Theurgy in Late Antiquity: The Invention of a Ritual Tradition (Beitrage Zur Europaischen Religionsgeschichte (BERG), 1)

Theurgy is commonly taken to denote a complex of rites which are based on the so-called Chaldean Oracles, a collection of oracles in hexameters, which were probably composed during the late second century AD. These rituals are mostly known through Neoplatonic sources, who engage in a passionate debate about their relevance to the salvation of the soul and thus to the philosopher's ultimate goal. Ilinca Tanaseanu-Dobler examines the development of the discourse on theurgy, attempting to reconstruct what was understood as theurgic ritual in the late antique sources. Withstanding the temptation to impose a unity on the disparate sources which span several centuries, she thus goes beyond the picture of a coherent, extra-philosophical tradition drawn by the Neoplatonists to sketch the variations in the rituals subsumed under 'theurgy' and their function, and shows how every author constructs his own 'theurgy'. This perspective leads to consider theurgy as an example of an 'artificial' ritual tradition, composed from already existing elements to create something claimed as sui generis. Theurgy offers the great opportunity to look at such a tradition from its beginning up to its end and to analyse the mechanisms of inventing and reinventing such a ritual tradition in process. Cover 1 Title Page 4 Copyright 5 Table of Contents 6 Foreword and Acknowledgements 8 1. Introduction: The Problem of Theurgy 10 2. Theurgy and the Chaldean Oracles 22 2.1 Preliminaries 22 2.2 Sacrifice? 27 2.3 Initiation and Ascent 30 2.4 Epiphanies and Visions 35 2.5 Results: Rituals in the Oracles 39 2.6 Great Absents 40 3. First Debates about Theurgy : Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus 46 3.1 Theurgy and the Circle of Plotinus 46 3.2 Chaldean Oracles and Theurgy in Porphyry 57 3.2.1 The Philosophy from Oracles 58 3.2.2 The Letter to Anebo 75 3.2.3 De regressu animae 84 3.3 Theurgy in Iamblichus 96 3.3.1 De mysteriis 96 3.3.2 The Pythagorising writings 112 3.3.3 Other works and the anecdotes of Eunapius 131 4. Theurgy in the Later Fourth and Early Fifth Century 137 4.1 The Emperor Julian: Theurgy, Philosophy and the Priestly Life 137 4.2 Salutius 150 4.3 Eunapius of Sardes 153 4.4 Synesius of Cyrene 163 4.5 Hierocles 176 5. The Later Fifth Century: Theurgy and Demiurgy in Proclus 187 5.1 Preliminaries 189 5.2 Terminology 191 5.3 Theurgic rituals and themes in philosophical contexts 200 5.3.1 Divine Visions: The Commentary on the Republic 200 5.3.2 Theurgy and Myth 205 5.3.3 Theurgic Ascent and Immortalisation in the Commentary on the Republic and the Platonic Theology 208 5.3.4 Philosophy and Theurgy : The Commentary on the Parmenides and the Platonic Theology 216 5.3.5 Theurgy and Divine Names: Proclus on the Cratylus 238 5.3.6 Theurgy and Demiurgy : Proclus on the Timaeus 244 5.3.7 Intellectual and Verbal Songs of the Soul: the Eclogae and Proclus’ Hymns 252 5.4 Theurgy in Proclus 256 6. Other Late Neoplatonists on Theurgy and Rituals 259 7. Conclusion: Theurgy – Writing about Rituals 279 Bibliography 288 Sources 288 Lexica and databases 292 Works Cited 292 Index nominum 316 Index rerum 320 Theurgy is commonly taken to denote a complex of rites which are based on the so-called Chaldean Oracles, a collection of oracles in hexameters, which were probably composed during the late 2nd century AD. These rituals are mostly known through Neoplatonic sources, who engage in a passionate debate about their relevance to the salvation of the soul and thus to the philosopher's ultimate goal. Ilinca Tanaseanu-Dobler examines the development of the discourse on theurgy, attempting to reconstruct what was understood as theurgic ritual in the late antique sources. Withstanding the temptation to impose a unity on the disparate sources which span several centuries, she thus goes beyond the picture of a coherent, extra-philosophical tradition drawn by the Neoplatonists to sketch the variations in the rituals subsumed under 'theurgy' and their function, and shows how every author constructs his own 'theurgy'. This perspective leads to consider theurgy as an example of an 'artificial' ritual tradition, composed from already existing elements to create something claimed as sui generis. Theurgy offers the great opportunity to look at such a tradition from its beginning up to its end and to analyse the mechanisms of inventing and reinventing such a ritual tradition in process. Theurgy is commonly taken to denote a complex of rites which are based on the so-called Chaldean Oracles, a collection of oracles in hexameters, which were probably composed during the late 2nd century AD. These rituals are mostly known through Neoplatonic sources, who engage in a passionate debate about their relevance to the salvation of the soul and thus to the philosopher's ultimate goal. Ilinca Tanaseanu-Döbler examines the development of the discourse on theurgy, attempting to reconstruct what was understood as theurgic ritual in the late antique sources. Withstanding the temptation to impose a unity on the disparate sources which span several centuries, she thus goes beyond the picture of a coherent, extra-philosophical tradition drawn by the Neoplatonists to sketch the variations in the rituals subsumed under'theurgy'and their function, and shows how every author constructs his own'theurgy'. This perspective leads to consider theurgy as an example of an'artificial'ritual tradition, composed from already existing elements to create something claimed as sui generis. Theurgy offers the great opportunity to look at such a tradition from its beginning up to its end and to analyse the mechanisms of inventing and reinventing such a ritual tradition in process. Hauptbeschreibung Theurgy is commonly taken to denote a complex of rites which are based on the so-called Chaldean Oracles, a collection of oracles in hexameters, which were probably composed during the late 2nd century AD. These rituals are mostly known through Neoplatonic sources, who engage in a passionate debate about their relevance to the salvation of the soul and thus to the philosopher's ultimate goal. Ilinca Tanaseanu-Döbler examines the development of the discourse on theurgy, attempting to reconstruct what was understood as theurgic ritual in the late antique sources. Wit