Introduction to later Neoplatonism

doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521040549.018

Chapter 17 - Introduction to later Neoplatonism

from Part IV - THE LATER NEOPLATONISTS

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008

Edited by

A. H. Armstrong

Book contents

Get access

Summary

The philosophers who are the subject of this Part make a sufficiently identifiable group. On the scale of this history all are adherents of Plotinus' version of Platonism although in some cases this may have to be argued and certainly the system was developed in directions which would not all have been approved by Plotinus. The survey runs from Porphyry, who was born in about the year when Plotinus started studying at Alexandria, to the last professors in Alexandria and Greece who were not concerned primarily to apply philosophy to Christian theology—that is from the middle of the third century a.d. to about the end of the sixth.

It is as well to have signposts even if they turn out, as signposts sometimes do, to need a little correcting. A century and a half from Plotinus' death (270) to the middle of Constantine's reign will be dominated by the figures of Porphyry and the Syrian Iamblichus (died 326). Pupils of Iamblichus continued to teach in Syria; but there is almost no trace of their contribution to philosophy; they probably made none. We therefore move to Athens where his influence was also very strong. The School at Athens had a continuous history from Plato, but we know nothing of its philosophy for some time before the great century of Athenian Neoplatonism. This begins with a man called Plutarch towards the end of the fourth century but consists substantially of the trio Syrianus, Proclus and Damascius; in fact their teaching seems sufficiently static for it to be examined only as it appears in Proclus, at least four of whose major works have survived.

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge History of Later Greek and Early Medieval Philosophy , pp. 269 - 282

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521040549.018 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 1967

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

,Anonymus Taurinensis Ed. Kroll, W., ‘Ein neuplatonischer Parmenides-commentar in einem Turiner Palimpsest’, in Rheinisches Museum für Philologie, 47 (1892).Google Scholar

Bidez, J., La vie de l'Empereur Julien (Paris, 1930), p. n. 8.Google Scholar

Bidez, J.La vie de l'Empereur Julien.Paris, 1930.Google Scholar

,Chaldaean Oracles. ed. Kroll, W., De Oraculis Chaldaicis. Breslau, 1894 (reprinted Hildesheim, 1962).Google Scholar

,DamasciusDubitationes et solutiones de primis principiis, ed. Ruelle, C. A., 2 vols. Paris, 1889.Google Scholar

,DamasciusLife of Isidoros, ed. Zintzen, E.. Hildesheim, 1965.Google Scholar

,DamasciusLife of Isidoros, ed. and tr. Asmus, R.. Leipzig, 1911 [extracts from Photius, Bibliotheca cod. 242. (Migne, Migne, Patrologia Graeca 103)].Google Scholar

and Diogenes Laertius, ed. Cobet, C. G., Paris, 1878).Google Scholar

Dodds, E. R., ‘Theurgy and its Relation to Neoplatonism’, J. Roman Stud. XXXVII (1947) ;Google Scholar

Dodds, E. R. ‘Theurgy and its relation to Neoplatonism’, in Journal of Roman Studies, 37 (1947) (reprinted in The Greeks and the Irrational, Berkeley (Cal.), 1951, app. 11).CrossRef Google Scholar

,Eunapius. Lives of the Sophists, ed. Giangrande, J.. Rome, 1956.Google Scholar

Geffcken, J.Der Ausgang des griechisch-römischen Heidentums.Heidelberg, 1920.Google Scholar

,Hermias AlexandrinusIn Platonis Phaedrum scholia, ed. Couvreur, P.. Paris, 1901.Google Scholar

,HieroclesCommentarius in aureum carmen, ed. Mullach, F. W. A., in Fragmenta philosophorum graecorum, I. Paris, 1883.

,IamblichusDe communi mathematica scientia, ed. Festa, N.. Leipzig, 1891.Google Scholar

,IamblichusDe Mysteriis, ed Places, E. (with French translation, introduction and notes). Paris 1966.Google Scholar

,IamblichusDe Mysteriis, ed. Parthey, G.. Berlin, 1857.Google Scholar

,IamblichusDe Mysteriis, German translation with introduction and notes by Hopfner, T. (Quellenschriften der griechischen Mystik, I). Leipzig, 1922.Google Scholar

,IamblichusDe vita pythagorica, ed. Deubner, L.. Leipzig, 1937.Google Scholar

,IamblichusProtrepticus, ed. Pistelli, L.. Leipzig, 1888.Google Scholar

,IamblichusTheologumena arithmeticae, ed. Falco, V.. Leipzig, 1922.Google Scholar

Lewy, H., Chaldaean Oracles and Theurgy (Cairo, 1956) –6;Google Scholar

Lewy, H.Chaldaean Oracles and Theurgy.Cairo, 1956.Google Scholar

,MarinusVita Procli, ed. Boissonade, J. F.. Leipzig, 1814Google Scholar

,OlympiodorusIn Platonis Gorgiam, ed. Norvin, W.. Leipzig, 1936.Google Scholar

,OlympiodorusIn Platonis Phaedonem, ed. Norvin, W.. Leipzig, 1913.Google Scholar

,OlympiodorusCommentary on the First Alcibiades of Plato, ed. Westerink, L. G.. Amsterdam, 1956.Google Scholar

,PorphyryAd Gaurum, ed. Kalbfleisch, K., in Abhandlungen der preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, phil.-hist. Kl. 1895, 33-62 [authenticity disputed]: French translation by Festugière, J. M., La Révélation d'Hermès Trismégiste, III, app. 1.Google Scholar

,PorphyryAd Marcellam, French translation by Festugière, A. J. M., in Trois divots païens, 11. Paris, 1934.

,PorphyryAgainst the Christians, fragments, ed. Harnack, A., in Abhandlungen der preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, phil-hist. Kl. 1916, 1 (additions in ibid. Sitzungsberichte, 1921, 1 and 11).Google Scholar

,PorphyryCommentary on the Timaeus, fragments, ed. Sodano, R.. Naples, 1964.Google Scholar

,PorphyryDe abstinentia: in Porphyrii Opuscula Selecta, ed. Nauck, A., 2nd edn. Leipzig, 1886 (reprinted Hildesheim, 1963).Google Scholar

,PorphyryDe philosophia ex oraculis haurienda librorum reliquiae, ed. Wolff, G.. Berlin, 1856 (reprinted Hildesheim, 1962).Google Scholar

,PorphyryIsagoge sive quinque voces, ed. Busse, A., in Commentaria in Aristotelem graeca, IV, 1. Berlin, 1887.

,PorphyryIsagoge sive quinque voces, French translation with notes by Tricot, J.. Paris, 1947.Google Scholar

,PorphyryLetter to Anebo, ed. and tr. Sodano, A. R.. Naples, 1958 [reconstructed from Iamblichus, De Mysterüs].

,PorphyryLife of Plotinus. Printed in all editions and translations of Plotinus listed in previous section: with German translation and notes in Harder VC (1958).

,PorphyrySententiae ad intelligibilia.ducentes, ed. Mommert, B.. Leipzig, 1907.Google Scholar

Porphyry, , Ad Anebonem, ed. Sodano, A. R. (Naples, 1958);Google Scholar

Praechter, K., ‘Richtungen und Schulen im Neuplatonismus’, Robert, Genethliakon C. (Berlin, 1910).Google Scholar

(reprinted in Procli opera inedita, ed. Cousin, V., 2nd ed. Paris, 1864Google Scholar

,ProclusCommentarius in Parmenidem: pars ultima adhuc inedita, interprete Guillelmo de Moerbeka, ed. and tr. Klibansky, R., Labowsky, C., Anscombe, E.. London, 1953.Google Scholar

,ProclusCommentarius in Parmenidem, ed. Cousin, V., 2nd edn. Paris, 1864 (reprinted Hildesheim, 1961).Google Scholar

,ProclusCommentary on the First Alcibiades of Plato, ed. Westerink, L. G.. Amsterdam, 1954.Google Scholar

,ProclusCommentary on the First Alcibiades of Plato, English translation with notes by O'Neill, W.. The Hague, 1965.Google Scholar

,ProclusEclogae de philosophia chaldaica, ed. Jahn, A.. Halle, 1891.Google Scholar

,ProclusElements of Theology, ed. and tr. Dodds, E. R., 2nd edn. Oxford, 1963.Google Scholar

,ProclusElements of Theology, French translation by Trouillard, J.. Paris, 1965.Google Scholar

,ProclusHymni, ed. Vogt, E.. Wiesbaden, 1957.Google Scholar

,ProclusIn Platonis Cratylum commentarii, ed. Pasquali, G.. Leipzig, 1908.Google Scholar

,ProclusIn Platonis Rempublicam commentarii, ed. Kroll, W., 2 vols. Leipzig, 1899–1901.Google Scholar

,ProclusIn Platonis Theologiam, ed. Portus, A.. Hamburg, 1618.Google Scholar

,ProclusIn Platonis Theologiam, Italian translation by Turolla, A.. Bari, 1957.Google Scholar

,ProclusIn Platonis Theologian, ed Saffrey, H. D. and Westerink, L. G. (with French translation, introduction and notes). Paris 1968– (in progress)Google Scholar

,ProclusIn Platonis Timaeum commentarii. French translation and commentary by Festugière, A.J.M.. Paris 1966–8.Google Scholar

,ProclusIn Platonis Timaeum commentarii, ed. Diehl, E., 3 vols. Leipzig, 1903–6.Google Scholar

,ProclusOn the Hieratic Art, ed. and tr. Bidez, J., in Catalogue des manuscrits alchimiques grecs, VI (appendix). Brussels, 1928.

,ProclusTria opsucula (De Decern Dubitationibus, De Providentia et Fato, De Malorum Subsistentia), ed. Boese, H.. Berlin, 1960.Google Scholar

,Simplicius [The Alexandrian Neoplatonist commentaries on Aristotle are published in Commentaria in Aristotelem graeca. Berlin, 1882–1907.]

,Simplicius Ed. Schweighäuser, J., in Epicteti philosophia, IV. Leipzig, 1800.Google Scholar

,Simplicius. Commentarius in Epicteti Enchiridion, ed. Dübner, F., in Theophrasti characteres, etc. Paris, 1877.

,SynnesiusDe Providentia, ed. Terzaghi, N., in Synesii Cyrenensis opuscula. Rome, 1944. Migne, Migne, Patrologia Graeca 76.Google Scholar

Westerink, L. G. ‘Proclus, Procopius, Psellus’, in Mnemosyne, ser. 3, 10 (1942).Google Scholar

Whittaker, T.The Neoplatonists, 2nd edn. Cambridge, 1928.Google Scholar