The Chaldean Magi

Iamblichus

The Neo-Pythagorean philosopher chiefly responsible for the transition of Platonism to a Neoplatonic synthesis of Hellenistic, Persian, and Jewish systems, was Numenius of Apamea, who flourished in the late second century AD. Numenius showed extensive knowledge of Judaism, and may have been acquainted with Christianity. Numenius intended to seek the origin of Platonic ideas in the teachings of the ancient East, the spirit transmigration of Hinduism, the monotheistic deity and the trinity in Judaism, and the esoteric dualism of Gnostic and Hermetic cults. To explore the nature of God, Numenius insisted, one had to look back beyond the wisdom of Plato, or even of Pythagoras, to “everything that the Brahmins, the Jews, the Magi and the Egyptians have established.” According to the Church Father Origen, Numenius offered allegorical interpretations of the writings of Moses and the Prophets. He had remarked, “what is Plato, but Moses speaking in Attic Greek.”

Numenius’ thought is alleged to have influenced the first Neoplatonist, Plotinus (c. 204/5 – 270). Born in Egypt, Plotinus, like Plutarch, had also been the pupil at Alexandria of Ammonius Saccas, who may have been the intermediary for Numenius’ ideas. Moshe Idel, a leading scholar of the Jewish Kabbalah, has indicated that the quest for mystical union in the thought of Plotinus may have been derived from Jewish sources, possibly from Philo of Alexandria and Rabbi Akiva. Supposedly, Ammonius had been brought up as a Christian but abandoned his religion for the study of Plato, developing his own variation of Platonic philosophy. In the Life of Plotinus, Porphyry reported that through Ammonius, Plotinus “became eager to investigate the Persian methods and the system adopted among the Indians.”

Plotinus was the teacher of Porphyry (c. 234 – c. 305 AD), who was born in Tyre in Phoenicia. In 301, he produced his most important work, the Enneads. Fragments survive of his Against the Christians, which was condemned to be burned in 448. Porphyry wrote a history on the life of Pythagoras, and On Abstinence, a plea for vegetarianism, and in On the Cave of the Nymphs, he describes the symbolism of a grotto mentioned in Homer, in relation to the cave rituals of Mithraism. Porphyry was also a tutor to the Syrian philosopher Iamblichus (c. 245–c. 325 AD), another famous descendent of the priest-kings of Emesa. Iamblichus sought to revive paganism by a return to its roots among the Babylonians and Egyptians, the leading proponents of classical thought, like Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, and finally, in the mysteries. He has generally been credited with the transformation of the merely spiritual Neoplatonism of Plotinus in favor of theurgy, the magical conjuration of the gods, a subject which he treats in his work, On the Mysteries of the Egyptians, Chaldeans and Assyrians.

See David Livingstone. Ordo ab Chao, Volume One, Chapter 3, “The Hellenistic Age.”

The Life of Pythagoras

3-4

Pythagoras had benefited by the instruction of Thales in many respects, but his greatest lesson had been to learn the value of saving time, which led him to abstain entirely from wine and animal food, avoiding greediness, confining himself to nutriments of easy preparation and digestion. As a result, his sleep was short, his soul pure and vigilant, and the general health of his body was invariable.

Enjoying such advantages, therefore, he sailed to Sidon, both because it was his native country, and because it was on his way to Egypt. In Phoenicia he conversed with the prophets who were descendants of Moschus [Moses] the physiologist, and with many others, as well as with the local hierophants. He was also initiated into all the mysteries of Byblos and Tyre, and in the sacred function performed in many parts of Syria. He was led to all this not from any hankering after superstition, as might easily be supposed, but rather from a desire and love for contemplation, and from an anxiety to miss nothing of the mysteries of the divinities which deserved to be learned.

After gaining all he could from the Phoenician mysteries, he found tat they had originated from the sacred rites of Egypt, forming as it were an Egyptian colony...

Here in Egypt he frequented all the temples with the greatest diligence, and most studious research, during which time he won the esteem and admiration of all the priests and prophets with whom he associated. Having most solicitously familiarized himself with every detail, he did not, nevertheless, neglect any contemporary celebrity, whether a sage renowned for wisdom, or a peculiarly performed mystery. He did not fail to visit any place where he thought he might discover something worthwhile. That is how he visited all the Egyptian priests, acquiring all the wisdom each possessed. He thus passed twenty-two year in the sanctuaries of temples, studying astronomy and geometry, and being initiated in no casual or superficial manner in all the mysteries of the gods. At length, however, he was taken captive by the soldiers of Cambyses, and carried off to Babylon. Here he was overjoyed to be associated with the Magi, who instructed him in their venerable knowledge, and in most perfect worship of the gods. Through their assistance, likewise, he studied and completed arithmetic, music, and all the other sciences. After twelve years, about the fifty-sixth of his age, he returned to Samos.