Who?
Ostanes or Osthanes [Old Iranian Avastana or (H)ushtana] was a legendary Achaemenian era (700-300 BCE) Persian Magus (a Zoroastrian priest), and perhaps an arch-Magus. While he is not mentioned in Persian literature (most Persian literature from the Achaemenian era has been destroyed or lost), he finds mention in Hellenic and Arabic literature.
The is a possibility that the eponymous Ostanes / Oshtanes was an illustrious member of a family of Magi priests bearing the same name since Pliny seems to talk about three Oshtanes over a span of one or two hundred years with one being particularly noteworthy.
When?
Xanthus of Lydia (late 5th cent. BCE) is cited by Diogenes Laertius at 1.2 as mentioning that the Persian Magi Ostani (plural) lived after the time of Xerxes (r. 486-465 BCE).
Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE) makes Ostanes a contemporary of Achaemenian King Xerxes (519-465 BCE) having accompanied the king on his invasion of Greece. Pliny also makes another Ostanes a contemporary of Alexander of Macedonia (356-323 BCE), and further states that Ostanes was Democritus’ (c. 460–c. 370 BCE) teacher, a task Ostanes shared with other Chaldeans and Magi present in the court of Xerxes.
Suffice it to say that Ostanes was thought to have lived sometime during the 6th to 4th centuries BCE.
Where?
In which court of Xerxes Ostanes was stationed is not entirely clear. A letter written by a certain Syneius (of Cyrene c.4th cent. BCE?) to Dioscorus, a Serapeion priest at Alexandria, Egypt, speaks of Democritus visiting Egypt where he was initiated into the mysteries by Ostanes (also see 'Democritus' below). George Syncellus, a 9th cent. CE Greek chronicler, says that Ostanes was sent by the Persian king to preside over the priests of Egypt.
What? Ostanes' Legacy
In a c. 2-4th cent. CE letter written in Syriac, the Egyptian philosopher Pebechius informs Osrom the Magian (a Zoroastrian), that he Pebechius, had discovered hidden books of Ostanes written in Persian. The books had been inscribed on seven tablets that had been hidden by a king behind seven doors. As Pebechius cannot read Persian, he implores Osrom "to send him the Persian letters" (presumable a language and translation guide). Pebechius stresses the need for quick action so that he may translate the texts before he dies, for he is already old and infirm. Osrom responds that he is delighted with the discovery and send the Egyptian the Persian "letters". As a result Pebechius deciphers the texts. In a subsequent correspondence, Pebechius in great awe describes the books as Ostanes' divine revelations and a treatise on the whole of all the sciences including the wisdom of Hermes which Ostanes had recovered and restored to the Magi and to the world. Compare this account with the Arabic text described below. We assume Osrom, to whom the letter was addressed, lived in Persia.
In Physika kai Mystika, a book by Democritus, but credited to a 2nd cent. BCE Egyptian Bolus, Ostanes is quoted as stating in the first person that he "died before our teaching was completed." Therefore he returned from the nether-world to deliver to his disciples the teachings of his ancestors which were hidden in a the pillars of a temple. What we have here is according to Kevin Thomas Van Bladel in From Pagan Sage to Prophet of Science is "the loss and recovery of ancient Persian science." The occasion for the loss was the invasion of Alexander and the consequent destruction of Magian texts. The effort to recover them took place after the end of Macedonian-Greek rule.
Hermetic Sciences
The letter in Syriac from Pebechius to Osrom that we have cited above, also makes Ostanes a principle author of the texts on the Hermetic Sciences attributed to Hermes Trismegistus.
Also see our page: Hermippus Redivivus by J.H. Cohausen (1749) - Hermetic Philosophy & Zoroaster.
Ostanes on the Nature of God
Cyprian, bishop of Carthage (c. 248-258 CE), in his treatise Quad idola dii non sint, states that Ostanes said God cannot be perceived and Hermes Trismegistus said God cannot be comprehended (by humans). These are views prevalent in Zoroastrianism today.
Ostanes in Arabic Sources
Reconstruction of Zoroastrian-Persian texts Destroyed by Alexander
It is quite remarkable for a Zoroastrian Magus to find sympathetic mention in otherwise derogatory Arabic sources. It is even more remarkable that the Arabs would have preserved mention of Persian leadership in science when Persian sources themselves had forgotten the history.
One such Arabic source was published by Berthelot in La Chimie au moyen age, vol. 3.79-88 (Arabic text) as two books. The awkward style of the Arabic indicates that they texts were direct translations of an older work. Both books are accounts by Ostanes.
In the first book, Ostanes relates a conversation with Aristotle about the properties of special kinds of matter.
In the second book Ostanes describes a dream he had after falling asleep weary with concern about his work. In his dream an old man beckons him to rise from his bed and leads him to seven doors behind which are treasure houses of science. But to open these doors, Ostanes needs a key held by a ferocious beast with the wings of a vulture, the head of an elephant and the tail of a dragon. The sage Ostanes asks for the key in the name of God and the beast complies. On opening the doors, Ostanes discovers inscriptions behind each in a different language.
The first door reveals an inscription in Egyptian (a possible indication of the source of the original text) that describes the body, spirit and soul metaphorically as the lamp, oil and wick respectively. This essential composition of a person is typically Zoroastrian.
The second door reveals an inscription in Persian. The text reads:
Then there was after it Persian writing in which was much learning and knowledge, and this is what I say to you now; it is the writing that was clear to me and the knowledge that I had acquired. It said:
"As for Egypt, it has excellence over the towns and countries. That is because God the Exalted has given its people wisdom and knowledge in all things. As for Persia, the people of Egypt and those over the horizons need it (i.e. Persia). Nothing in their works is sound except that which has come from Persia. Do you not see that each of the philosophers whose concern was in this knowledge had sent to the people of Persia and took them as brothers, and asked them to send to him that which comes from their land and is not found in other lands? Have you not heard a certain philosopher having written to the Magi, the people of Persia, that 'I have come upon one of the books of the first sages in the pen of Persia that I cannot read. Send me one of their sages to read to me my book which I have found. For you are doing me a favour, if you do that, and I will thank you forever as long as I remain. So send quickly to me the one whom I have asked from before my life ceases and I become a corpse needing no knowledge.' And the sages of the people of Persia wrote to him that, 'When you letter reached us, we were very happy with what you wrote to us. We have sent quickly to you the sage that you have asked for to read to you your book and explain to you what is hidden to you of it, for we consider it is necessary duty for us to you.Consider when you have finished your book as it should be, and send quickly to us a copy of that book, because our forefathers were the ones who established that book. Therefore let us have a share of it with you, for it also thus should be. Peace.'"
Reconstruction of Zoroastrian-Persian History
The appeal by the Persian magi to share with them a text that had been lost to them is amazing. Zoroastrian texts had been largely destroyed during the invasion of Alexander and that some of them survived in Egypt is very probable. After Persian-Iranian liberation from Hellenic domination, Zoroastrian kings and priests went about collecting scattered texts that might have survived. The elation of the Persian Magi in learning that some of the ancient texts had indeed survived and had been rediscovered is palpable.
The third door doors reveals an inscription in the Indian script which stated that India was the most potent of all countries because of its proximity to the Sun. However, "if it were not for what we need from Persia, we would complete all our work with that which comes out of our land and our sea." Then the Indians relate how they sent the urine of a male, white elephant from their land to a man that had requested it, and how the man was very impressed with its healing properties. [This is very consistent with Zoroastrian healing and purification tradition which employs the urine of a male, white bull.]
We are not told of the contents behind the other doors as the dream comes to an end with the old guide giving Ostanes mysterious instructions. At the conclusion Ostanes states that he followed the instructions to completion "as Hermes had described." The account links the beliefs of the Magi, i.e. Zoroastrianism to Hermetic beliefs - In all likelihood giving rise to a syncretized belief system.
The similarity of this account is so close to the account described above in the letters between the Egyptian philosopher Pebechius and the Magian Osrom, so as to be beyond coincidence.
Democritus
The Magus Ostanes' student and likely disciple was Democritus (c. 460–c. 370 BCE), an influential pre-Socratic philosopher who formulated an atomic theory for the cosmos. Many consider Democritus to be the father of modern science. Though largely ignored in Athens, he was respected by the Persians and Persian emperor Xerxes is said to have visited his home.
Democritus is reported to have also visited Babylon to study the science of the Chaldeans. He summed up the results of his investigations in a Chaldean Treatise. Another treatise by Democritus was titled On the Sacred Writings of Those in Babylon and as a result of his visit to Persia, he wrote Mageia [q.v. The Dying God by David Livingston (Lincoln, 2002) p. 101].
Synecius (of Cyrene 4th cent. CE) in a letter to Dioscorus, priest of the Serapeion at Alexandria, says that Democritus came to Egypt and was initiated into the Mysteries by the great Ostanes in a temple at Memphis in a ceremony attended to by many priests (magi). We may conclude that Democritus was not just a student of Magus Ostanes but a disciple as well.
As we note again below, in 30.9-10, Pliny notes that it was Democritus who instilled in the minds of men the sweetness of magic - the science of the Magi.
Alchemy
Ostanes is credited with being one of the great authorities in alchemy and the author of several
books on alchemy. For instance, in the Arabic treatise titled Kitab al-Fusul al-ithnay ‘ashar fi 'ilm al-hajar al-mukarram (The Book of the Twelve Chapters on the Honourable Stone).
Pliny's Harangue
Pliny the Elder, in a triad against Ostanes, credits the arch-Magus as having introduced the Persian sciences to the Egyptians and Greeks and giving the Greeks a downright "madness" for the magian sciences. In 30.2.8-10, Pliny goes on to state that many Greek philosophers such as Pythagoras, Empedocles, Democritus, and Plato had traveled east to study the philosophy and craft of the magi and then returned to Greece to teach what they had learned from the Persian magi.
In 30.2.9-10, Pliny goes on to say that it was Democritus who propagated in Greece magic - the science of the magi - and likely what Democritus had learnt from Ostanes and other magi.
Pliny's Natural History Book 30.2.3:
"The first person, so far as I can ascertain, who wrote upon magic, and whose works are still in existence, was Osthanes, who accompanied Xerxes, the Persian king, in his expedition against Greece. It was he who first disseminated, as it were, the germs of this monstrous art, and tainted therewith all parts of the world through which the Persians passed. Authors who have made diligent enquiries into this subject, make mention of a second Zoroaster, a native of Proconnesus, as living a little before the time of Osthanes. That it was this same 'Osthanes, more particularly, that inspired the Greeks, not with a fondness only, but a rage, for the art of magic, is a fact beyond all doubt: though at the same time I would remark, that in the most ancient times, and indeed almost invariably, it was in this branch of science, that was sought the highest point of celebrity and of literary renown. At all events, Pythagoras, we find, Empedocles, Democritus, and Plato, crossed the seas, in order to attain a knowledge thereof, submitting, to speak the truth, more to the evils of exile than to the mere inconveniences of travel. Returning home, it was upon the praises of this art that they expatiated—it was this that they held as one of their grandest mysteries. It was Democritus, too, who first drew attention to Apollobeches of Coptos, to Dardanus, and to Phœnix: the works of Dardanus he sought in the tomb of that personage, and his own were composed in accordance with the doctrines there found. That these doctrines should have been received by any portion of mankind, and transmitted to us by the aid of memory, is to me surprising beyond anything I can conceive. All the particulars there found are so utterly incredible, so utterly revolting, that those even who admire Democritus in other respects, are strong in their denial that these works were really written by him. Their denial, however, is in vain; for it was he, beyond all doubt, who had the greatest share in fascinating men's minds with these attractive chimeras."
References
Bidez and Cumont 1938 1.165-212.
» Pliny's Naturalis Historia at Perseus Bk. 30 in Latin
» Pliny's Natural History at Perseus Bk. 30 in English
» The Arabic Hermes: From Pagan Sage to Prophet of Science by Kevin Thomas Van Bladel
» Mithraism and Alchemy
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Alcibiades, Plato and Some Amazing Insights. Part 1, the Historical Alcibiades
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| Embrace of Sensual Pleasure (1785). Artist: Jean-Baptiste Regnault (France, 1754-1829). Image credit: Wikipedia. In the painting, Socrates is pulling his young lover Alcibiades away from the arms of a woman. Discussions about sex pervade Plato's dialogue about Alcibiades as well as accounts of the historical Alcibiades. |
Introductory Notes
Alcibiades is a two-part dialogue attributed to Plato. The references to Persians and Zoroaster by Plato in his dialogue, and the story of the historical Alcibiades as well, present us with fascinating information and insights about how the Greeks perceived the Persians, the training of Persian princes in Zoroastrianism, and about some of the machinings that took place behind the scenes in Greek-Persian relations. We will let the reader decide who were the real villains and victims in this charade.
The Historical Alcibiades
The historical Alcibiades lived c. 450–404 BCE, and was a controversial politician and general during the Peloponnesian war between Sparta and Athens (431 to 404 BCE. See map below. ). The war between Sparta and Athens (Athens was ethnically Ionian, Asian?, while the Spartans were ethnically Dorian, northerners?) was one of the most destructive wars in ancient history and one which brought to an end the golden age in Greek history.
Plutarch (Plutarch, Alcibiades, 6-8) states that Socrates was amongst Alcibiades' teachers and that Alcibiades "feared and reverenced Socrates alone, and despised the rest of his (Socrates' many) lovers". Plato informs us that the much older Socrates was the young and exceptionally handsome Alcibiades' first (male) lover.
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| Map of Ancient Greece. The Peloponnesus peninsula is the located to the southwest of the mainland. Sparta lies to the south of the peninsula while Athens lies east of the peninsula's isthmus. |
Alcibiades' Anti-Spartan Alliance & Its Defeat
Alcibiades was variously loved and hated by the Athenians. In 421 BCE Alcibiades gained notoriety as the political opponent of Nicias/Nikias and the peace-party that had negotiated peace with Sparta after years of indecisive warring. According to the historian Thucydides, who knew Alcibiades well and who wrote about him dispassionately, Alcibiades vainly opposed the treaty because the Spartans had not negotiated through him. The slighted Alcibiades instead constructed an anti-Spartan alliance between the democracies of Athens Argos, Mantinea and Elis, the latter three being city-states neighboring Sparta in the Peloponnese. He then advocated a resumption of the war with Sparta. In 418, a crushing Spartan victory at Mantinea broke up Alcibiades' anti-Spartan alliance.
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| Spartans and Athenians at war |
Incident Regarding the Phallic God Hermes
In 415 BCE, Alcibiades persuaded the Athenians to send a major military expedition to Sicily against Syracuse, Syracuse was the most powerful city state in Sicily. It was Dorian by ethnicity (as was Sparta), and it was a colony of Corinth, a Spartan ally. The night before the expedition was to set sail, the Hermae, that is, heads of the god Hermes on a plinth with a phallus, were mysteriously mutilated throughout Athens.
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| A Herma plinth - a roadside marker rep- resenting the phallic god Hermes. In Athens, herms or hermae were placed as roadside markers and outside houses for good luck. |
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| A devotee placing a Herma near an altar |
Alcibiades Sentenced to Death by Athenians
We now return to our narrative. In the ensuing melee after the discovery of the vandalized hermae, Alcibiades was accused of being the originator of the sacrilege as well as of having profaned the Eleusinian Mysteries. Perhaps because in one of his roles - Hermes was the god who protected travellers - the act was seen as an attempt to sabotage the voyage to Sicily. Alcibiades demanded an immediate inquiry to clear his name, but his enemies fearing that soldiers loyal to him might protect him, ensured that he sailed with the charge still hanging over him. However, when he and his troops reached Sicily, he was recalled alone to stand trail, and a state ship was sent to bring him back to Athens.
Alcibiades Flees to Sparta. Advises Sparta Against Athens
Fearing for his life, Alcibiades did not return to Athens. Instead he fled to Sparta where he convinced the Spartans that he could assist them in their cause. Sure enough, while he was hiding in Sparta, the Athenians found Alcibiades guilty in absentia and sentenced him to death. But soon he would have to flee Sparta, this time seeking the protection of the Persian satrap (governor-general) of Lydia and Caria, Tissaphernes.
Alcibiades Seduces Timaia Queen of Sparta
The reason for Alcibiades fleeing Sparta was the disclosure of his affair with Timaia, the wife of Spartan King Agis II while the latter was away warring at Decelea with his army. Alcibiades was also likely the father of the son she bore. When news of the affair became public, a death warrant was issued for Alcibiades - but fortunately for him, he was sailing to Asia Minor at the time.
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| Map of ancient Greek states c. 500-400 BCE. Note Medising states - states friendly to the Persian Empire - in blue. 1. To see a larger map click here 2. To see an additional map click here |
Becomes Adviser & Manipulates Persians
In Asia minor, Alcibiades fled the long arms of both Athenian and Spartan law, seeking refuge this time in lands of the Persian Empire (Lydia, Caria and Phrygia. See map above) that bordered the Greek island states of Lesbos, home of the Lesbians, Ionia and Samos, home to the Asiatic Greeks and the Athenian naval fleet. This is where Tissaphernes (Old Persian Chithrafarnah, d. 395 BC) held office as satrap or governor general for the Persian Emperor Darayavahush II (Darius II, 423-404 BCE, not to be confused with Darius I, the Great). There Alcibiades offered his services as an adviser to the satrap. Such was Alcibiades's good fortune that Tissaphernes accepted the offer.
In his relations with the Greek states, the Persian satrap Tissaphernes was more inclined to diplomacy and negotiations. Alcibiades though was more inclined to achieving his ends through treachery and subterfuge. Alcibiades was well aware that Athens had been instigating the Asian Greek states under Persian rule not to pay taxes. The Athenian therefore counselled the Persian to adopt a more aggressive approach towards Athens. The militant Alcibiades also persuaded the Persian satrap Tissaphernes that Persia's best policy was to play Athens and Sparta against one another.
Alcibiades was often successful in manipulating the Persians to whom he ingratiated himself by displaying an affectation of Persian manners. When in Sparta he had similarly shown an affection for Spartan manners. In Sparta, Alcibiades had abandoned the wild and extravagant lifestyle he had enjoyed in Athens (perhaps without choice because he had no remaining wealth or property) and adopted instead the fabled austere lifestyle of the Spartans which included dressing in a single cloak, bathing in the cold waters of the River Eurotas, and dining on Spartan 'black broth' made from pork blood and vinegar.
Alcibiades Supports the Oligarchs Against the Democrats
Not content to leave matters be, Alcibiades continued his old ways and persuaded a group of Athenian generals and admirals in Samos (of the coast of Caria) to overthrow to "radical" Athenian democracy and install in its place an oligarchy - dictatorship by a power elite that included the generals. As part of his plan, Alcibiades promised to use his influence with Tissaphernes and the King of Persia, to switch sides and support the Athenian cause against the Spartans. The generals and admirals in turn persuaded their soldiers and sailors to support the coup with promises of lucrative pay from the Persian king.
Phrynichus, a politician in Athens who had opposed Alcibiades, on hearing of the plan, feared that a restored Alcibiades would seek revenge against him. Phrynichus therefore sent a secret letter to the Spartan admiral, Astyochus, informing him of Alcibiades' plot to make the Persian satrap Tissaphernes support the Athenians against the Spartans. Part of Phrynichus' offer to the Spartan admiral Astyochus was support in destroying the rebellious Athenian fleet in Samos.
Persians Refuse to Take Sides
In all likelihood, the Persians were originally unaware of these intrigues. If the Persian satrap Tissaphernes is to be faulted, it is for his own naiveté. When the Persian did become aware of the plot, Alcibiades' scheme encountered a set-back, for Tissaphernes, determined to stay neutral in the squabble, refused to make an agreement with the Athenian conspirators on any terms.
Not to be outdone or to have his scheme undone, the wily and treacherous Alcibiades managed to convince the Athenians that the Persians in fact supported his scheme - and raised the stakes by presenting the Athenians with ever increasing demands supposedly on Tissaphernes' behalf and supposedly in exchange for Persian support. The Athenians believed Alcibiades represented the Persians and were enraged at the audacity of what they thought were Persian demands! The upshot was that Alcibiades' scheme backfired, for the Athenians withdrew their support for him.
In 411 BCE, the Athenian rebels nevertheless launched their planned coup. They succeeded in overthrowing the democrats and in installing an oligarchy of four hundred erstwhile dictators - a coalition which didn't survive very long, for the 400 squabbled between themselves and a few days later were replaced by an oligarchy of 5,000 consisting of Athens' wealthiest landowners. In a strange twist of fate, the Athenian democrats continued to hold power on the island of Samos - which, the reader will remember, lay off the Asiatic coast where the Athenian navy was based. At Samos, the democrats thwarted the coup launched by the generals and 300 would-be Samian oligarchs.
Alcibiades Supports Democrats Against Oligarchs
Now Alcibiades, true to form, concluded a pact that resulted in an alliance between himself and the democrats of Samos. The pact was that Alcibiades would be reinstated as an Athenian citizen in exchange for Alcibiades using his influence with the Persians to garner Persian support for the Athenian democrats in Samos. Alcibiades used his considerable oratorical and persuasion skills to convince the Athenian soldiers and sailors stationed in Samos to elect him as their general. He managed to rile the troops to such an extent and they wished to waste no time in sailing to Athens in an attempt to depose the oligarchs, only to be dissuaded by Alcibiades.
Newly elected as an admiral, Alcibiades sailed to a Persian controlled port with his fleet to show-off his new-found status and power to the Persian satrap Tissaphernes. He told the Greeks that his purpose was to convince Tissaphernes not to sail against the Athenians with the Persian fleet harbored at Aspendos. The pacifist and non-interventionist Tissaphernes had no such plans to sail against the Athenians in the first place. As such, Alcibiades succeeded admirably in impressing both Persians and Athenians.
Persia Actively Supports Sparta
The war between Sparta and Athens continued unabated. In 408 BCE the Persian emperor Darius II decided to actively support Sparta in its war against Athens. He removed the non-interventionist satrap Tissaphernes from the generalship of the western Persian armies and limited Tissaphernes' satrapy to Caria. Darius then gave the satrapy of Lydia and management of the alliance with Sparta in its war with Athens to Pharnabazus under the overall command of his son Cyrus the Younger.
Actively supporting Sparta is what Alcibiades had been pushing the Persians to do in the first place. But now that Alcibiades had switched sides and joined the Athenians, that made him an adversary of the Persians.
Setbacks for the Spartan-Persian Alliance
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| Greek naval fleet. Image credit: Sharing Knowledge (from Wikipedia) |
Victory for the Spartan-Persian Alliance
Alcibiades Blamed for Athenian Defeat
But as the world turns, so would the fortunes of the Athenian's new found hero, for in 406 BCE the Spartan-Persian alliance scored an important victory over the Athenians fleet led by Alcibiades of the coast of Ionia in Asia Minor. While the defeat was relatively minor, Alcibiades' enemies in Athens used the defeat to blame him and the resulting internal divisions in Athens served to further weaken them. In 405 the Athenians would suffer a more devastating defeat at Aegospotami. That defeat cut off the main source of Athenian food supply which was brought in by sea from the wheat fields to the north of the Black Sea.
Alcibiades's Last Desperate Ploy
Alcibiades must have been delusional about his influence with Persia after warring against the Spartan-Persian alliance. For his next move was to go to Phrygia (to the north of Lydia) to seek Persian assistance in yet another scheme. In Phrygia, he sought a meeting with the Persian satrap Pharnabazus to solicit Pharnabazus' assistance for the Athenians. If that plan wasn't delusional enough, it was Alcibiades' intention to journey on from Phrygia to the imperial court of Persia and advise the Persian emperor on how to deal with the Greeks. Perhaps this was Alcibiades' last and desperate attempt to win favor in Athens by demonstrating his connections and influence with the Persian throne.
Assassination of Alcibiades
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| Morte di Alcibiade, the Death of Alcibeade (1839) by Michele De Napoli (1808-1892) Alcibiade's mistress Timandra is in the background |
Surrender of Athens
But Victory for Persia?
Their sea-borne food shipments cut-off and close to the point of mass starvation, Athens surrendered to Sparta in 404 BCE. The Persians vicariously shared in the victory.
But the Persians would not have long to savor their gains. The skies to the north were darkening and a Persian Empire weakened by internal dissent and treachery from within would have to contend with the armies of the Athenians' cousins, the Macedonians. Persian meddling in Greek affairs at a time when the Persians were weak from within would eventually cost them their empire.
For a further discussion of Persian-Greek relations during this period, see our section Peace with Greece - Really?.
» Next page: Alcibiades, Plato and Some Amazing Insights. Part 2 Selections from Plato
Additional Pages on Greek-Persian relations and influence:
» Greek Perceptions of Zoroaster, Zoroastrianism & the Magi
» Zoroastrian-Persian Influence on Greek Philosophy and Sciences
» Similarities in Greek & Persian-Iranian Cuisine
References:
» Full text of Plato's Alcibiades I, translated by Benjamin Jowett at ancienttexts.org
» Full text of Plato's Alcibiades I & II, translated by W.R.M. Lamb at Perseus
» Plutarch, The Life of Alcibiades in Plutarch's Lives at Perseus, translated by Bernadotte Perrin
» Plutarch, The Life of Alcibiades in The Parallel Lives at Thayer
» Andocides, Against Alcibiades in Minor Attic Orators, translated by by K. J. Maidment at Perseus
Alcibiades, Plato and Some Amazing Insights. Part 2, Selections from Plato
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| Socrates seeking Alcibiades in the house of Aspasia, 1861. Artist: Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904). Image credit: Wikipedia |
» Previous page: Alcibiades, Plato and Some Amazing Insights. Part 1 The Historical Alcibiades
Insights into Greek-Persian relations and Perceptions of Zoroastrianism
The selected passages below show some short but remarkable insights into Greek-Persian relations, the Persian principles and the method of educating a prince which includes an early education in Zoroastrianism.
The Setting - Socrates Lies in Wait
The scene in this dialogue of Plato is a meeting and discussion between Socrates and Alcibiades. Socrates has been lying in wait for the aspiring and ambitious youth who is about to enter on public life. Alcibiades has an inordinate opinion of himself, and an extravagant ambition as well. The relation between them is that of a lover and his beloved, Socrates being the older lover and Alcibiades his beloved. In the dialogue, Socrates, 'who knows what is in man,' astonishes Alcibiades with a revelation of the latter's designs.
The conversation which ensues is about politics and justice. But it contains some interesting insights into Greek-Persian relations and Greek perceptions of Zoroaster and Zoroastrianism as well.
Introspection & Self-Knowledge
Jowett in his introduction notes, "But he (Alcibiades) is not too old to learn, and may still arrive at the truth, if he is willing to be cross-examined by Socrates. He must know himself; that is to say, not his body, or the things of the body, but his mind, or truer self. The physician knows the body, and the tradesman knows his own business, but they do not necessarily know themselves. Self-knowledge can be obtained only by looking into the mind and virtue of the soul, which is the diviner part of a man, as we see our own image in another’s eye. And if we do not know ourselves, we cannot know what belongs to ourselves or belongs to others, and are unfit to take a part in political affairs. Both for the sake of the individual and of the state, we ought to aim at justice and temperance, not at wealth or power. The evil and unjust should have no power,--they should be the slaves of better men than themselves. None but the virtuous are deserving of freedom."
Start of the Dialogue
(Translation W.R.M. Lamb)
SOCRATES: Son of Cleinias, I think it must surprise you that I, the first of all your lovers, am the only one of them who has not given up his suit and thrown you over, and whereas they have all pestered you with their conversation I have not spoken one word to you for so many years. The cause of this has been nothing human, but a certain spiritual opposition, of whose power you shall be informed at some later time. However, it now opposes me no longer...
In the first place, you say to yourself that you are the fairest and tallest of the citizens, and this every one who has eyes may see to be true; in the second place, that you are among the noblest of them, highly connected both on the father’s and the mother’s side, and sprung from one of the most distinguished families in your own state, which is the greatest in Hellas, and having many friends and kinsmen of the best sort, who can assist you when in need; and there is one potent relative, who is more to you than all the rest, Pericles the son of Xanthippus, whom your father left guardian of you, and of your brother, and who can do as he pleases not only in this city, but in all Hellas, and among many and mighty barbarous nations. Moreover, you are rich; but I must say that you value yourself least of all upon your possessions. And all these things have lifted you up; you have overcome your lovers, and they have acknowledged that you were too much for them.
[It would appear that establishing lineage to the gods and demi-gods was essential to standing in Greek society. The wealthy and powerful all claimed this connection.]
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Portion Relating to Persians & Zoroastrianism
(Translation Benjamin Jowett)
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| Map of the Spartan and Athenian sides and strategies during the Peloponnesian War. Image credit: Wikipedia |
SOCRATES: Why, you surely know that our city goes to war now and then with the Lacedaemonians1 and with the Great King2?
[Notes:
1 Lacedaemonia, also known as Laconia, is situated in the south of Greece at the southern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. It is also known as Sparta. The Athenians had been engaged in a war with Sparta called the Peloponnesian war (431 to 404 BCE). For the main part, the Spartans were allied with the Persians. The word "laconic", meaning to speak in a terse, concise way, is derived from Laconia. A person of few words is said to be laconic. Similarly, to be spartan means to be austere, stern, disciplined, frugal, simple, and courageous.
2 The Great King refers to the Persian emperor. The Persians were for the main part allies of the Spartans/Lacedaemonians during the Peloponnesian wars.]
ALCIBIADES: True enough.
SOCRATES: And if you meant to be the ruler of this city, would you not be right in considering that the Lacedaemonian and Persian king were your true rivals?
ALCIBIADES: I believe that you are right.
SOCRATES: Oh no, my friend, I am quite wrong, and I think that you ought rather to turn your attention to Midias the quail-breeder and others like him, who manage our politics; in whom, as the women would remark, you may still see the slaves3 cut of hair, cropping out in their minds as well as on their pates (heads)4; and they come with their barbarous lingo5 to flatter us and not to rule us. To these, I say, you should look, and then you need not trouble yourself about your own fitness to contend in such a noble arena: there is no reason why you should either learn what has to be learned, or practise what has to be practised, and only when thoroughly prepared enter on a political career.
[Notes:
3 Slaves in Athens were largely natives of western Asia. and had thick, close hair, very different from the wavy locks of the Greeks.
4 W.R.M. Lamb: "showing in their minds through their lack of culture."
5 W.R.M. Lamb: "outlandish speech"]
Prepare Yourself for Politics - Know Yourself & Your Enemies
ALCIBIADES: There, I think, Socrates, that you are right; I do not suppose, however, that the Spartan generals or the Great King are really different from anybody else.
SOCRATES: But, my dear friend, do consider what you are saying.
ALCIBIADES: What am I to consider?
SOCRATES: In the first place, will you be more likely to take care of yourself, if you are in a wholesome fear and dread of them, or if you are not?
ALCIBIADES: Clearly, if I have such a fear of them.
SOCRATES: And do you think that you will sustain any injury if you take care of yourself?
ALCIBIADES: No, I shall be greatly benefited.
SOCRATES: And this is one very important respect in which that notion of yours is bad.
ALCIBIADES: True.
SOCRATES: In the next place, consider that what you say is probably false.
ALCIBIADES: How so?
Breeding & Lineage
SOCRATES: Let me ask you whether better natures are likely to be found in noble races or not in noble races?
ALCIBIADES: Clearly in noble races.
SOCRATES: Are not those who are well born and well bred most likely to be perfect in virtue?
ALCIBIADES: Certainly.
SOCRATES: Then let us compare our antecedents with those of the Lacedaemonian and Persian kings; are they inferior to us in descent? Have we not heard that the former are sprung from Heracles6, and the latter from Achaemenes, and that the race of Heracles and the race of Achaemenes go back to Perseus7, son of Zeus?
[Notes:
Heracles
6 Known to the Romans and the modern world as as Hercules, Heracles was the greatest of cultural mythic demigod Greek heroes. Said to have more brawn than brain, he is claimed as a one-time king of Argos (to the north of Sparta and on the eastern Peloponnese peninsula), and further claimed as ancestor to the royal clans of Heracleidae. As a god, he was the son of Zeus, and both great-grandson and half-brother of Perseus. While his name means 'of Hera' (Hera being the wife of supreme god Zeus) he was hated by Hera for being the illicit and illegitimate son born of an affair (one of many) Zeus had with a mortal woman Alcmene - whom Zeus seduced after disguising himself as her husband. This is the backdrop to what Socrates calls "noble race" "well born and well bred most likely to be perfect in virtue". Nevertheless, what is of interest here is that Plato (or some Greek writer at any rate) through Socrates describes a common origin for the Greeks and the Persians: "that the race of Heracles and the race of Achaemenes (both) go back to Perseus," Perseus being credited in Greek mythology as a 'grandfather' of the Persian 'race'. Heracles was a Perseid.
Perseus, Perses & Persians
7 Here we have Plato ascribing the 'race' (sic) of the Persians to Perseus. Given that the word 'Persians' is a Western corruption of Parsi - named after a place Pars/Parsa and not a eponymous people - and given that there is no such myth of origins even remotely close amongst the Persians/Iranians, we can only conclude that this Greek myth came into being after the rise of the Persians as a power and because of what the Greeks perceived to be their ancient connections with the Persians. Regardless of the veracity of the myth, the sentiment contained is one of common origins and the Greek connection of the name Persian to Perseus.
In Greek mythology, Perseus, son of Zeus and the maiden Danae, is the legendary founder of the state of Mycenae (located about 90 km south-west of Athens, in the north-eastern Peloponnese), and Mycenae's Perseid dynasty. Mycenae was the dominant Greek city-state in the second millennium BCE, and a centre of Greek civilization. Perseus was also the most virtuous and chivalrous of all the Greek gods.
Perseus slew Medusa, a woman with hair made of snakes, and who turned everyone who looked at her into stone. Perseus used her decapitated head as a weapon and turned Atlas to stone when the latter gazed at Medusa's head. This created the Atlas Mountains that run along Africa's north-western coast from today's Morocco, through Algeria to Tunisia. Then when flying over Ethiopia, he rescued a beautiful woman chained to a rock. She was Andromeda, daughter of Cepheus, the king of Ethiopia, and he took her as his wife. While they continued to live in Ethiopia, their first son Perses was born. When Perseus and Andromeda traveled back to Greece, they left the infant Perses with his grandparents. Since Cepheus had no other heir, Perses inherited his kingdom. The boy's descendants would travel east and rule Persia, the land that was named after Perses.
Perseus' son Perses is therefore credited as being the eponymous ancestor of the Persians in Greek mythology. Plato identifies Perses with Achaemenes, the eponymous ancestor of the Achaemenians and founder of the Persian Achaemenid dynasty that founded the Persian Empire. According to Hellanicus, Perses was the author of civilization in the district of Persia called Artaea.
Perseus is associated by some writers with Mithra, an angel in Zoroastrianism and a pre-Zoroastrian Indo-Iranian asura deity. Perses is also the name of a Titan god, the gods of the pre-Olympian Golden Age.
Heracles was a fourth generation descendant of Perseus. His descendants were called the The Heraclides.]
Eurysaces
ALCIBIADES: Why, so does mine go back to Eurysaces8, and he to Zeus!
[Notes:
8 According to Plutarch in Alcibiades 1.1 (see references below): "The family of Alcibiades, it is thought, may be traced back to Eurysaces, the son of Aias, as its founder; and on his mother's side he was an Alcmaeonid, being the son of Deinomache, the daughter of Megacles. His father, Cleinias, fitted out a trireme at his own cost and fought it gloriously at Artemisium."
In Greek mythology, Eurysaces was the son of the Ajax, known as the 'bulwark of the Mycenaeans', and the former-princess captive-slave girl Tecmessa. Tecmessa was the daughter of Teuthras, king of Teleutas, king of Phrygia, a former enemy. During the Trojan War, Ajax kills Tecmessa's father and takes her captive. Ajax in turn was the son of Telamon, a grandson of Zeus and Periboea. Eurysaces was named after his father's famous shield. According to an Athenian tradition, Eurysaces' son or brother, Philaeus, surrendered the island of Salamis to the Athenians, in order to become Athenian citizens and in exchange for Attica, the region surrounding Athens. Eurysaces had inherited Salamis (the largest Greek island in the Saronic Gulf, about 2 km off the coast from Piraeus and about 16 km west of Athens) from his grandfather. The Athenians honoured Eurysaces and his father Ajax with an altar and thereafter venerated them.]
Futility of Notions of Superiority
SOCRATES: And mine, noble Alcibiades, to Daedalus8, and he to Hephaestus, son of Zeus. But, for all that, we are far inferior to them. For they are descended ‘from Zeus,’ through a line of kings-either kings of Argos and Lacedaemon, or kings of Persia, a country which the descendants of Achaemenes have always possessed, besides being at various times sovereigns of Asia9, as they now are; whereas, we and our fathers were but private persons. How ridiculous would you be thought if you were to make a display of your ancestors and of Salamis the island of Eurysaces, or of Aegina, the habitation of the still more ancient Aeacus, before Artaxerxes, son of Xerxes. You should consider how inferior we are to them both in the derivation of our birth and in other particulars. Did you never observe how great is the property of the Spartan kings? And their wives are under the guardianship of the Ephori, who are public officers and watch over them, in order to preserve as far as possible the purity of the Heracleid blood.
Virtuosity of Persian Queen
Integrity of the Persian Royal Line
SOCRATES: Still greater is the difference among the Persians; for no one entertains a suspicion that the father of a prince of Persia can be any one but the king. Such is the awe which invests the person of the queen, that any other guard is needless. And when the heir of the kingdom is born, all the subjects of the king feast; and the day of his birth is for ever afterwards kept as a holiday and time of sacrifice by all Asia; whereas, when you and I were born, Alcibiades, as the comic poet says, the neighbours hardly knew of the important event.
SOCRATES: After the birth of the royal child, he is tended, not by a good-for-nothing woman-nurse, but by the best of the royal eunuchs, who are charged with the care of him, and especially with the fashioning and right formation of his limbs, in order that he may be as shapely as possible; which being their calling, they are held in great honour.
The Upbringing of a Persian Prince
The Four Tutors10
SOCRATES: And when the young prince is seven years old he is put upon a horse and taken to the riding-masters, and begins to go out hunting.
And at fourteen years of age11 he is handed over to the royal schoolmasters, as they are termed: these are four chosen men, reputed to be the best among the Persians of a certain age; and one of them is the wisest, another the justest, a third the most temperate, and a fourth the most valiant.
- The first instructs him in the magianism of Zoroaster12, the son of Oromasus, which is the worship of the Gods, and teaches him also the duties of his royal office;
- the second, who is the justest, teaches him always to speak the truth;
- the third, or most temperate, forbids him to allow any pleasure to be lord over him, that he may be accustomed to be a freeman and king indeed,--lord of himself first, and not a slave;
- the (fourth) most valiant trains him to be bold and fearless, telling him that if he fears he is to deem himself a slave;
...whereas Pericles gave you, Alcibiades, for a tutor Zopyrus the Thracian, a slave of his who was past all other work. I might enlarge on the nurture and education of your rivals, but that would be tedious; and what I have said is a sufficient sample of what remains to be said. I have only to remark, by way of contrast, that no one cares about your birth or nurture or education, or, I may say, about that of any other Athenian, unless he has a lover who looks after him.
Wealth & Property of the Spartans
SOCRATES: And if you cast an eye on the wealth, the luxury, the garments with their flowing trains, the anointings with myrrh, the multitudes of attendants, and all the other bravery of the Persians, you will be ashamed when you discern your own inferiority; or if you look at the temperance and orderliness and ease and grace and magnanimity and courage and endurance and love of toil and desire of glory and ambition of the Lacedaemonians-in all these respects you will see that you are but a child in comparison of them. Even in the matter of wealth, if you value yourself upon that, I must reveal to you how you stand; for if you form an estimate of the wealth of the Lacedaemonians, you will see that our possessions fall far short of theirs. For no one here can compete with them either in the extent and fertility of their own and the Messenian territory, or in the number of their slaves, and especially of the Helots, or of their horses, or of the animals which feed on the Messenian pastures. But I have said enough of this: and as to gold and silver, there is more of them in Lacedaemon than in all the rest of Hellas, for during many generations gold has been always flowing in to them from the whole Hellenic world, and often from the barbarian also, and never going out, as in the fable of Aesop the fox said to the lion, ‘The prints of the feet of those going in are distinct enough;’ but who ever saw the trace of money going out of Lacedaemon? And therefore you may safely infer that the inhabitants are the richest of the Hellenes in gold and silver, and that their kings are the richest of them, for they have a larger share of these things, and they have also a tribute paid to them which is very considerable.
Wealth & Property of the Persians
SOCRATES: Yet the Spartan wealth, though great in comparison of the wealth of the other Hellenes, is as nothing in comparison of that of the Persians and their kings. Why, I have been informed by a credible person who went up to the king (at Susa), that he passed through a large tract of excellent land, extending for nearly a day’s journey, which the people of the country called the queen’s girdle, and another, which they called her veil; and several other fair and fertile districts, which were reserved for the adornment of the queen, and are named after her several habiliments.
The Value of Education & Wisdom
SOCRATES: Now, I cannot help thinking to myself, What if some one were to go to Amestris, the wife of Xerxes and mother of Artaxerxes, and say to her, There is a certain Dinomache, whose whole wardrobe is not worth fifty minae-and that will be more than the value-and she has a son who is possessed of a three-hundred acre patch at Erchiae, and he has a mind to go to war with your son-would she not wonder to what this Alcibiades trusts for success in the conflict? ‘He must rely,’ she would say to herself, ‘upon his training and wisdom-these are the things which Hellenes value.’ And if she heard that this Alcibiades who is making the attempt is not as yet twenty years old, and is wholly uneducated, and when his lover tells him that he ought to get education and training first, and then go and fight the king, he refuses, and says that he is well enough as he is, would she not be amazed, and ask ‘On what, then, does the youth rely?’ And if we replied: He relies on his beauty, and stature, and birth, and mental endowments, she would think that we were mad, Alcibiades, when she compared the advantages which you possess with those of her own people. And I believe that even Lampido, the daughter of Leotychides, the wife of Archidamus and mother of Agis, all of whom were kings, would have the same feeling; if, in your present uneducated state, you were to turn your thoughts against her son, she too would be equally astonished. But how disgraceful, that we should not have as high a notion of what is required in us as our enemies’ wives and mothers have of the qualities which are required in their assailants!
Know Thyself
SOCRATES: O my friend, be persuaded by me, and hear the Delphian inscription, ‘Know thyself’-not the men whom you think, but these kings are our rivals, and we can only overcome them by pains and skill. And if you fail in the required qualities, you will fail also in becoming renowned among Hellenes and Barbarians, which you seem to desire more than any other man ever desired anything.
[Notes:
8 Socrates' father, Sophroniscus, was a sculptor, and Daedalus was the legendary inventor of sculpture.
9 This could be reference to the historical and legendary Iranian-Aryan empire which the Persians, an Iranian-Aryan kingdoms, assumed by gaining ascendancy over the others.
10 Compare this with the upbriging of Cyrus the Great in Xenophon's Cyropaedia.
11 Fourteen being the traditional Zoroastrian rite of passage to the age of reason.
12 A confirmation that the Achaemenian kings of Persia were Zoroastrian and brought up as Zoroastrian, that being the first instruction they received as a child.]
Socrates having demonstrated to Alcibiades his ill-preparedness to assume public office, offers to be Alcibiades' tutor.
____________________________
» Previous page: Alcibiades, Plato and Some Amazing Insights. Part 1 The Historical Alcibiades
Additional Pages on Greek-Persian relations and influence:
» Greek Perceptions of Zoroaster, Zoroastrianism & the Magi
» Zoroastrian-Persian Influence on Greek Philosophy and Sciences
» Similarities in Greek & Persian-Iranian Cuisine
References:
» Full text of Plato's Alcibiades I, translated by Benjamin Jowett at ancienttexts.org
» Full text of Plato's Alcibiades I & II, translated by W.R.M. Lamb at Perseus
» Plutarch, The Life of Alcibiades in Plutarch's Lives at Perseus, translated by Bernadotte Perrin
» Plutarch, The Life of Alcibiades in The Parallel Lives at Thayer
» Andocides, Against Alcibiades in Minor Attic Orators, translated by by K. J. Maidment at Perseus
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Plutarch. His Work, Duality and the Soul
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| Plutarch |
Plutarch (c. 46 – 120 CE) of Chaeronea was a Greek author who became a Roman citizen after which he adopted the name Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus. His sponsor for Roman citizenship was Lucius Mestrius Florus, a Roman of consular status who Plutarch used as a source for his work Life of Otho. Plutarch also held the position of a Delphi priest, the Temple of Delphi being some thirty kilometers from his home and the site of the famed Oracle of Delphi.
Plutarch's Works
Two principle collections of his works are known as Parallel Lives, a set of dual comparative biographies of Greek and Roman personages, and Moralia. An example of a set of paired biographies are those of Alexander and Caesar. Biographers writing on Alexander often follow either the 'vulgate' tradition of the biographer Cleitarchus, or the 'good' tradition of Ptolemy, one of Alexander's generals. Plutarch, for his part, combines both traditions.
Plutarch's works also contain four biographies that are not paired. One such biography is that of Artaxerxes.
Plutarch the Nationalist
In On the Malice of Herodotus Plutarch accuses the classical Greek historian Herodotus of prejudice and misrepresentation. Among these alleged prejudiced assertions was that Herodotus alleged that in v.97, Athens provoked Persia to war by sending ships to aid the Ionian Greeks in Asia Minor and who were part of the Persian Empire. According to R. H. Barrow, "Plutarch is fanatically biased in favor of the Greek cities; they can do no wrong."
Plutarch's Pragmatic Philosophy
Plutarch's works also display a pragmatic philosophy whose aim was to make people more virtuous and therefore happier.
Plutarch on the Soul
In his Moralia's The Consolation, Plutarch notes that "The soul, being eternal, after death is like a caged bird that has been released. If it has been a long time in the body, and has become tame by many affairs and long habit, the soul will immediately take another body and once again become involved in the troubles of the world. The worst thing about old age is that the soul's memory of the other world grows dim, while at the same time its attachment to things of this world becomes so strong that the soul tends to retain the form that it had in the body. But that soul which remains only a short time within a body, until liberated by the higher powers, quickly recovers its fire and goes on to higher things."
Plutarch's Dualism
The common theme of Plutarch's works was the dualistic opposition between good and evil principles, and he cites Zoroastrian ideas in Isis and Osiris in this regard. The Apollo-Dionysus (Bacchus) opposition of Plutarch in Moralis', On the EI at Delphi is developed further by Nietzsche as the analytic/rational - intuitive opposition.
According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy's page on Plutarch, "(Plutarch's) significance as a philosopher... lies in his attempt to do justice to Plato's work as a whole, and to create a coherent and credible philosophical system out of it." "Plutarch focuses primarily on (Plato's dialogue) Timaeus for his understanding of Plato's "doctrines," and his interpretation of it shapes his understanding of Plato. Plutarch defends a literal interpretation of the Timaeus, according to which the world has come about in time from two main principles, the creator god and the "Indefinite Dyad." While the Dyad accounts for disorder and multiplicity, such as that of disordered matter before the creation of the ordered physical world, as Timaeus describes it in the Timaeus, God accounts for order and the identity of objects and properties in the world. This metaphysical dualism is further strengthened by the assumption of two mediating entities through which the two principles operate; the Indefinite Dyad operates through a non-rational cosmic soul, while God through a rational one. This is the same soul, which becomes rational when God imparts reason from him to it. As a result of God's imparting reason, matter ceases to move in a disorderly manner, being brought into order through the imposition of Forms on it. The postulation of a non-rational pre-cosmic world soul (cf. the Zoroastrian Geush Urvan), inspired by (Plato's) Laws (Book) X (but absent from the Timaeus), allows Plutarch to dissolve the apparent contradiction in different works of Plato that the soul is said to be both uncreated (eternal) and created. It also allows Plutarch to account for the existence of badness in the world, because residual irrationality abides in the world soul even when it becomes rational, which is accounted for by the fact that the world soul is originally non-rational in the sense that its movement is such, i.e. disorderly, and reason is an element external to it."
"This dualism pervades also the sensible or physical world, since the human soul, being derivative from the world soul, has a rational and a non-rational aspect too, as the Republic proposes. Plutarch distinguishes both in the world and in human beings three aspects, body, soul, and intellect. The soul's concern with the body gives rise to the non-rational aspect, which amounts to disorder, vice, or badness, while the co-operation between soul and intellect promotes rationality, that is, order, virtue, benevolence. In an attempt to accommodate the diverse strands of ethical thought in Plato (e.g. in the Protagoras, Republic, Phaedo, Theaetetus), Plutarch is the first to distinguish different levels of ethical life, namely the civic/practical and the theoretical/purified ones, depending on whether virtue pertains to the soul as organizing principle for one's daily life, or to the intellect as one's guide to knowledge of Forms."
"The two principles are constantly opposing each other (De def. or. 429B-D, De Iside 369E; Dillon 1977, 203). Although God, the One, prevails over the Dyad (De def. or. 429C-D), order and goodness are always in danger of being displaced by disorder and badness. Both the Indefinite Dyad and God relate to the universe through intermediaries, a non-rational and a rational world soul, which operate as antithetic powers of the two antagonistic cosmic principles. The result of the interaction of the two cosmic principles through these powers is the cosmos."
Some writers focus their discussion on whether Plutarch's dualism was more akin to 'Aristotelian' dualism than it was to 'Platonic' dualism. This discussion relates to whether of not the intellect is part of the soul - Plutarch's assertion being "the intellect is not a part of the soul, just as the soul is not a part of the body." However, this discussion and definition of dualism is one of the many myriad facets of dualism. Other authors argue that those who propose that Plutarch was a dualist, fail to notice that Plutarch proposed "that at higher levels of reality, the divine is harmonious and unified" (Radek Chlup). Also see Plutarch's Ethical Writings and Early Christian Literature by Hans Dieter Betz. These arguments are quite beside the point. For a definition of duality and dualism, see our page on Dual, Duality & Dualism. Definitions.
Extracts from Plutarch's Isis and Osiris
(The following is a representation of theological dualism which became prevalent in orthodox post-Achaemenian Zoroastrianism.)
45. Hence it is not unreasonable to say that the statement of each person individually is not right, but that the statement of all collectively is right; for it is not drought nor wind nor sea nor darkness, but everything harmful and destructive that Nature contains, which is to be set down as a part of Typhon.
The origins of the universe are not to be placed in inanimate bodies, according to the doctrine of Democritus and Epicurus, nor yet is the Artificer of undifferentiated matter, according to the Stoic doctrine, one Reason, and one Providence which gains the upper hand and prevails over all things. The fact is that it is impossible for anything bad whatsoever to be engendered where God is the Author of all, or anything good where God is the Author of nothing; for the concord of the universe, like that of a lyre or bow, according to Heracleitus, is resilient if disturbed; and according to Euripides:
The good and bad cannot be kept apart,
But there is some commingling, which is well.
Wherefore this very ancient opinion comes down from writers on religion and from lawgivers to poets and philosophers; it can be traced to no source, but it carried a strong and almost indelible conviction, and is in circulation in many places among barbarians (sic) and Greeks alike, not only in story and tradition but also in rites and sacrifices, to the effect that the Universe is not of itself suspended aloft without sense or reason or guidance, nor is there one Reason which rules and guides it by rudders, as it were, or by controlling reins, but, inasmuch as Nature brings, in this life of ours, many experiences in which both evil and good are commingled, or better, to put it very simply, Nature brings nothing which is not combined with something else, we may assert that it is not one keeper of two great vases who, after the manner of a barmaid, deals out to us our failures and successes in mixture, but it has come about, as the result of two opposed principles and two antagonistic forces, one of which guides us along a straight course to the right, while the other turns us aside and backward, that our life is complex, and so also is the universe; and if this is not true of the whole of it, dyet it is true that this terrestrial universe, including its moon as well, is irregular and variable and subject to all manner of changes. For if it is the law of nature that nothing comes into being without a cause, and if the good cannot provide a cause for evil, then it follows that Nature must have in herself the source and origin of evil, just as she contains the source and origin of good.
46. The great majority and the wisest of men hold this opinion: they believe that there are two super-natural beings, rivals as it were, the one the Artificer of good and the other of evil. There are also those who call the better one a God and the other a daemon, as, for example, Zoroaster the sage, who, they record, lived five thousand years before the time of the Trojan War. He called the one Oromazes (Ormozd > Hormozd > Ahurmazd > Ahura Mazda) and the other Areimanius (Ahriman > Angra Mainyu); and he further declared that among all the things perceptible to the senses, Oromazes may best be compared to light (and wisdom), and Areimanius, conversely, to darkness and ignorance, and midway between the two is Mithras: for this reason the Persians give to Mithras the name of "Mediator." [Note here the use of the phrases 'among all things perceptible to the senses' and 'best compared to'. The stated comparisons are those we humans can best perceive in describing the indescribable. The reference to Mithra as the mediator is quite remarkable. There is no sense of this sentiment anywhere else in Zoroastrian theology. Perhaps, as with other pronouncement by Plutarch, this sentiment is his own interpretation or that of his source.]
47. Oromazes, born from the purest light, and Areimanius, born from the darkness, are constantly at war with each other; and Oromazes created six divinities (cf. Amesha Spentas, archangels), the first of Good Thought, the second of Truth, the third of Order, and, of the rest, one of Wisdom, one of Wealth, and one the Artificer of Pleasure in what is Honourable. But Areimanius created rivals, as it were, equal to these in number.
Then Oromazes enlarged himself to thrice his former size, and removed himself as far distant from the Sun as the Sun is distant from the Earth, and adorned the heavens with stars. One star he set there before all others as a guardian and watchman, the Dog-star (Sirius, Tishtar. See our page on Zoroastrian Astrology).
Twenty-four other divinities (cf. Yazatas, angels) he created and placed in an egg (the celestial sphere was likened to an egg). But those created by Areimanius, who were equal in number to the others, pierced through the egg and made their way inside; hence evils are now combined with good. But a destined time shall come when it is decreed that Areimanius, engaged in bringing on pestilence and famine, shall by these be utterly annihilated and shall disappear; and then shall the earth become a level plain, and there shall be one manner of life and one form of government for a blessed people who shall all speak one tongue.
Theopompus says that, according to the sages, one super-natural being is to overpower, and the other to be overpowered, each in turn for the space of three thousand years, and afterward for another three thousand years they shall fight and war, and the one shall undo the works of the other, and finally Hades shall pass away; then shall the people be happy, and neither shall they need to have food nor shall they cast any shadow.
___________________
And in this manner the duality of life will cease to exist - engulfed in the embrace of an ultimate divine unity.
Duality & Dualism pages of this blog:
» Bon, Zoroastrianism & Dualism
» Dual, Duality & Dualism. Definitions (New)
» The Two - Ta Mainyu (New)
» Yin-Yang Dualism. Development of the Concept (New)
» Yin-Yang in Daoism / Taoism. The Daodejing by Laozi. Zhuangzi (New)
» Plutarch. His Work, Duality and the Soul (New)
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