Mystical experience did not play a major role in the philosophy of Iamblichus.. PROCLUS AND DAMASCIUS Proclus Diadochus 412–485, one of the late represen-tatives of Neoplatonism, was bor
Trang 1Iamblichus allowed him to teach that the whole
com-plex vision of Neoplatonism was ruled by mathematical
principles beginning with a monad
Mystical experience did not play a major role in the
philosophy of Iamblichus Instead, he seemed intent on
bringing the gods to people For most of Iamblichus’s life
Platonism was held in high regard With the founding of
Constantinople there was even speculation that
Plo-tinus’s vision of a Platonopolis would be realized This
was not to be after Christianity became the religion of
the empire, despite the great admiration for him by
Em-peror Julian the Apostate
PROCLUS AND DAMASCIUS
Proclus Diadochus (412–485), one of the late
represen-tatives of Neoplatonism, was born at Constantinople
and grew up at Xanthus in Lycia He attended the
Neo-platonic lectures of Plutarch and Syrianus About 450
he succeeded to the chair of philosophy at Syrianus to
become the successor of Plato He put Neoplatonism
squarely into the Academy as its doctrine An adamant
supporter of the old paganism, Proclus often attended
or performed the rites of Egyptian, Chaldaean, and
Greek celebrations He succeeded in so enraging the
lo-cal Christians with his paganism that he felt it prudent
to go to Asia Minor After a year he returned to
Ath-ens where he remained until his death The writings of
Proclus were numerous, with a small number having
survived His views were fully developed in his work
On Platonic Theology His teachings on Neoplatonism
were elaborated in Institutio Theologica Other
writ-ings by Proclus discussed astronomy, mathematics, and
some of the astrology of Ptolemy
The Neoplatonism of Damascius (c 480–550),
taught at Alexandria, almost abandoned it He wrote
Life of Isidorus and a long treatise, On the First
Prin-ciples, which is a commentary on the last part of the
Platonic dialogue, Parmenides The hierarchical world
of Proclus is replaced with a mystical path that allows
the soul to journey to the higher realities Perhaps the
most infl uential of Neoplatonic writings in the
Mid-dle Ages was the anonymous work long attributed to
Dionysius the Areopagite (Acts 17:34), but which are
now attributed to Dionysius the Pseudo-Dionysius The
writings of the Pseudo-Dionysius were originally
writ-ten in Greek sometime after 450, probably either at
Ephesus or in Syria The writings, The Divine Names,
The Mystical Theology, The Celestial Hierarchy, The
Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, and The Letters, have been the
center of debates by scholars over whether the
Pseudo-Dionysius was a Neoplatonist, a Christian, or both
Neoplatonism’s infl uence was deep and long last-ing The Neoplatonists promoted a fresh, dynamic phi-losophy Christians infl uenced by Neoplatonism include Origen, the Cappadocian Fathers of Orthodoxy, and some of the medieval Byzantines such as Psellos Neo-platonism found occasional expressions in medieval Western philosophy in the writings of Johannes Sco-tus Eriugena, and others After the Arab conquest of much of the Middle East, Neoplatonism deeply infl u-enced Islamic philosophy through the thought of Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Averroës, and others Neoplatonism infl uenced Jewish philosophy and literature in Moorish Spain, eventually fi nding expression in the philosophy
of Baruch de Spinoza
See also Alexandrian literature; Epicureanism; Greek oratory and rhetoric; libraries, ancient; pre-Socratic philosophy; Sophocles
Further reading: Armstrong, A H., ed The Cambridge History
of Later Greek and Early Medieval Philosophy Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970; Bigg, Charles Neopla-tonists 1886; Blumenthal, H J Aristotle and Neoplatonism
in Late Antiquity: Interpretations of the De Animia Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1996; Bowerstock, G W Hel-lenism in Late Antiquity Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990; Brehier, Emile The Hellenistic and Roman Age
Trans by Wade Baskin Reprint, Chicago: University of
Chi-cago Press, 1965; Burt, B C A Brief History of Greek Phi-losophy Boston: Ginn and Co., 1889; Gersh, Stephen From Iamblichus to Eriugena: An Investigation of the Prehistory and Evolution of the Pseudo-Dionysian Tradition Leiden, Netherlands: E J Brill, 1978; Honderich, Ted The Oxford Companion to Philosophy New York: Oxford University Press, 1995; Luibheid, Colm, trans Pseudo-Dionysius: The Complete Works Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1987; Sior-vanes, Lucas Proclus: Neo-Platonic Philosophy and Science
New Haven: CT: Yale University Press, 1996; Wallis, R T
Neoplatonism Indianapolis, IN: Hackett, 1995.
Jack Waskey
Nero
(37–68 c.e.) Roman emperor
The fi fth and fi nal of the Julio-Claudian emperors, a dynasty founded by Augustus Caesar, Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus reigned for the last 14 years of his life, succeeding his mother’s uncle Claudius Although a patron of the arts, his reign is remembered as one indic-ative of the decadence and eventual fall of Rome—the
304 Nero