The Chaldean Oracles: Historical Context and Philosophy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25187/codex.v6i1.14999Keywords:
Neoplatonism, Chaldean Oracles, theurgy, Iamblichus, metaphysicsAbstract
The Chaldean Oracles are a series of verses in hexametres which flourished in second and third centuries A.D. and are the first evidence of theurgy, doctrine which featured in the development of all the Neoplatonism since Porphyry. The verses were gathered from quotations by Neoplatonists like Proclus, Damascius, Psellus, and Plethon, for whom the doctrine of the Chaldean Oracles was familiar and composed, together with Hermeticism and Gnosticism, the “underworld of late Platonism”. The oracles are known for searching for the salvation of human soul through divine inspiration and traditional rituals; the theurgists made use of a symbolic language and magical words in order to invoke divinities from whom they received the oracular messages in trance, a conception that challenges the Hellenistic rationalism of that time. The oracles are considered the last vestige of ancient paganism. The Neoplatonist Iamblichus is an important source for understanding the doctrine since he wrote a work in defense of theurgy which was preserved.References
Primária:
DAMASCIUS. Commentaries on Plato's Phaedo. Vol. 2. Edited with translation by L. G Westerink. Amsterdam: North Holland Pub., 1977.
DE ORACULIS CHALDAICIS. Ed. Wilhelm Kroll. Vratislaviae: G. Koebner, 1895 [reimpr. 1962].
IAMBLICHUS. Iamblichus Chalcidensis in Platonis dialogos commentariorum fragmenta. Ed. with trans. and comm. by J. M. Dillon. (Philosophia antiqua, 23.) Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1973.
________. De Mysteriis. Translation, introduction and notes by E. C. Clarke, J. M. Dillon and J. P. Hershel. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2003.
LEWY, H. The Chaldaean Oracles and Theurgy: Mysticism Magic and Platonism in the Later Roman Empire. Paris: Institut d'Études Augustiniennes, 1978 [Cairo: 1956].
MAJERCIK, R. The Chaldean Oracles: text, translation, and commentary. Leiden: Brill, 1989 Brill.
PROCLI in Platonis Parmenidem commentaria. Carlos G. Steel, Leen van Campe (ed.). Tomus III, libros VI-VII et indices continens. Oxford Classical Texts. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
PROCLUS DIADOCHUS. In Platonis Cratylum commentaria. Edited and translated by F. Romano. Roma: Università Di Catania, 1989.
Secundária:
ADDEY, C. J. “Oracles, Religious Practices And Philosophy In Late Neoplatonism”. In: Practical Philosophy, Harvard, 2007, pp. 31-35.
ADDEY, C. J. Divination and Theurgy in Neoplatonism. London: Routledge, 2014.
BIDEZ, J. “Notes sur les mystères neoplatoniciennes”. Rev. Belge de Phil. et d'Hist., 7, 1928, pp. 1477-1481.
BIDEZ, J. La Vie de l'Empereur Julien. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1930.
BOYANCÉ, P. “Théurgie et Teléstique Néoplatoniciennes”, Revue de l'Histoire des Religions, 147, 1955, pp. 189-209.
BRISSON, L. “Proclus et l'Orfisme”. In: Proclus. Lecteur et interprète des Anciens. Actes du Colloque International du C.N.R.S., Paris [2-4 de outubro 1985], publicado por Jean PÉPIN e Henri-Dominique SAFFREY, Paris, edição do C.N.R.S., 1987, p. 46; reimpresso em Orphée et l'Orfisme dans l'Antiquité gréc-romaine, Variorum Collected Studies Series, CS 476, Aldershot, Variorum, 1995.
BRISSON, L. Introdução à Filosofia do Mito. São Paulo: Paulus Editora: 2014.
CREMER, F. W. Die Chaldaïschen Orakel und Jamblich De Mysteriis. Meisenheim am Glan: Anton Hain, 1969.
CUMONT, F. “La Théologie Solaire du Paganisme Romain”. Mémoires présentés par divers savants à l'Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres de l'Institut de France. Première série, Sujets divers d'érudition. Tome 12, 2e partie, 1913, pp. 447-479.
CUMONT, F. Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism, Londres: Routledge, 1911.
Oracles Chaldaïques. Texte établi et traduit par Édouard des Places. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1971.
DILLON, J.M. The Middle Platonists. Londres: Duckworth, 1977.
DODDS, E. R. The Greek and the Irrational. Berkeley e Los Angeles: California University Press, 1951
DODDS, E. R. “New Light on the ‘Chaldean Oracles'”. Harvard Theological Review, 54, 1961, pp. 263-273, reimp. in LEWY, H. Chaldaean Oracles and Theurgy. Paris: Brepols Publisher, 1978, pp. 693-701.
EITREM, S. “Die sústasis um der Lichtzauber in der Magie”. Symbolae Osloenses, 8, 1929, pp. 49-53.
________. “La Théurgie chez lel Néo-Platoniciennes et dans les Papyrus Magiques”. Symbolae Osloenses, 22, 1942, pp. 49-79.
GEUDTNER, O. Die Seelenlehre der Chaldaïschen Orakel. Meisenheim am Glan: Verlag Anton Hain, 1971.
HADOT, P. “Bilan et perspectives sur les Oracles Chaldaiques”. In: LEWY, H. Chaldaean Oracles and Theurgy. Paris: Brepols Publisher, 1978, pp. 703-720.
JOHNSTON, S. I. Hekate Soteira: A Study of Hekate's Roles in the Chaldean Oracles and Related Literature. Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1990.
LARSEN, B. D. “Jamblique dans la Philosophie Antique Tardive”. In: REVERDIN, O. (Éd.) De Jamblique a Proclus. Entretiens de la Fondation Hardt, XXI, Genève, 1974.
SAFFREY, H-D. “Les Néoplatoniciens et les Oracles Chaldaïques”. Revue des Études Augustiniennes, XXVI, 1981, pp. 209-225.
SHAW, G. Theurgy and the Soul: the Neoplatonism of Iamblichus. Philadelphia: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1995.
THEILER, W. “Die Chaldaïschen Orakel und die Hymnen des Synesios”. Schriften der K¶nigsberger Gelehrten Gesellschaft, Klasse XVIII, 1, Halle, 1942.
SMITH, A. Porphyry's Place in the Neoplatonic Tradition. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1974.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
