiadi, Mutations of Hellenism at BMCR

Bryn Mawr Classical Review has just published Guy Stroumsa's review of Polymnia Athanassiadi's recent collection of studia minora, Mutations of Hellenism in Late Antiquity. You can read the review here. From the publisher's website:

• The 21 studies in this volume, which deal with issues of social and intellectual history, religion and historical methodology, explore the ways whereby over the course of a few hundred years -roughly between the second and the fifth centuries A.D.- an anthropocentric culture mutated into a theocentric one. Rather than underlining the differences between a revamped paganism and the emergent Christian traditions, the essays in the volume focus on the processes of osmosis, interaction and acculturation, which shaped the change in priorities among the newly created textual communities that were spreading across the entire breadth of the late antique oecumene. The main issues considered in this connection include the phenomena of textuality and holy scripture, canonicity and exclusion, truth and error, prophecy and tradition, authority and challenge, faith and salvation, holy places and holy men, in the context of the construction of new orthodox readings of the Greek philosophical heritage.Moreover the volume suggests that intolerant attitudes, which form a characteristic trait of monotheisms, were not an exclusive preserve of Christianity (as the Enlightenment tradition would insist), but were progressively espoused by pagan philosophers and divine men as part of the theory and practice of Hellenism’s theological koine. Efforts to establish the monopoly of a revealed truth against any rival claims were transversal to the textual communities which emerged in late antiquity and remodelled the intellectual and spiritual landscape of the Greater Mediterranean.
• Contents: Introduction. Methodological Concerns: Antiquité tardive: construction et déconstruction d’un modèle historiographique; The oecumenism of Iamblichus: latent knowledge and its awakening. A Religious Koine: Hellenism: a theological koine; The gods are God: polytheistic cult and monotheistic theology in the world of late antiquity; Apamea and the Chaldaean Oracles: a holy city and a holy book; Canonizing Platonism: the fetters of Iamblichus; The creation of orthodoxy in Neoplatonism; A contribution to Mithraic theology: the Emperor Julian’s Hymn to King Helios; Le traitement du mythe: de l’empereur Julien à Proclus. Prophecy and Revelation: Philosophers and oracles: shifts of authority in late paganism; The fate of oracles in late antiquity: Didyma and Delphi; Dreams, theurgy and freelance divination: the testimony of Iamblichus; The Chaldaean Oracles: theology and theurgy; Byzantine commentators on the Chaldaean Oracles: Psellos and Pletho. ΘΕIΟΣ ANHΡ: Ascent to heroic or divine status in late antiquity: continuities and transformations; The divine man of late Hellenism: a sociable and popular figure; Julian the Theurgist: man or myth?. Dissidence and Persecution: Persecution and response in late paganism: the evidence of Damascius; Who was Count Zosimus?’; Christians and others: the conversion ethos in late antiquity. Envoi: From polis to Theoupolis: school syllabuses and teaching methods in late antiquity. Index.
• About the Author: Polymnia Athanassiadi is Professor of Ancient History at the University of Athens, Greece. 

Via AncientEsotericism.org :: Network for the Study of Esotericism in Antiquity.