1st Edition

Proclus and the Chaldean Oracles A Study on Proclean Exegesis, with a Translation and Commentary of Proclus’ Treatise On Chaldean Philosophy

By Nicola Spanu Copyright 2021
    210 Pages
    by Routledge

    210 Pages
    by Routledge

    This volume examines the discussion of the Chaldean Oracles in the work of Proclus, as well as offering a translation and commentary of Proclus’ Treatise On Chaldean Philosophy.

    Spanu assesses whether Proclus’ exegesis of the Chaldean Oracles can be used by modern research to better clarify the content of Chaldean doctrine or must instead be abandoned because it represents a substantial misinterpretation of originary Chaldean teachings. The volume is augmented by Proclus’ Greek text, with English translation and commentary.

    Proclus and the Chaldean Oracles will be of interest to researchers working on Neoplatonism, Proclus and theurgy in the ancient world.

    INTRODUCTION

    CHAPTER 1. THE CHALDEAN TRIAD

    CHAPTER 2. THE STRUCTURE OF THE DIVINE DIMENSION

    CHAPTER 3. THE WORLD’S INTELLECTUAL ARCHETYPE AND THE CREATION OF THE MATERIAL DIMENSION

    CHAPTER 4. MAN AND HIS DESTINY

    CHAPTER 5. PROCLUS’ON CHALDEAN PHILOSOPHY. TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY

    CONCLUSIONS

    INDEX OF ANCIENT SOURCES QUOTED

    BIBLIOGRAPHY

    Biography

    Nicola Spanu wrote a PhD thesis on Plotinus and his Gnostic disciples and took part in a postdoctoral project on Byzantine cosmology and its relation to Neoplatonism. He has worked as an independent researcher on his second academic publication, which has focused on Proclus and the Chaldean Oracles.

    "This is a book which scholars both of Proclus and of the Chaldean Oracles will want to have at their disposal... Spanu has taken on a task of considerable difficulty and one which does represent, as he suggests, the next necessary step in the interpretation of the Chaldean Oracles: the systematic study of the adaptation of Chaldean material in the works of late-antique Platonists, especially Proclus and Damascius." - Bryn Mawr Classical Review