Georgius Gemistus who lived from around 1355 to 1454 CE, was a latter day Neoplatonic philosopher born in Constantinople. Gemistus expressed his loyalty to Plato by changing his name to Pletho or Plethon meaning "full". It is under this name that he is known as the author of De Differentiis/Differentia, a comparison between Plato and Aristotles' concepts of God.
Several Pletho manuscripts came into the possession of his former student, Cardinal Bessarion. Bessarion in turn willed his collection to Venice's San Marco library and among the books and manuscripts authored by Pletho was the Summary of the Doctrines of Zoroaster and Plato, a summary of the Book of Laws, which was a blending of Pletho's own beliefs with what he understood to be the beliefs propounded by Plato and Zoroaster.
The following are annotated excerpts from the Summary based on the translation by Darien C. DeBolt, University of Oklahoma:
"These are the principal doctrines that ought to be acknowledged by one who will be prudent. The first of these is one about the divinities: that they are. One of the divinities is the supreme sovereign (Zeus), both the greatest and the best that it is possible to be. The supreme sovereign is set over this whole order; singular in highest divinity; being in its entirety and completely ungenerated; both progenitor and highest creator of all. [Our note: here we find acknowledgement of a singular ultimate uncreated creator. This sentiment is largely congruent with Zoroastrianism. We omit mention of the Olympian and Tartarean gods - a Hellenic concept. The former are rulers of the heavens while the latter are rulers of mortal creation.]
"The supreme sovereign (Zeus) alone in the singularity of the highest divinity, governs apart over the universe." [Our note: This may be interpreted as an panentheistic doctrine.]
"The divine are not responsible for any evil, neither to any other in the universe nor to us. They are responsible for all goodness. [Our note: this separation of the Creator God from the creation of, or being the cause of evil is a concept that developed in Zoroastrianism.]
"Everything that emanates from the Supreme Creator (Zeus) by an unalterable and inexorable destiny, effects its purpose in accordance with the best. [Our note: this concept is also congruent with Zoroastrianism.]
"Concerning the universe, first this universe is eternal. This universe was begotten by the Supreme Creator (Zeus); it was neither begun in time nor will it come to an end. [Our note: If creation is eternal at both ends, i.e. without beginning or an end, then the concept creation introduces a beginning which violates this concept. What we read here is that Pletho avoids this discrepancy by stating that the act of creation first took place before the creation of time (and presumably therefore beyond the limits of time and ultimately eternal). There is limited congruence here with Zoroastrian-based Zurvanism and with the Zoroastrian concepts of unlimited and limited time - time of very long, quasi-eternal, duration, but one that nevertheless has a beginning and an end. Therefore, Zoroastrianism does envisage an end time - at the end of limited time - when all souls will return to God.]
"Next that from the many universes it was joined into a unity. [Our note: a fairly profound statement.]
Next that the best out of those possible has been made, precisely because it was made by the particularly best being. Once it had been made, it was such that nothing had been left out and anything added to it would be excessive. [Our note: this statements appears to assert an inherent perfect creation which belies the degradation of creation in gnostic statements in the Oracles of Zoroaster.]
"In addition to these things, that just as it was set down in this form so it shall always be preserved undisturbed. These then are the doctrines about the universe.
"Concerning ourselves, first our soul, being of divine origin, is immortal and remains in this universe the whole time and is eternal. [Our note: see our note above regarding time and the return to God at the end of limited time.]
"The soul is sent down for the purpose of partaking in a mortal body here each time by the divine, at one time in one body, at another in another, on account of the harmony of the universe. That, even though we have a share in mortal things, one thing in us is from the immortals and this is our form. In this way, the universe itself is united to itself. [Our note: We have here a belief in reincarnation that is not found in Zoroastrianism.]
"Next that the good is in us, naturally by our ties to the divine, and this is the fit end of life. [Our note: The first part of this statement is congruent with Zoroastrianism. The second part bears further contemplation and understanding. If it means that in the end, the inherently good soul will reunite with the goodness of the divine, that concept has some congruence with Zoroastrianism.]
"In addition to all this, that our happiness is in our immortal part, put there by the divine who unite our kind, and that is the substance and most important part of man.
"These then are the principal doctrines concerning the divine, this universe, and our nature. If one, motivated by prudence about considerations of what is necessary, will also really be prudent, then one ought to acknowledge and be mindful of these things."
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Monday, September 17, 2012
(Chaldean) Oracles of Zoroaster - Beliefs Summary by Psellus & this Author
Suggested prior reading: (Chaldean) Oracles of Zoroaster - an Introduction
We present first an exposition of Chaldaic beliefs according to 11th century author Psellus (as presented by Thomas Taylor) followed by our own understanding.
A Concise Exposition of Chaldaic Dogmas by Psellus
[As presented by Thomas Taylor in an article "Collection of the Chaldean Oracles" published in The Classical Journal, Volume 16, September and December 1817. All notations in square brackets [] are editorial. Psellus was a Byzantine statesman and author (1018-1078 CE)]
"They assert that there are seven corporeal worlds, one empyrean [in highest heavens] and the first; after this, three ethereal [in the sky of the celestial sphere], and then three material worlds1, the last of which is said to be terrestrial, and the hater of life: and this is the sublunary place, containing likewise in itself matter, which they call a profundity [intense insight or depth]."
Note: 1 These three material worlds, are the inerratic [fixed. See inerratic circle below] sphere, the seven planetary spheres, and the sublunary regions.
"They are of opinion, that there is one principle of things; and this they celebrate as the one, and the good2."
Note: 2 So Plato.
"After this, they venerate a certain paternal profundity3, consisting of three triads; but each triad contains, father, power, and intellect."
Note: 3 This is called, by the Platonists, the intelligible triad; and is celebrated by Plato in the Philebus, under the names of bound, infinite, and the mixed; and likewise of symmetry, truth, and beauty, which triad, he says, is stated in the vestibule of the good.
"After this is the intelligible Iynx, then the Synoches, of which one is empyrean [in highest heavens], the other etherial, and the third material. The Teletarchae4 follow the Synoches."
Note: 4 The Iynx, Synoches, and Teletarchos of the Chaldeans, compose that divine order which is called, by the Platonists, the intelligible, and, at the same time, intellectual order; and is celebrated by Plato in the Phadrus, under the names of the super-celestial place, Heaven, and the super-celestial arch.
"After these succeed the fontal fathers5 [fontal meaning pertaining to or coming from a fountain or spring], who are also called Cosmagogi, or leaders of the world. Of these, the first is called once beyond, the second is Hecate, and the third is twice beyond."
Note: 5 These fontal fathers compose the intellectual triad of the Greeks, and are Saturn, Rhea, Jupiter.
"After these are the three Amilicti6; and, last of all, the Upezokus."
Note: 6 The three Amilicti are the same with the unpolluted triad, or Curetes, of the Greeks. Observe, that a fontal subsistence means a subsistence according to cause.
"They likewise venerate a fontal triad of faith, truth, and love. They assert that ihere is a ruling sun from a solar fountain, and an arch-angelic sun; that there is a fountain of sense, a fontal judgment, a thundering fountain, a dioptric fountain, and a fountain of characters, seated in unknown impressions. And, again, that there are fontal summits of Apollo, Osiris, and Hermes. They likewise assert that there are material fountains of centres and elements; that there is a zone of dreams, and a fontal soul.
"After the fountains, they say, the principles7 succeed: for fountains are superior to principles. But of the vivific8 [giving life] principles, the summit is called Hecate [otherwise Hecate is the goddess of darkness and witchcraft], the middle ruling soul, and the extremity ruling virtue."
Notes:
7 These principles are the same with the Platonic supermundane order of gods.
8 The vivific triad consists, according to the Greek Theologists, of Diana, Proserpine, and Minerva.
"They have likewise azonic [not limited to a zone] Hecatae, such as the Chaldaic Triecdotis, Comas, and Ecklustike. But the azonic9 gods, according to them, are Serapis, Bacchus, the series of Osiris, and of Apollo. These gods are called azonic, because they rule without restraint over the zones, and are established above the apparent gods."
Note: 9 The azonic gods are the same with the liberated order of the Greek Theologists, or that order which is immediately situated above the mundane gods.
"But the zonic gods are those which revolve round the celestial zones, and rule over sublunary affairs, but not with the same unrestrained energy, as the azonic. For the Chaldeans consider the zonic order as divine; as distributing the parts of the sensible world; and as begirding [girding, binding] the allotments about the material region.
"The inerratic circle succeeds the zones, and comprehends the seven spheres in which the stars are placed. According to them, likewise, there are two solar worlds; one, which is subservient to the etherial profundity; the other zonaic, being one of the seven spheres.
"Of human souls, they establish a twofold foutal cause; viz. the paternal intellect10, and the foutal soul11: and they consider partial12 souls, as proceeding from the fontal, according to the will of the father. Souls of this kind, however, possess a self-begotten, and self-vital essence: for they are not like alter-motive natures. Indeed, since according to the Oracle, a partial soul is a portion of divine fire, a splendid fire, and a paternal conception, it inutt be an immaterial and self-subsisteirt essence; for every thing divine is of this kind; and of this the soul is a portion. They, assert too, that all things are contained in each soul; but that in each there is nn unknown characteristic of an effuble and ineffable impression. They are of opinion, that the soul often descends into the world, through many causes; either through the defiuxion of its wings,13 or through the paternal will. They believe the world to be eternal, as likewise the periods of the stars. They multifariously distribute Hades, at mie time calling it the leader of a terrene allotment, and at another the sublunary region. Sometimes they denominate it, the roost inward of the etherial and material worlds; at another time, irrational14 soul. In this, they place the rational soul, not essentially, but according to habitude, when it sympathises with it, and energises according to partial reason."
Notes:
10 The Jupiter of the Greeks, the artificer of"the universe.
11 Called by the Greeks, Juno.
12 That is, such souls as ours.
13 So Plato: see my translation of the Phaedrus.
14 Hades is with great propriety thus called: for the rational, when giving itselt up to the dominion of the irrational soul, may be truly said to be situated in Hades, or obscurity.
"They consider ideas, at one time, as the conceptions of the father15; at another time, as universal reasons, viz. physical, psychical, and intelligible; and aguin, as the exempt hyparxes (or summits) of beings. They assert that magical operations are accomplished through the intervention of the highest powers, and terrene substances; and that superior natures sympathise with inferior, and especially with those in the sublunary region. They consider souls, as restored alter death to their pristine perfection, in the whales16 of the universe, according to the measures of their peculiar purifications; but some souls are raised by them to a supermundane condition of being. They likewise define souls to be media between impartible and partible natures. With respect to these dogmas, many of them arc adopted by Plato17 and Aristotle: but Plotinus, Porphyry, Janiblichus, Proclus, and their disciples, adopt the whole of them, and admit them without hesitation, as doctrines of a divine origin."
Notes:
15 i.e. Jupiter, or the Demiurgos.
16 That is to say, the celestial and sublunary spheres.
17 Indeed, he who lias penetrated the profundity of Plato's doctrines, will find that they perfectly accord with these Chaldaic dogmas; as is every where copiously shown by Proclus.
"Thus far Psellus: I add, for the sake of those readers that are unacquainted with the scientific theology of the ancients, that as the highest principle of things is a nature truly ineffable and unknown, it is impossible that this visible world could have been produced by him without media; and this not through any impotency, but, on the contrary, through transcendency of power. For if he had produced all things without the agency of intermediate beings, all things must have been like himself, ineffable and unknown. It is necessary, therefore, that there should be certain mighty powers between the supreme principle of things and us: for we, in reality, are nothing more than the dregs of the universe. These mighty powers, from their surpassing similitude to the first God, were very properly called by the ancients gods; and were considered by them as perpetually subsisting in the most admirable and profound union with each other, and the first cause; yet so as amidst this union to preserve their own energy distinct from that, of the highest god. For it would be absurd in the extreme, to allow, that man has a peculiar energy of his own, and to deny that this is the case with the most exalted beings. Hence, as Proclus beautifully observes, the gods may be compared to trees rooted in the earth: for as these, by their roots, are united with the earth, and become earthly in an eminent degree, without being earth itself; so the gods, by their summits, are profoundly united to the first cause, and by this mean are transcendently similar to, without being, the first cause.
"Lines too, emanating from the centre of a circle, afford us a conspicuous image of the manner in which these mighty powers proceed from, and subsist in, the ineffable principle of things. For liere, the lines are evidently things different from the centre, to which, at the same time, by their summits, they are exquisitely allied. All these summits too, which are indescribably absorbed in centre, are yet no parts (i.e. powers) of it; for the centre has a subsistence prior to them, as being their cause."
This writer's understanding of the belief system of the Oracles is as follows:
Framework of the Oracle's Belief System
a) A derogation of the material existence as compared with the ideal of the divine existence;
b) A concept of human nature as a divine spark trapped in a material existence;
c) A method or process of freeing the soul from the vicissitudes of the material existence i.e. salvation or enlightenment that involves a ritual or spiritual ascent of the soul, a process called henosis; and
d) The placing of philosophical and spiritual concepts in a mythology that includes the gradual anthropomorphizing of concepts into deities and the assignment of gender to the deities.
Theology of the Oracles
The supreme transcendent God of the Oracles is often described in Pythagorean terms as the Monad.
The Monad, however, is described in triadic terms - a triadic-monad or three-in-one deity (cf. Christian Trinity): "the Father removed (snatched) himself (from his emanations/creations?) away, and did not enclose his own Fire in his Intellectual Power." (Psellus). "For everywhere power has been assigned the middle place; and within the intelligibles, it connects the Father and Intellect." notes Proclus in commentary of his quote from the Oracles, "For Power is with him while Intellect if from him." [To us this sounds like Intellect is an emanation while Power is a possession of the Father, the Monad.]
Proclus goes on to quote the Oracle as saying, "For the First Transcendent Fire does nor transfer (enclose) its own Power in matter by means of works, but by Intellect. For Intellect derived from Intellect is the first Craftsman of the fiery cosmos." There is a lot we can glean from the Oracle quotation by Proclus. First, a description of the supreme divinity as the First Transcendent Fire. The next is the function of the divine Intellect or Wisdom. Here, the Supreme divinity's intellect begets another Intellect which conceives the material existence, the "fiery cosmos". Psellus quotes the Oracle: "All things have been generated from one fire."
Psellus quotes the Oracles as saying, "For the Father perfected all things and handed them over to the Second Intellect, which you - the entire human race - call the First Intellect." Then we read from Simplicius a quote from the Oracles stating, "the First Fire and the other (Second) Fire are eager to mingle."
Damascius' quote from the Oracles states, "...for the Monad is extensible which generates duality (the Dyad)." We return to the writings of Proclus "...besides this one sits a Dyad." "For it has a double function; it both possesses the intelligibles in its mind and brings sense perception to the worlds."
The function of the First Intellect is to think Ideas. The Second Demiurgic Intellect's function is to fashion the intelligible, empyrean world on the model of the Ideas. The Second Demiurgic Intellect does this by projecting the Ideas like Zeus' lightening bolts into the womb of the feminine World Soul Hecate, the mediating power between the First & Second Intellects or a girdling membrane between the two levels. The First & Second Intellects together with the World Soul make up a Primordial Triad.
A complex chains of lesser beings, Iynges, Connectors, Teletarchs, angels and demons fill the void between the Primordial Triad and the material world. These lesser beings are issues of the Father and serve as messengers, mediators and separators between the empyrean and material worlds. The Teletarchs are associated with - and preside over - faith, truth and love, the three virtues through which the theurgist can seek unity with the Supreme.
Reference: The Chaldean Oracles: Text, Translation, and Commentary by Julianus (the Theurgist). Translation and Commentary by Ruth Dorothy Majercik
A Summary of Gnostic Beliefs
At the bottom end of the All lies Matter, made by the Demiurge. The world is a foul tomb and a form which the higher human soul must escape, shedding the lower soul's vehicle or garment, acquired during its descent through the stars and planets. Meditation, contemplation, ascetic conduct and correct ritual will free the soul from the astrological confines of Fate, and defend it against the demonic powers who fill the realm between the divine and mortals. Plotinus promoted contemplation and mediation as the means to reunion with the Divine while Iamblichus of Calcis (Syria) (a student of Porphyry himself a student of Plotinus) promoted invocation and ritual. According to Proclus, "The vehicle of every particular soul descends by the addition of vestures increasingly material; and ascends in company with the soul through divestment of all that is material and recovery of its proper form, after the analogy of the soul which makes use of it: for the soul descends by the acquisition of irrational principles of life; and ascends by putting off all those faculties tending to temporal process ith which it was invested in its descent, and becoming clean and bare of all such faculties as serve the uses of the process. (Elements of Theology, Proposition 209, quoted from Culianu, Psychanodia, p. 12.)"
Suggested prior reading: (Chaldean) Oracles of Zoroaster - an Introduction
We present first an exposition of Chaldaic beliefs according to 11th century author Psellus (as presented by Thomas Taylor) followed by our own understanding.
A Concise Exposition of Chaldaic Dogmas by Psellus
[As presented by Thomas Taylor in an article "Collection of the Chaldean Oracles" published in The Classical Journal, Volume 16, September and December 1817. All notations in square brackets [] are editorial. Psellus was a Byzantine statesman and author (1018-1078 CE)]
"They assert that there are seven corporeal worlds, one empyrean [in highest heavens] and the first; after this, three ethereal [in the sky of the celestial sphere], and then three material worlds1, the last of which is said to be terrestrial, and the hater of life: and this is the sublunary place, containing likewise in itself matter, which they call a profundity [intense insight or depth]."
Note: 1 These three material worlds, are the inerratic [fixed. See inerratic circle below] sphere, the seven planetary spheres, and the sublunary regions.
"They are of opinion, that there is one principle of things; and this they celebrate as the one, and the good2."
Note: 2 So Plato.
"After this, they venerate a certain paternal profundity3, consisting of three triads; but each triad contains, father, power, and intellect."
Note: 3 This is called, by the Platonists, the intelligible triad; and is celebrated by Plato in the Philebus, under the names of bound, infinite, and the mixed; and likewise of symmetry, truth, and beauty, which triad, he says, is stated in the vestibule of the good.
"After this is the intelligible Iynx, then the Synoches, of which one is empyrean [in highest heavens], the other etherial, and the third material. The Teletarchae4 follow the Synoches."
Note: 4 The Iynx, Synoches, and Teletarchos of the Chaldeans, compose that divine order which is called, by the Platonists, the intelligible, and, at the same time, intellectual order; and is celebrated by Plato in the Phadrus, under the names of the super-celestial place, Heaven, and the super-celestial arch.
"After these succeed the fontal fathers5 [fontal meaning pertaining to or coming from a fountain or spring], who are also called Cosmagogi, or leaders of the world. Of these, the first is called once beyond, the second is Hecate, and the third is twice beyond."
Note: 5 These fontal fathers compose the intellectual triad of the Greeks, and are Saturn, Rhea, Jupiter.
"After these are the three Amilicti6; and, last of all, the Upezokus."
Note: 6 The three Amilicti are the same with the unpolluted triad, or Curetes, of the Greeks. Observe, that a fontal subsistence means a subsistence according to cause.
"They likewise venerate a fontal triad of faith, truth, and love. They assert that ihere is a ruling sun from a solar fountain, and an arch-angelic sun; that there is a fountain of sense, a fontal judgment, a thundering fountain, a dioptric fountain, and a fountain of characters, seated in unknown impressions. And, again, that there are fontal summits of Apollo, Osiris, and Hermes. They likewise assert that there are material fountains of centres and elements; that there is a zone of dreams, and a fontal soul.
"After the fountains, they say, the principles7 succeed: for fountains are superior to principles. But of the vivific8 [giving life] principles, the summit is called Hecate [otherwise Hecate is the goddess of darkness and witchcraft], the middle ruling soul, and the extremity ruling virtue."
Notes:
7 These principles are the same with the Platonic supermundane order of gods.
8 The vivific triad consists, according to the Greek Theologists, of Diana, Proserpine, and Minerva.
"They have likewise azonic [not limited to a zone] Hecatae, such as the Chaldaic Triecdotis, Comas, and Ecklustike. But the azonic9 gods, according to them, are Serapis, Bacchus, the series of Osiris, and of Apollo. These gods are called azonic, because they rule without restraint over the zones, and are established above the apparent gods."
Note: 9 The azonic gods are the same with the liberated order of the Greek Theologists, or that order which is immediately situated above the mundane gods.
"But the zonic gods are those which revolve round the celestial zones, and rule over sublunary affairs, but not with the same unrestrained energy, as the azonic. For the Chaldeans consider the zonic order as divine; as distributing the parts of the sensible world; and as begirding [girding, binding] the allotments about the material region.
"The inerratic circle succeeds the zones, and comprehends the seven spheres in which the stars are placed. According to them, likewise, there are two solar worlds; one, which is subservient to the etherial profundity; the other zonaic, being one of the seven spheres.
"Of human souls, they establish a twofold foutal cause; viz. the paternal intellect10, and the foutal soul11: and they consider partial12 souls, as proceeding from the fontal, according to the will of the father. Souls of this kind, however, possess a self-begotten, and self-vital essence: for they are not like alter-motive natures. Indeed, since according to the Oracle, a partial soul is a portion of divine fire, a splendid fire, and a paternal conception, it inutt be an immaterial and self-subsisteirt essence; for every thing divine is of this kind; and of this the soul is a portion. They, assert too, that all things are contained in each soul; but that in each there is nn unknown characteristic of an effuble and ineffable impression. They are of opinion, that the soul often descends into the world, through many causes; either through the defiuxion of its wings,13 or through the paternal will. They believe the world to be eternal, as likewise the periods of the stars. They multifariously distribute Hades, at mie time calling it the leader of a terrene allotment, and at another the sublunary region. Sometimes they denominate it, the roost inward of the etherial and material worlds; at another time, irrational14 soul. In this, they place the rational soul, not essentially, but according to habitude, when it sympathises with it, and energises according to partial reason."
Notes:
10 The Jupiter of the Greeks, the artificer of"the universe.
11 Called by the Greeks, Juno.
12 That is, such souls as ours.
13 So Plato: see my translation of the Phaedrus.
14 Hades is with great propriety thus called: for the rational, when giving itselt up to the dominion of the irrational soul, may be truly said to be situated in Hades, or obscurity.
"They consider ideas, at one time, as the conceptions of the father15; at another time, as universal reasons, viz. physical, psychical, and intelligible; and aguin, as the exempt hyparxes (or summits) of beings. They assert that magical operations are accomplished through the intervention of the highest powers, and terrene substances; and that superior natures sympathise with inferior, and especially with those in the sublunary region. They consider souls, as restored alter death to their pristine perfection, in the whales16 of the universe, according to the measures of their peculiar purifications; but some souls are raised by them to a supermundane condition of being. They likewise define souls to be media between impartible and partible natures. With respect to these dogmas, many of them arc adopted by Plato17 and Aristotle: but Plotinus, Porphyry, Janiblichus, Proclus, and their disciples, adopt the whole of them, and admit them without hesitation, as doctrines of a divine origin."
Notes:
15 i.e. Jupiter, or the Demiurgos.
16 That is to say, the celestial and sublunary spheres.
17 Indeed, he who lias penetrated the profundity of Plato's doctrines, will find that they perfectly accord with these Chaldaic dogmas; as is every where copiously shown by Proclus.
"Thus far Psellus: I add, for the sake of those readers that are unacquainted with the scientific theology of the ancients, that as the highest principle of things is a nature truly ineffable and unknown, it is impossible that this visible world could have been produced by him without media; and this not through any impotency, but, on the contrary, through transcendency of power. For if he had produced all things without the agency of intermediate beings, all things must have been like himself, ineffable and unknown. It is necessary, therefore, that there should be certain mighty powers between the supreme principle of things and us: for we, in reality, are nothing more than the dregs of the universe. These mighty powers, from their surpassing similitude to the first God, were very properly called by the ancients gods; and were considered by them as perpetually subsisting in the most admirable and profound union with each other, and the first cause; yet so as amidst this union to preserve their own energy distinct from that, of the highest god. For it would be absurd in the extreme, to allow, that man has a peculiar energy of his own, and to deny that this is the case with the most exalted beings. Hence, as Proclus beautifully observes, the gods may be compared to trees rooted in the earth: for as these, by their roots, are united with the earth, and become earthly in an eminent degree, without being earth itself; so the gods, by their summits, are profoundly united to the first cause, and by this mean are transcendently similar to, without being, the first cause.
"Lines too, emanating from the centre of a circle, afford us a conspicuous image of the manner in which these mighty powers proceed from, and subsist in, the ineffable principle of things. For liere, the lines are evidently things different from the centre, to which, at the same time, by their summits, they are exquisitely allied. All these summits too, which are indescribably absorbed in centre, are yet no parts (i.e. powers) of it; for the centre has a subsistence prior to them, as being their cause."
This writer's understanding of the belief system of the Oracles is as follows:
Framework of the Oracle's Belief System
a) A derogation of the material existence as compared with the ideal of the divine existence;
b) A concept of human nature as a divine spark trapped in a material existence;
c) A method or process of freeing the soul from the vicissitudes of the material existence i.e. salvation or enlightenment that involves a ritual or spiritual ascent of the soul, a process called henosis; and
d) The placing of philosophical and spiritual concepts in a mythology that includes the gradual anthropomorphizing of concepts into deities and the assignment of gender to the deities.
Theology of the Oracles
The supreme transcendent God of the Oracles is often described in Pythagorean terms as the Monad.
The Monad, however, is described in triadic terms - a triadic-monad or three-in-one deity (cf. Christian Trinity): "the Father removed (snatched) himself (from his emanations/creations?) away, and did not enclose his own Fire in his Intellectual Power." (Psellus). "For everywhere power has been assigned the middle place; and within the intelligibles, it connects the Father and Intellect." notes Proclus in commentary of his quote from the Oracles, "For Power is with him while Intellect if from him." [To us this sounds like Intellect is an emanation while Power is a possession of the Father, the Monad.]
Proclus goes on to quote the Oracle as saying, "For the First Transcendent Fire does nor transfer (enclose) its own Power in matter by means of works, but by Intellect. For Intellect derived from Intellect is the first Craftsman of the fiery cosmos." There is a lot we can glean from the Oracle quotation by Proclus. First, a description of the supreme divinity as the First Transcendent Fire. The next is the function of the divine Intellect or Wisdom. Here, the Supreme divinity's intellect begets another Intellect which conceives the material existence, the "fiery cosmos". Psellus quotes the Oracle: "All things have been generated from one fire."
Psellus quotes the Oracles as saying, "For the Father perfected all things and handed them over to the Second Intellect, which you - the entire human race - call the First Intellect." Then we read from Simplicius a quote from the Oracles stating, "the First Fire and the other (Second) Fire are eager to mingle."
Damascius' quote from the Oracles states, "...for the Monad is extensible which generates duality (the Dyad)." We return to the writings of Proclus "...besides this one sits a Dyad." "For it has a double function; it both possesses the intelligibles in its mind and brings sense perception to the worlds."
The function of the First Intellect is to think Ideas. The Second Demiurgic Intellect's function is to fashion the intelligible, empyrean world on the model of the Ideas. The Second Demiurgic Intellect does this by projecting the Ideas like Zeus' lightening bolts into the womb of the feminine World Soul Hecate, the mediating power between the First & Second Intellects or a girdling membrane between the two levels. The First & Second Intellects together with the World Soul make up a Primordial Triad.
A complex chains of lesser beings, Iynges, Connectors, Teletarchs, angels and demons fill the void between the Primordial Triad and the material world. These lesser beings are issues of the Father and serve as messengers, mediators and separators between the empyrean and material worlds. The Teletarchs are associated with - and preside over - faith, truth and love, the three virtues through which the theurgist can seek unity with the Supreme.
Reference: The Chaldean Oracles: Text, Translation, and Commentary by Julianus (the Theurgist). Translation and Commentary by Ruth Dorothy Majercik
A Summary of Gnostic Beliefs
At the bottom end of the All lies Matter, made by the Demiurge. The world is a foul tomb and a form which the higher human soul must escape, shedding the lower soul's vehicle or garment, acquired during its descent through the stars and planets. Meditation, contemplation, ascetic conduct and correct ritual will free the soul from the astrological confines of Fate, and defend it against the demonic powers who fill the realm between the divine and mortals. Plotinus promoted contemplation and mediation as the means to reunion with the Divine while Iamblichus of Calcis (Syria) (a student of Porphyry himself a student of Plotinus) promoted invocation and ritual. According to Proclus, "The vehicle of every particular soul descends by the addition of vestures increasingly material; and ascends in company with the soul through divestment of all that is material and recovery of its proper form, after the analogy of the soul which makes use of it: for the soul descends by the acquisition of irrational principles of life; and ascends by putting off all those faculties tending to temporal process ith which it was invested in its descent, and becoming clean and bare of all such faculties as serve the uses of the process. (Elements of Theology, Proposition 209, quoted from Culianu, Psychanodia, p. 12.)"
Suggested prior reading: (Chaldean) Oracles of Zoroaster - an Introduction
Roman Emperor Julian and the Seven Rays
Accounts of Roman Emperor Julian (c.331–363 CE), also known as Julian the Philosopher, and the last non-Christian ruler of the Roman Empire suggests that he was an initiate and follower of the God of the Seven Rays (cf. his Hymn to the Solemn Sun and Hymn to the Magna Mater).
This reference to a God of the Seven Rays is found in the Chaldean Oracles of Zoroaster and has Mithraic overtones. We do know that in Zoroastrianism, God, Ahura Mazda is associated with the divine heptad of the Amesha Spentas, divine attributes personified as arch-angels, and that the body of God is described (as best as the incomprehensible can be understood by human beings) as a divine light. It is also of interest to note that in early Christian iconography, the dove of the Holy Ghost as well as the image of the Madonna are often shown with an emanation of seven rays. Even in the present day Byzantine-style Cathedral in St. Louis, Missouri, the center of the sanctuary has an engraved circle with symbols of the Holy Trinity - and the inscription of which reads: "Radiating from this symbol are seven rays of light representing the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost." Similarly, Hinduism too has several references to seven rays associated with the Sun as a giver of life, with the deity Vishu and deity of fire, Agni, philosophically interpreted by Sir Aurobindo as "the seven forms of the Thought-principle."
Julian rejected Christianity in favour of neo-Platonism causing him to be called Julian the Apostate by the Christian Church. The Neoplatonists used the Chaldean Oracles of Zoroaster as their scripture. His mission was to bring the Roman Empire back to its ancient Roman values in order to save it from "dissolution". As we have noted above, there are indications that his beliefs were also influenced by Mithraism which was prevalent throughout Europe at that time.
Also see Julian the Apostate, Julian the Emperor's Oration upon the Mother of the Gods (1888).
This reference to a God of the Seven Rays is found in the Chaldean Oracles of Zoroaster and has Mithraic overtones. We do know that in Zoroastrianism, God, Ahura Mazda is associated with the divine heptad of the Amesha Spentas, divine attributes personified as arch-angels, and that the body of God is described (as best as the incomprehensible can be understood by human beings) as a divine light. It is also of interest to note that in early Christian iconography, the dove of the Holy Ghost as well as the image of the Madonna are often shown with an emanation of seven rays. Even in the present day Byzantine-style Cathedral in St. Louis, Missouri, the center of the sanctuary has an engraved circle with symbols of the Holy Trinity - and the inscription of which reads: "Radiating from this symbol are seven rays of light representing the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost." Similarly, Hinduism too has several references to seven rays associated with the Sun as a giver of life, with the deity Vishu and deity of fire, Agni, philosophically interpreted by Sir Aurobindo as "the seven forms of the Thought-principle."
Julian rejected Christianity in favour of neo-Platonism causing him to be called Julian the Apostate by the Christian Church. The Neoplatonists used the Chaldean Oracles of Zoroaster as their scripture. His mission was to bring the Roman Empire back to its ancient Roman values in order to save it from "dissolution". As we have noted above, there are indications that his beliefs were also influenced by Mithraism which was prevalent throughout Europe at that time.
Also see Julian the Apostate, Julian the Emperor's Oration upon the Mother of the Gods (1888).
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Magi - Zoroastrian Priests
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| Rock carving at Museum for Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara. Possibly a magus carrying a baresman bundle and haoma mortar/cup. Strabo (15.3.14) describes the magi of Anatolia as "holding in their hands a bundle of slender myrtle wands." |
When the classical Greek writers refer to Zoroaster as an 'inventor' of astrology, they probably mean ancient Zoroastrian priests, the magi, who were the inheritors of Zoroaster's wisdom, and who during the era of the Persian-Achaemenian Empire (c. 600-c. 330 BCE) were renowned from the borders of Greece and Egypt to those of India and China as physicians, healers, astronomers and even astrologers.
In maintaining the tradition of astronomical observations and a resulting calendar initiated by Zoroaster, the magi became keen and systematic observers of the movements of celestial bodies.
Despite the attempts of a few Hellenic authors to belittle the magi by naming magic after their practice, the credibility of the magi as wise healers, physicians and seers was without parallel in the known world, so much so, that Christian tradition found it necessary to claim that it was the magi who found Jesus based on an astronomical observation that was prophesized by ancient magian astrology.
The head of the magi is sometimes referred to as the arch-magus or archmage. In Western literature this title has become synonymous with wizardry. It is greatly upsetting to Zoroastrians to see their noble religion denigrated in this fashion by mindless and ignorant individuals. Zoroastrian texts view deceptive wizards and gnomes/nymphs (jadugan and parigan) in a negative light. It is our hope that those who undertake a serious study will be able to discern fact from fiction and hyperbole.
Zoroastrians call the position of arch-magus, Mobed-e Mobedan. According to the Zoroastrian text the Jamasp Namah (the Book of Jamasp), as well as Western sources, Zoroaster was the first Mobed-e Mobedan and upon his passing away, that office was inherited by a noted contemporary, Jamasp. In Zoroastrian literature, it is Jamasp (and not Zoroaster) who figures prominently as an astrologer.
(Chaldean) Oracles of Zoroaster - an Introduction
The (Chaldean) Oracles of Zoroaster had a profound impact on Classical Greek philosophy and religion - especially on the Pythagorean and Neoplatonic movements/religions which used the Oracles as their scripture. In this article and the next [(Chaldean) Oracles of Zoroaster - Beliefs Summary by Psellus and this Author] we seek to understand the Oracles, discuss its possible authorship, and note any convergence or divergence with mainstream Zoroastrian philosophy and theology.
[Post-Alexandrian Persian accounts are replete with assertions that Alexander destroyed Persian (Zoroastrian) texts and that those he did not destroy, he had sent to Egypt and Greece. While these Persian-Zoroastrian texts would have been transformed & Hellenized during their sojourn in the Hellenic heartland, they may yet contain vestiges of their original source and it is in this quest that we scour Classical Greek texts that profess a Persian-Zoroastrian connection.]
Chaldea
Chaldea appears to be a English (from Greek-Latin) version of the Assyrian/Aramaic name Kaldu - an area south-east of Babylonia and between Babylon and the Persian Gulf. Its neighbour to the east would have been Elam and Persia. In English language translations and interpretations of Classical Greek accounts of the reason, we find the name Chaldea used where we might otherwise find Sumer, Babylonia or even Mesopotamia. During the time when the classical Greek histories and accounts were written, Chaldea or Babylonia were part of the Persian Empire and Babylon was a centre of learning visited by several Greek travellers.
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.
The Hellenic travellers to Chaldea-Babylon including Pythagoras who it is claimed was taught Zoroastrian teachings by Zoroaster himself* - learning the principles of religion and practical maxims for the conduct of life (also see the Golden Verses of Pythagoras which have several points of congruence with the Zoroastrian andarz). Pythagorean "scriptures" are said to have included the (Chaldean) Oracles of Zoroaster. (* An improbable claim perhaps implying instead that Pythagoras was taught by a Zoroastrian or a senior Zoroastrian priest.)
The (Chaldean) Oracles of Zoroaster
The Oracles of Zoroaster (also called the Chaldean Oracles of Zoroaster) are a collection of fragments of what is thought to be a single mystery-poem. We presume that the word 'Oracle' in the title signifies it being a source of wisdom - even a divine message or a divinely inspired message - rather than it being a source of prophecy.
Authorship of the Oracles (According to Taylor)
The edition of the text that came into the possession of the Greeks was said to have been written in Chaldean i.e. Akkadian or Babylonian. Thomas Taylor in his article Oracles of Zoroaster published in, The Classical Journal (Volume 16, September and December 1817) states that the oracles "are of Chaldaic [Chaldean i.e. Babylonian-Persian] origin, and were not forged by Christians of any denomination, as has been asserted by some superficial writers, is demonstrably evident from the following considerations: In the first place, John Picus, Earl of Mirandula [a lord in Italy b. 1463 CE], in a letter to Ficinus [Marsilio Ficino (Latin name: Marsilius Ficinus) (October 19, 1433 – October 1, 1499) an influential Italian humanist philosopher], informs him that he was in possession of the Oracles of Zoroaster in the Chaldean tongue, with a commentary on them, by certain Chaldean wise men. And that he did not speak this from mere conjecture (as Fabricius thinks he did) is evident from his expressly asserting, in a letter to Urbinatus (p. 256 of his works), that, after much labour, he had at length learned the Chaldean language."
Taylor continues: "...as Porphyry [of Tyre (in Ancient Greek: Porphyrios) 234–c.305 CE, Neoplatonic philosopher], Iamblichus [c.250-325 CE, an Neoplatonic philosopher], and Proclus [Lycaeus (412–485 CE), a Greek Neoplatonic philosopher] [Among the Neoplatonist writers was Damascius (462-537 CE)] wrote large commentaries on these oracles, and are well known to have ranked amongst the greatest enemies of the Christian religion; there is not even poetical probability, that men of such great learning and sagacity should have been duped by the shallow artifice of some heretical Christian knave [the full commentaries referred to above are lost and survive only as fragments]. To which we may add, that Porphyry, in his Life of Plotinus, expressly mentions, that certain revelations ascribed to Zoroaster, were circulated, in his time, by many Christians and heretics who had abandoned the ancient philosophy, and that he showed, by many arguments, these revelations were spurious; from which it is evident, that the Oracles commented on by him, were not those forged by the heretics of his time.
"...Proclus in his MS. Scholia [medieval annotations or commentaries on ancient Greek or Latin texts] on the Cratylus of Plato, says, that the Oracles respecting the intelligible and intellectual orders were delivered by Theurgists [Divine-Workers (theurgy means 'divine-working')], under the reign of Marcus Antoninus [Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus? (121-180 CE). One individual sometimes credited as being a possible compiler of the Oracles is Julian the Theurgist, son of Julian the Chaldean. The latter had served in the Roman army during Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus' (121–180 CE) reign]."
Our note: Theurgy was the spiritual belief and practice of Neoplatonists. Neoplatonists were members of a school akin to a religion based on the teachings of Plato. As did Pythagoreans, Neoplatonists regarded the Oracles of Zoroaster as a sacred text or scripture, sometimes, even above Plato himself. In order to prevent the harming of the uneducated, Proclus advocated removing all books from circulation other than Plato's dialogue, Timaeus and the Chaldean Oracles of Zoroaster. The Theurgy of the Chaldean Oracles was said to have provided the knowledge to aid the soul on its ascent to (re)union with the Divine, a process called henosis. Plotinus promoted contemplation and mediation as the means to reunion with the Divine while Iamblichus of Calcis (Syria) (a student of Porphyry himself a student of Plotinus) promoted invocation and ritual.
Taylor continues: "It is clear, therefore, that the following oracles, which are collected from the writings of the Platonists, are of Chaldean, and not of Christian origin; not to mention that the dogmas they contain are totally dissonant from those of the Christian faith.
"It is likewise evident, that some of these oracles may, with great confidence, be ascribed to the Chaldean Zoroaster. This appears from the Chaldean manuscript of Picus, in which those oracles were denominated Zoroastrian, which exist at present, with the Scholia of Psellus [Byzantine statesman and author (1018-1078 CE)], under the title of The Magic Oracles of Zoroaster."
According to Sapere Aude who wrote a preface to Westcott's "Chaldean Oracles of Zoroaster", Berosus, a 3rd century BCE Babylonian writer is said to be the first who introduced the writings of the Chaldæans concerning Astronomy and Philosophy among the Greeks ". Aude goes on to say, "and it is certain that the traditions of Chaldea very largely influenced Greek thought. Taylor considers that some of these mystical utterances are the sources whence the sublime conceptions of Plato were formed, and large commentaries were written upon them by Porphyry, Iamblichus, Proclus, Pletho and Psellus. That men of such great learning and sagacity should have thought so highly of these Oracles, is a fact which in itself should commend them to our attention." Further, "We are indebted to both Psellus and Pletho for [quotations and] comments at some length upon the Chaldæan Oracles, and the collection adduced by these writers has been considerably enlarged by Franciscus Patricius, who made many additions from Proclus, Hermias, Simplicius, Damascius, Synesius, Olympiodorus, Nicephorus and Arnobius; his collection, which comprised some 324 oracles under general heads, was published in Latin in 1593, and constitutes the groundwork of the later classification arrived at by Taylor and Cory; all of these editions have been utilised in producing the present revise."
Authorship of the Original 'Oracles' (Our Notes)
The Greeks commonly ascribed to Zoroaster anything related to the religion of the Persians. The 'Oracles of Zoroaster' could read 'Beliefs of Persian-Zoroastrians' as also 'Oracles of the Magi' (Zoroastrian priests). Indeed, Pletho (see below) quoting Psellus refers to the Oracles of the Magi. As there are points of both congruence and divergence between the surviving 'Oracles' and mainstream Zoroastrian thought, only certain parts of the 'Oracles' may be ascribed to Zoroaster, or more properly to later Zoroastrian followers and the magi. It is widely acknowledged that several parts of the text cannot even be remotely connected to Zoroaster / Zarathushtra and in any event Zoroaster / Zarathushtra lived hundreds of years before the Greeks journeyed to Babylon and Chaldea to study the wisdom of the East. Since the Greeks universally acknowledge Zoroaster to be a Persian Aryan who lived in the east of the then Persian empire (in particular, according to them: Bactria), we can conclude that those parts of the text that one can possibly attribute to Zoroaster may have come to the West via Babylon, that is, the Chaldean connection. Ideas expressed in the Oracles appear to be a syncretism: a blending,of Zoroastrian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Buddhist and Greek ideas. Some Zoroastrian texts were reputedly stored in Babylon and Alexandria, Egypt, and these texts could have been used to compose a syncretic work on theurgy. Perhaps to gain credibility, the authorship of the composite work could have ascribed to Zoroaster / Zarathushtra.
As we have implied above, it would be incorrect to say that even those quotations ascribed to Zoroaster / Zarathushtra were directly composed by him. Zoroaster / Zarathushtra lived in a different time and place and spoke an entirely different language to Babylonian. Whoever the eventual author or authors of the source 'Oracles' were, if those authors had based some of their writings on Zoroaster's / Zarathushtra's message, they would have had to translate Zoroaster's / Zarathushtra's words and in the translation we can expect that they wrote down their version of what they thought Zoroaster's / Zarathushtra's words meant - words that were part of a language that had already become extinct during the 2nd century CE. It is also natural to expect that different denominations of Zoroastrians (Zurvanist-Zoroastrians being one possibility) would have sprung up in different places infusing different ideas or interpretations into original core Zoroastrian beliefs (cf. the Gathas of Zarathushtra). We see that phenomenon manifesting in today's world despite our ability to communicate across distances, an ability that was severely restricted in ancient times.
Rather than ascribing the authorship of the Oracles' original source work or reference (as different from the versions quoted by Classical Greek authors) to a "Chaldean Zoroaster" as Taylor calls the source, it may be possible to ascribe the authorship to a Chaldean(s), i.e. a Babylonian Zoroastrian(s) or to Zoroastrian priests, the magi. These Zoroastrian(s) or the magi in turn could have based their version of the work on the surviving teachings of Zoroaster.
Authorship of the Extant Oracle Verses (Our Notes)
The verses of the Oracles as we know them survive only in the quotations and comments of other authors - mainly Classical Greek authors. There is some difference between the interpretations and comments leading us to believe that these authors were not entirely faithful to their source document.
As we have stated above, According to Sapere Aude who wrote a preface to Westcott's "Chaldean Oracles of Zoroaster", Berosus, a 3rd century BCE Babylonian writer is said to be the first who introduced the writings of the Chaldæans concerning Astronomy and Philosophy among the Greeks ".
Porphyry [of Tyre (in Ancient Greek: Porphyrios) 234–c.305 CE, Neoplatonic philosopher], Iamblichus [c.250-325 CE, an Neoplatonic philosopher], Proclus [Lycaeus 412–485 CE, a Greek Neoplatonic philosopher], Damascius [Neoplatonist writer (462-537 CE)] wrote commentaries on the Oracles and was the last head of the philosophical school of Athens. These commentaries form the principal sources from which a reconstruction of the Oracles was been undertaken by several modern authors.
In medieval times, Psellus, who lived between 1018 and 1078 CE, was a Byzantine-Christian author and head of the Academy of Constantinople. Psellus wrote a commentary of the Oracles under the title of The Magic Oracles of Zoroaster" and also Expositio Oracidorum Chaldaicorum (in M. 122, 1124 ff). At that time Aristotle's doctrine had been reconciled with Christianity by the church. Platonism was however considered a Christian heresy and as a Platonist, Psellus was liable to the charge of heresy.
Pletho/Plethon (Georgius Gemistus) on Zoroastrianism, Platonism & the Oracles
Psellus is quoted by Georgius Gemistus (c.1355-1454 CE), a latter day Neoplatonic philosopher who expressed his loyalty to Plato by changing his name to Pletho or Plethon meaning "full", and under which name he is known as the author of De Differentiis/Differentia, a comparison between Plato and Aristotles' concepts of God. He also wrote a Summary of the Doctrines of Zoroaster and Plato, in which he expounded his own eclectic beliefs. Pletho's source for what he saw as the similarity between Zoroastrianism and Platonism was Psellus. According to John Taylor in Georgius Gemistus Pletho's Criticism of Plato and Aristotle (1921 - not to be confused with Thomas Taylor), "Plato was for him (Pletho) the world's supreme philosopher, yet he was not an isolated thinker. Among the doctrines he expressed were some which came down from the followers of Zoroaster through the Pythagorean tradition to him. It should be noted, however, that Plato's superiority had nothing to do with supernatural revelation, but consisted in his treatment of ethics, psychology and physics as calculated to lead one's mind to the contemplation of nobler things, and in his desire to attain a unified view of existence and trace the causes of all things back to one principle."
In a note J. Taylor adds, "Pletho (omitted) mention of Aristotle's name as an inheritor of the doctrines of the Magi, and Plutarch, from whose De Iside et Osiride, Pletho quoted two passages. (A. 281 and M. 984A, from Moralia II, 519, 12 S. and A. 280 from Moralia II, 523, 3-5). The theory of a truth gradually unfolded to mankind by a succession of wise men, some of whom imparted their wisdom to (through) oracles (perhaps meaning divinely inspired pronouncements), was, of course, a Neoplatonic tradition, taking its rise probably from Plato's Alcibiades I, 122 a, in which Plato spoke of the magic (sic. cf. observances) of Zoroaster as the service of God (theurgy). Plutarch, Porphyry (cf. Wolff, Porphyrius: De Philosophia ex Oraculis Haurienda, Berlin, 1856), Iamblichus, Proclus and Psellus were the principal transmitters of the tradition to Pletho."
Pletho attributes to both Zoroaster and Pythagoras the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, and contrasts the Platonic-Zoroastrian concept of free will to the determinism of Aristotle. Pletho also states that according to Plato, God is the first cause and final end of existence (a belief similar to that in Zoroastrianism) who remains separate from creation (cf. panentheism). Aristotle's God according to Pletho is like a general, part of this universe (cf. pantheism) and merely the senior-most amongst other eternal elements. like a general, Aristotle's God is responsible for movement and change but not for the existence of the army i.e. creation. Pletho states, "Aristotle does make God the end; but even this must be regarded as a not very exalted claim and not one worthy of God, if he makes God the end not of the existence or essence of particular things but only of movement and change."
(Also see, George Gemistos Plethon on God: Heterodoxy in Defense of Orthodoxy by Darien C. DeBolt, University of Oklahoma)
Congruence of the Oracles with Zoroastrian Teachings
When we compare the quotes in the Oracles (as they have survived and been translated into English today) with the hymns of Zarathushtra and with the rest of the Zoroastrian scriptures, the Avesta, we find that some of the oracles are remarkably congruent or consistent with ideas and themes expressed in the Zoroastrian scriptures and religious texts. Others have a distinct Babylonian-Egyptian-Greek bias to them. It is the quotes consistent with Zoroastrianism and even Mithraism and the Zoroastrian sect of Zurvanism that are of interest to us. When we further compare Pythagorean and neo-Platonic concepts inspired by the oracles (or by Zoroastrianism directly), we are provided with some fascinating insights and interesting connections that span Greek, Iranian/Persian and Chinese (Daoist/Taoist) philosophies.
Points of Departure from Zoroastrianism
While from the theology of the Oracles we can see that there are several points of congruence between the Oracles and Zoroastrianism - especially the metaphorical references to fires and wisdom (intellect), there are significant points of departure, a most fundamental being the Gnostic beliefs espoused in the Oracles. If we understand Gnosticism to propound that the material world is essentially evil or in any event one of suffering from which the soul must free itself in order to achieve salvation (cf. Buddhism), then Zoroastrianism espouses this creation to be divine and one where humans should work diligently to create the best existence - a paradise for all. This Zoroastrian perspective on doing God's work - theurgy - is a diametrically opposite concept to the Gnostic beliefs we read in the Oracles.
The Oracles and Neo-Platonism give the Supreme Divine a gender and the title "father" which is an anthropomorphizing of the deity and an ascribing of a gender (male) both of which are contrary to Zoroastrian concepts of a non-anthropomorphic, incomprehensible deity.
Also see (Chaldean) Oracles of Zoroaster - Beliefs Summary by Psellus and this Author
[Post-Alexandrian Persian accounts are replete with assertions that Alexander destroyed Persian (Zoroastrian) texts and that those he did not destroy, he had sent to Egypt and Greece. While these Persian-Zoroastrian texts would have been transformed & Hellenized during their sojourn in the Hellenic heartland, they may yet contain vestiges of their original source and it is in this quest that we scour Classical Greek texts that profess a Persian-Zoroastrian connection.]
Chaldea
Chaldea appears to be a English (from Greek-Latin) version of the Assyrian/Aramaic name Kaldu - an area south-east of Babylonia and between Babylon and the Persian Gulf. Its neighbour to the east would have been Elam and Persia. In English language translations and interpretations of Classical Greek accounts of the reason, we find the name Chaldea used where we might otherwise find Sumer, Babylonia or even Mesopotamia. During the time when the classical Greek histories and accounts were written, Chaldea or Babylonia were part of the Persian Empire and Babylon was a centre of learning visited by several Greek travellers.
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| Chaldea. Image credit: Wikipedia |
The Hellenic travellers to Chaldea-Babylon including Pythagoras who it is claimed was taught Zoroastrian teachings by Zoroaster himself* - learning the principles of religion and practical maxims for the conduct of life (also see the Golden Verses of Pythagoras which have several points of congruence with the Zoroastrian andarz). Pythagorean "scriptures" are said to have included the (Chaldean) Oracles of Zoroaster. (* An improbable claim perhaps implying instead that Pythagoras was taught by a Zoroastrian or a senior Zoroastrian priest.)
The (Chaldean) Oracles of Zoroaster
The Oracles of Zoroaster (also called the Chaldean Oracles of Zoroaster) are a collection of fragments of what is thought to be a single mystery-poem. We presume that the word 'Oracle' in the title signifies it being a source of wisdom - even a divine message or a divinely inspired message - rather than it being a source of prophecy.
Authorship of the Oracles (According to Taylor)
The edition of the text that came into the possession of the Greeks was said to have been written in Chaldean i.e. Akkadian or Babylonian. Thomas Taylor in his article Oracles of Zoroaster published in, The Classical Journal (Volume 16, September and December 1817) states that the oracles "are of Chaldaic [Chaldean i.e. Babylonian-Persian] origin, and were not forged by Christians of any denomination, as has been asserted by some superficial writers, is demonstrably evident from the following considerations: In the first place, John Picus, Earl of Mirandula [a lord in Italy b. 1463 CE], in a letter to Ficinus [Marsilio Ficino (Latin name: Marsilius Ficinus) (October 19, 1433 – October 1, 1499) an influential Italian humanist philosopher], informs him that he was in possession of the Oracles of Zoroaster in the Chaldean tongue, with a commentary on them, by certain Chaldean wise men. And that he did not speak this from mere conjecture (as Fabricius thinks he did) is evident from his expressly asserting, in a letter to Urbinatus (p. 256 of his works), that, after much labour, he had at length learned the Chaldean language."
Taylor continues: "...as Porphyry [of Tyre (in Ancient Greek: Porphyrios) 234–c.305 CE, Neoplatonic philosopher], Iamblichus [c.250-325 CE, an Neoplatonic philosopher], and Proclus [Lycaeus (412–485 CE), a Greek Neoplatonic philosopher] [Among the Neoplatonist writers was Damascius (462-537 CE)] wrote large commentaries on these oracles, and are well known to have ranked amongst the greatest enemies of the Christian religion; there is not even poetical probability, that men of such great learning and sagacity should have been duped by the shallow artifice of some heretical Christian knave [the full commentaries referred to above are lost and survive only as fragments]. To which we may add, that Porphyry, in his Life of Plotinus, expressly mentions, that certain revelations ascribed to Zoroaster, were circulated, in his time, by many Christians and heretics who had abandoned the ancient philosophy, and that he showed, by many arguments, these revelations were spurious; from which it is evident, that the Oracles commented on by him, were not those forged by the heretics of his time.
"...Proclus in his MS. Scholia [medieval annotations or commentaries on ancient Greek or Latin texts] on the Cratylus of Plato, says, that the Oracles respecting the intelligible and intellectual orders were delivered by Theurgists [Divine-Workers (theurgy means 'divine-working')], under the reign of Marcus Antoninus [Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus? (121-180 CE). One individual sometimes credited as being a possible compiler of the Oracles is Julian the Theurgist, son of Julian the Chaldean. The latter had served in the Roman army during Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus' (121–180 CE) reign]."
Our note: Theurgy was the spiritual belief and practice of Neoplatonists. Neoplatonists were members of a school akin to a religion based on the teachings of Plato. As did Pythagoreans, Neoplatonists regarded the Oracles of Zoroaster as a sacred text or scripture, sometimes, even above Plato himself. In order to prevent the harming of the uneducated, Proclus advocated removing all books from circulation other than Plato's dialogue, Timaeus and the Chaldean Oracles of Zoroaster. The Theurgy of the Chaldean Oracles was said to have provided the knowledge to aid the soul on its ascent to (re)union with the Divine, a process called henosis. Plotinus promoted contemplation and mediation as the means to reunion with the Divine while Iamblichus of Calcis (Syria) (a student of Porphyry himself a student of Plotinus) promoted invocation and ritual.
Taylor continues: "It is clear, therefore, that the following oracles, which are collected from the writings of the Platonists, are of Chaldean, and not of Christian origin; not to mention that the dogmas they contain are totally dissonant from those of the Christian faith.
"It is likewise evident, that some of these oracles may, with great confidence, be ascribed to the Chaldean Zoroaster. This appears from the Chaldean manuscript of Picus, in which those oracles were denominated Zoroastrian, which exist at present, with the Scholia of Psellus [Byzantine statesman and author (1018-1078 CE)], under the title of The Magic Oracles of Zoroaster."
According to Sapere Aude who wrote a preface to Westcott's "Chaldean Oracles of Zoroaster", Berosus, a 3rd century BCE Babylonian writer is said to be the first who introduced the writings of the Chaldæans concerning Astronomy and Philosophy among the Greeks ". Aude goes on to say, "and it is certain that the traditions of Chaldea very largely influenced Greek thought. Taylor considers that some of these mystical utterances are the sources whence the sublime conceptions of Plato were formed, and large commentaries were written upon them by Porphyry, Iamblichus, Proclus, Pletho and Psellus. That men of such great learning and sagacity should have thought so highly of these Oracles, is a fact which in itself should commend them to our attention." Further, "We are indebted to both Psellus and Pletho for [quotations and] comments at some length upon the Chaldæan Oracles, and the collection adduced by these writers has been considerably enlarged by Franciscus Patricius, who made many additions from Proclus, Hermias, Simplicius, Damascius, Synesius, Olympiodorus, Nicephorus and Arnobius; his collection, which comprised some 324 oracles under general heads, was published in Latin in 1593, and constitutes the groundwork of the later classification arrived at by Taylor and Cory; all of these editions have been utilised in producing the present revise."
Authorship of the Original 'Oracles' (Our Notes)
The Greeks commonly ascribed to Zoroaster anything related to the religion of the Persians. The 'Oracles of Zoroaster' could read 'Beliefs of Persian-Zoroastrians' as also 'Oracles of the Magi' (Zoroastrian priests). Indeed, Pletho (see below) quoting Psellus refers to the Oracles of the Magi. As there are points of both congruence and divergence between the surviving 'Oracles' and mainstream Zoroastrian thought, only certain parts of the 'Oracles' may be ascribed to Zoroaster, or more properly to later Zoroastrian followers and the magi. It is widely acknowledged that several parts of the text cannot even be remotely connected to Zoroaster / Zarathushtra and in any event Zoroaster / Zarathushtra lived hundreds of years before the Greeks journeyed to Babylon and Chaldea to study the wisdom of the East. Since the Greeks universally acknowledge Zoroaster to be a Persian Aryan who lived in the east of the then Persian empire (in particular, according to them: Bactria), we can conclude that those parts of the text that one can possibly attribute to Zoroaster may have come to the West via Babylon, that is, the Chaldean connection. Ideas expressed in the Oracles appear to be a syncretism: a blending,of Zoroastrian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Buddhist and Greek ideas. Some Zoroastrian texts were reputedly stored in Babylon and Alexandria, Egypt, and these texts could have been used to compose a syncretic work on theurgy. Perhaps to gain credibility, the authorship of the composite work could have ascribed to Zoroaster / Zarathushtra.
As we have implied above, it would be incorrect to say that even those quotations ascribed to Zoroaster / Zarathushtra were directly composed by him. Zoroaster / Zarathushtra lived in a different time and place and spoke an entirely different language to Babylonian. Whoever the eventual author or authors of the source 'Oracles' were, if those authors had based some of their writings on Zoroaster's / Zarathushtra's message, they would have had to translate Zoroaster's / Zarathushtra's words and in the translation we can expect that they wrote down their version of what they thought Zoroaster's / Zarathushtra's words meant - words that were part of a language that had already become extinct during the 2nd century CE. It is also natural to expect that different denominations of Zoroastrians (Zurvanist-Zoroastrians being one possibility) would have sprung up in different places infusing different ideas or interpretations into original core Zoroastrian beliefs (cf. the Gathas of Zarathushtra). We see that phenomenon manifesting in today's world despite our ability to communicate across distances, an ability that was severely restricted in ancient times.
Rather than ascribing the authorship of the Oracles' original source work or reference (as different from the versions quoted by Classical Greek authors) to a "Chaldean Zoroaster" as Taylor calls the source, it may be possible to ascribe the authorship to a Chaldean(s), i.e. a Babylonian Zoroastrian(s) or to Zoroastrian priests, the magi. These Zoroastrian(s) or the magi in turn could have based their version of the work on the surviving teachings of Zoroaster.
Authorship of the Extant Oracle Verses (Our Notes)
The verses of the Oracles as we know them survive only in the quotations and comments of other authors - mainly Classical Greek authors. There is some difference between the interpretations and comments leading us to believe that these authors were not entirely faithful to their source document.
As we have stated above, According to Sapere Aude who wrote a preface to Westcott's "Chaldean Oracles of Zoroaster", Berosus, a 3rd century BCE Babylonian writer is said to be the first who introduced the writings of the Chaldæans concerning Astronomy and Philosophy among the Greeks ".
Porphyry [of Tyre (in Ancient Greek: Porphyrios) 234–c.305 CE, Neoplatonic philosopher], Iamblichus [c.250-325 CE, an Neoplatonic philosopher], Proclus [Lycaeus 412–485 CE, a Greek Neoplatonic philosopher], Damascius [Neoplatonist writer (462-537 CE)] wrote commentaries on the Oracles and was the last head of the philosophical school of Athens. These commentaries form the principal sources from which a reconstruction of the Oracles was been undertaken by several modern authors.
In medieval times, Psellus, who lived between 1018 and 1078 CE, was a Byzantine-Christian author and head of the Academy of Constantinople. Psellus wrote a commentary of the Oracles under the title of The Magic Oracles of Zoroaster" and also Expositio Oracidorum Chaldaicorum (in M. 122, 1124 ff). At that time Aristotle's doctrine had been reconciled with Christianity by the church. Platonism was however considered a Christian heresy and as a Platonist, Psellus was liable to the charge of heresy.
Pletho/Plethon (Georgius Gemistus) on Zoroastrianism, Platonism & the Oracles
Psellus is quoted by Georgius Gemistus (c.1355-1454 CE), a latter day Neoplatonic philosopher who expressed his loyalty to Plato by changing his name to Pletho or Plethon meaning "full", and under which name he is known as the author of De Differentiis/Differentia, a comparison between Plato and Aristotles' concepts of God. He also wrote a Summary of the Doctrines of Zoroaster and Plato, in which he expounded his own eclectic beliefs. Pletho's source for what he saw as the similarity between Zoroastrianism and Platonism was Psellus. According to John Taylor in Georgius Gemistus Pletho's Criticism of Plato and Aristotle (1921 - not to be confused with Thomas Taylor), "Plato was for him (Pletho) the world's supreme philosopher, yet he was not an isolated thinker. Among the doctrines he expressed were some which came down from the followers of Zoroaster through the Pythagorean tradition to him. It should be noted, however, that Plato's superiority had nothing to do with supernatural revelation, but consisted in his treatment of ethics, psychology and physics as calculated to lead one's mind to the contemplation of nobler things, and in his desire to attain a unified view of existence and trace the causes of all things back to one principle."
In a note J. Taylor adds, "Pletho (omitted) mention of Aristotle's name as an inheritor of the doctrines of the Magi, and Plutarch, from whose De Iside et Osiride, Pletho quoted two passages. (A. 281 and M. 984A, from Moralia II, 519, 12 S. and A. 280 from Moralia II, 523, 3-5). The theory of a truth gradually unfolded to mankind by a succession of wise men, some of whom imparted their wisdom to (through) oracles (perhaps meaning divinely inspired pronouncements), was, of course, a Neoplatonic tradition, taking its rise probably from Plato's Alcibiades I, 122 a, in which Plato spoke of the magic (sic. cf. observances) of Zoroaster as the service of God (theurgy). Plutarch, Porphyry (cf. Wolff, Porphyrius: De Philosophia ex Oraculis Haurienda, Berlin, 1856), Iamblichus, Proclus and Psellus were the principal transmitters of the tradition to Pletho."
Pletho attributes to both Zoroaster and Pythagoras the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, and contrasts the Platonic-Zoroastrian concept of free will to the determinism of Aristotle. Pletho also states that according to Plato, God is the first cause and final end of existence (a belief similar to that in Zoroastrianism) who remains separate from creation (cf. panentheism). Aristotle's God according to Pletho is like a general, part of this universe (cf. pantheism) and merely the senior-most amongst other eternal elements. like a general, Aristotle's God is responsible for movement and change but not for the existence of the army i.e. creation. Pletho states, "Aristotle does make God the end; but even this must be regarded as a not very exalted claim and not one worthy of God, if he makes God the end not of the existence or essence of particular things but only of movement and change."
(Also see, George Gemistos Plethon on God: Heterodoxy in Defense of Orthodoxy by Darien C. DeBolt, University of Oklahoma)
Congruence of the Oracles with Zoroastrian Teachings
When we compare the quotes in the Oracles (as they have survived and been translated into English today) with the hymns of Zarathushtra and with the rest of the Zoroastrian scriptures, the Avesta, we find that some of the oracles are remarkably congruent or consistent with ideas and themes expressed in the Zoroastrian scriptures and religious texts. Others have a distinct Babylonian-Egyptian-Greek bias to them. It is the quotes consistent with Zoroastrianism and even Mithraism and the Zoroastrian sect of Zurvanism that are of interest to us. When we further compare Pythagorean and neo-Platonic concepts inspired by the oracles (or by Zoroastrianism directly), we are provided with some fascinating insights and interesting connections that span Greek, Iranian/Persian and Chinese (Daoist/Taoist) philosophies.
Points of Departure from Zoroastrianism
While from the theology of the Oracles we can see that there are several points of congruence between the Oracles and Zoroastrianism - especially the metaphorical references to fires and wisdom (intellect), there are significant points of departure, a most fundamental being the Gnostic beliefs espoused in the Oracles. If we understand Gnosticism to propound that the material world is essentially evil or in any event one of suffering from which the soul must free itself in order to achieve salvation (cf. Buddhism), then Zoroastrianism espouses this creation to be divine and one where humans should work diligently to create the best existence - a paradise for all. This Zoroastrian perspective on doing God's work - theurgy - is a diametrically opposite concept to the Gnostic beliefs we read in the Oracles.
The Oracles and Neo-Platonism give the Supreme Divine a gender and the title "father" which is an anthropomorphizing of the deity and an ascribing of a gender (male) both of which are contrary to Zoroastrian concepts of a non-anthropomorphic, incomprehensible deity.
Also see (Chaldean) Oracles of Zoroaster - Beliefs Summary by Psellus and this Author
Friday, September 14, 2012
Golden Verses of Pythagoras
The Golden Verses of Pythagoras are quite similar (some are also identical) to the Zoroastrian andarz, aphorism or pithy words of wise counsel. (Source: Wikipedia quoting Firth (1904:1-8).
1. First worship the Immortal Gods, as they are established and ordained by the Law.
2. Reverence the Oath, and next the Heroes, full of goodness and light.
3. Honour likewise the Terrestrial Daemons by rendering them the worship lawfully due to them.
4. Honour likewise your parents, and those most nearly related to you.
5. Of all the rest of mankind, make him your friend who distinguishes himself by his virtue.
6. Always give ear to his mild exhortations, and take example from his virtuous and useful actions.
7. Avoid as much as possible hating your friend for a slight fault.
8. Power is a near neighbour to necessity.
9. Know that all these things are just as what I have told you; and accustom yourself to overcome and vanquish these passions:--
10. First gluttony, sloth, sensuality, and anger.
11. Do nothing evil, neither in the presence of others, nor privately;
12. But above all things respect yourself.
13. In the next place, observe justice in your actions and in your words.
14. And do not accustom yourself to behave yourself in any thing without rule, and without reason.
15. But always make this reflection, that it is ordained by destiny that all men shall die.
16. And that the goods of fortune are uncertain; and that just as they may be acquired, they may likewise be lost.
17. Concerning all the calamities that men suffer by divine fortune,
18. Support your lot with patience, it is what it may be, and never complain at it.
19. But endeavour what you can to remedy it.
20. And consider that fate does not send the greatest portion of these misfortunes to good men.
21. There are many sorts of reasonings among men, good and bad;
22. Do not admire them too easily, nor reject them.
23. But if falsehoods are advanced, hear them with mildness, and arm yourself with patience.
24. Observe well, on every occasion, what I am going to tell you:--
25. Do not let any man either by his words, or by his deeds, ever seduce you.
26. Nor lure you to say or to do what is not profitable for yourself.
27. Consult and deliberate before you act, that you may not commit foolish actions.
28. For it is the part of a miserable man to speak and to act without reflection.
29. But do the thing which will not afflict you afterwards, nor oblige you to repentance.
30. Never do anything which you do not understand.
31. But learn all you ought to know, and by that means you will lead a very pleasant life.
32. in no way neglect the health of your body;
33. But give it drink and meat in due measure, and also the exercise of which it needs.
34. Now by measure I mean what will not discomfort you.
35. Accustom yourself to a way of living that is neat and decent without luxury.
36. Avoid all things that will occasion envy.
37. And do not be prodigal out of season, like someone who does not know what is decent and honourable.
38. Neither be covetous nor stingy; a due measure is excellent in these things.
39. Only do the things that cannot hurt you, and deliberate before you do them.
40. Never allow sleep to close your eyelids, after you went to bed,
41. Until you have examined all your actions of the day by your reason.
42. In what have I done wrong? What have I done? What have I omitted that I ought to have done?
43. If in this examination you find that you have done wrong, reprove yourself severely for it;
44. And if you have done any good, rejoice.
45. Practise thoroughly all these things; meditate on them well; you ought to love them with all your heart.
46. It is those that will put you in the way of divine virtue.
47. I swear it by he who has transmitted into our souls the Sacred Quaternion, the source of nature, whose cause is eternal.
48. But never begin to set your hand to any work, until you have first prayed the gods to accomplish what you are going to begin.
49. When you have made this habit familiar to you,
50. You will know the constitution of the Immortal Gods and of men.
51. Even how far the different beings extend, and what contains and binds them together.
52. You shall likewise know that according to Law, the nature of this universe is in all things alike,
53. So that you shall not hope what you ought not to hope; and nothing in this world shall be hidden from you.
54. You will likewise know, that men draw upon themselves their own misfortunes voluntarily, and of their own free choice.
55. Unhappy they are! They neither see nor understand that their good is near them.
56. Few know how to deliver themselves out of their misfortunes.
57. Such is the fate that blinds humankind, and takes away his senses.
58. Like huge cylinders they roll back and forth, and always oppressed with innumerable ills.
59. For fatal strife, natural, pursues them everywhere, tossing them up and down; nor do they perceive it.
60. Instead of provoking and stirring it up, they ought to avoid it by yielding.
61. Oh! Jupiter, our Father! If you would deliver men from all the evils that oppress them,
62. Show them of what daemon they make use.
63. But take courage; the race of humans is divine.
64. Sacred nature reveals to them the most hidden mysteries.
65. If she impart to you her secrets, you will easily perform all the things which I have ordained thee.
66. And by the healing of your soul, you wilt deliver it from all evils, from all afflictions.
67. But you should abstain from the meats, which we have forbidden in the purifications and in the deliverance of the soul;
68. Make a just distinction of them, and examine all things well.
69. Leave yourself always to be guided and directed by the understanding that comes from above, and that ought to hold the reins.
70. And when, after having deprived yourself of your mortal body, you arrived at the most pure Aither,
71. You shall be a God, immortal, incorruptible, and Death shall have no more dominion over you.
1. First worship the Immortal Gods, as they are established and ordained by the Law.
2. Reverence the Oath, and next the Heroes, full of goodness and light.
3. Honour likewise the Terrestrial Daemons by rendering them the worship lawfully due to them.
4. Honour likewise your parents, and those most nearly related to you.
5. Of all the rest of mankind, make him your friend who distinguishes himself by his virtue.
6. Always give ear to his mild exhortations, and take example from his virtuous and useful actions.
7. Avoid as much as possible hating your friend for a slight fault.
8. Power is a near neighbour to necessity.
9. Know that all these things are just as what I have told you; and accustom yourself to overcome and vanquish these passions:--
10. First gluttony, sloth, sensuality, and anger.
11. Do nothing evil, neither in the presence of others, nor privately;
12. But above all things respect yourself.
13. In the next place, observe justice in your actions and in your words.
14. And do not accustom yourself to behave yourself in any thing without rule, and without reason.
15. But always make this reflection, that it is ordained by destiny that all men shall die.
16. And that the goods of fortune are uncertain; and that just as they may be acquired, they may likewise be lost.
17. Concerning all the calamities that men suffer by divine fortune,
18. Support your lot with patience, it is what it may be, and never complain at it.
19. But endeavour what you can to remedy it.
20. And consider that fate does not send the greatest portion of these misfortunes to good men.
21. There are many sorts of reasonings among men, good and bad;
22. Do not admire them too easily, nor reject them.
23. But if falsehoods are advanced, hear them with mildness, and arm yourself with patience.
24. Observe well, on every occasion, what I am going to tell you:--
25. Do not let any man either by his words, or by his deeds, ever seduce you.
26. Nor lure you to say or to do what is not profitable for yourself.
27. Consult and deliberate before you act, that you may not commit foolish actions.
28. For it is the part of a miserable man to speak and to act without reflection.
29. But do the thing which will not afflict you afterwards, nor oblige you to repentance.
30. Never do anything which you do not understand.
31. But learn all you ought to know, and by that means you will lead a very pleasant life.
32. in no way neglect the health of your body;
33. But give it drink and meat in due measure, and also the exercise of which it needs.
34. Now by measure I mean what will not discomfort you.
35. Accustom yourself to a way of living that is neat and decent without luxury.
36. Avoid all things that will occasion envy.
37. And do not be prodigal out of season, like someone who does not know what is decent and honourable.
38. Neither be covetous nor stingy; a due measure is excellent in these things.
39. Only do the things that cannot hurt you, and deliberate before you do them.
40. Never allow sleep to close your eyelids, after you went to bed,
41. Until you have examined all your actions of the day by your reason.
42. In what have I done wrong? What have I done? What have I omitted that I ought to have done?
43. If in this examination you find that you have done wrong, reprove yourself severely for it;
44. And if you have done any good, rejoice.
45. Practise thoroughly all these things; meditate on them well; you ought to love them with all your heart.
46. It is those that will put you in the way of divine virtue.
47. I swear it by he who has transmitted into our souls the Sacred Quaternion, the source of nature, whose cause is eternal.
48. But never begin to set your hand to any work, until you have first prayed the gods to accomplish what you are going to begin.
49. When you have made this habit familiar to you,
50. You will know the constitution of the Immortal Gods and of men.
51. Even how far the different beings extend, and what contains and binds them together.
52. You shall likewise know that according to Law, the nature of this universe is in all things alike,
53. So that you shall not hope what you ought not to hope; and nothing in this world shall be hidden from you.
54. You will likewise know, that men draw upon themselves their own misfortunes voluntarily, and of their own free choice.
55. Unhappy they are! They neither see nor understand that their good is near them.
56. Few know how to deliver themselves out of their misfortunes.
57. Such is the fate that blinds humankind, and takes away his senses.
58. Like huge cylinders they roll back and forth, and always oppressed with innumerable ills.
59. For fatal strife, natural, pursues them everywhere, tossing them up and down; nor do they perceive it.
60. Instead of provoking and stirring it up, they ought to avoid it by yielding.
61. Oh! Jupiter, our Father! If you would deliver men from all the evils that oppress them,
62. Show them of what daemon they make use.
63. But take courage; the race of humans is divine.
64. Sacred nature reveals to them the most hidden mysteries.
65. If she impart to you her secrets, you will easily perform all the things which I have ordained thee.
66. And by the healing of your soul, you wilt deliver it from all evils, from all afflictions.
67. But you should abstain from the meats, which we have forbidden in the purifications and in the deliverance of the soul;
68. Make a just distinction of them, and examine all things well.
69. Leave yourself always to be guided and directed by the understanding that comes from above, and that ought to hold the reins.
70. And when, after having deprived yourself of your mortal body, you arrived at the most pure Aither,
71. You shall be a God, immortal, incorruptible, and Death shall have no more dominion over you.
Pythagorean Beliefs & Zoroastrianism
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| Pythagoras |
His interest to us in this article is Pythagoras' claim to fame as the founder of a religious movement called Pythagoreanism.
No writings attributed to Pythagoras about his religious doctrine have survived. What we know comes from the writings of Diogenes Laërtius, Parmenides, Empedocles, Philolaus and Plato, some of whom who were either Pythagoreans or were influenced by Pythagoras. While these authors provide differing accounts of Pythagorean beliefs, it is nevertheless said that he was the first man to call himself philosophos (a philosopher), a lover of wisdom, rather than sophos or wise person [cf. Cicero in Tusculan Disputations 5.3.8–9; Heraclides Ponticus and Diogenes Laërtius 1.12, 8.8].
These Classical Greek writers [Diogenes Laertius at viii. 2; Porphyry at Vita Pythagorica 11, 12; Iamblichus at De Vita Pythagorica 14] also inform us that Pythagoras undertook extensive travels visiting Egypt, Phoenicia, Arabia, Judaea, Babylon (then part of the Persian Empire) and India. The Egyptians taught him geometry, the Phoenicians arithmetic, the Chaldeans astronomy, and the Magians, that is Zoroastrians, taught him the principles of religion and practical maxims for the conduct of life (also see the Golden Verses of Pythagoras). Pythagorean (as well as Neo-Platonic) "scriptures" are said to have included the Chaldean Oracles of Zoroaster. Indeed, the claim is that he learnt Zoroastrian teachings from Zoroaster himself, though we know that would not be possible for Zoroaster lived many hundred years before Pythagoras.
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| Pythagoreans celebrate the sunrise by Fyodor Bronnikov 1827-1902. Image credit: Wikipedia |
Pythagorean Beliefs
Pythagorean beliefs are based on the Oracles of Zoroaster and are very close to Neo-Platonic beliefs.
The Primordial Unity
According to Pythagorean beliefs, the Primordial Unity is called called Aion (Eternity). This indescribable and unimaginable deity is beyond the limits of time and transcends all dualities including that of being and not-being.
The First Polarity and Duality
The self-fertilizing Aion gives birth to (or divides into) two gods Kronos and Rhea. They are the First Polarity, the First Duality. This First polarity governs the primary dualities such as the male-female, father-mother, unity-multiplicity and light-darkness dualities. Among these dualities. Kronos and Rhea by their cyclic alternation create existential time that humans perceive. Kronos is abiding while Rhea is proceeding (cf. our page on yin-yang duality - rest and activity), who by her power to change causes Kronos to become Khronos (Time).
Bythos, the Abyss
Kronos and Rhea are called Bythos, the deep yet high abyss. They are impenetrably deep and inaccessibly high. In them, the greatest height unites with the greatest depth. Proclus calls Them "dissimilarly alike": Kronos is the supreme simplicity of the One Mind; Rhea is the supreme simplicity of Primordial Matter which is in turn the universal foundation of all existence.
Monad, Unity. Dyad, Duality. Henads, Plurality
When Kronos and Rhea unite in marriage, their's is a union of the opposites, and in doing so they become the father and mother of the gods. Since Kronos embodies the Monad (the principle of unity) and since Rhea embodies the indefinite dyad (the principle of plurality), the union of the two engenders a plurality of divine unities (Henads) otherwise known as the Olympian gods of the Empyrean Realm.
First created are the Regents of the Second Rank of gods, Zeus and Hera who create the Aetherial Realm in which dwell the immortal celestial beings, the stars and planets as well as the Material Realm.
The Uniting of Ideas with Matter
Zeus thinks the world-defining ideas, which he throws like lightening bolts into the womb of Hera, who nourishes them with her substance, giving birth to this world. Thus Hera becomes the life-conferring World Soul (he tou Pantos Psyche, "the Soul of The All"), who unites ideas with matter.
Law of Mean. Harmonia
The Law of Mean Terms is based on the concept if that opposites cannot meet, there can be no Harmonia, or Union, of the opposites. Therefore, there needs to be a Mean Term which in turn has something in common with each of the extremes. The While the Mean Term both connects the extremes, it also keeps them separate by occupying the intervening gap. As a result, mediating powers such as the mean are also separating powers.
Triads
Together with the extremes, the mean from a triad and Pythagoreans identified many triads in the structure of reality. For instance, the World Soul mediates between unformed matter and the immaterial forms in the mind of the creator of the material world. Similarly, in the human microcosm there is a soul which mediates between and ultimately unites mind and matter.
Principle of Continuity and the Continuum
In order to avoid the paradox of the need for an unending series of means between a mean and the extremes, Pythagoras developed the Principle of Continuity which recognizes that the need for a continuum or spectrum from one extreme to the other with each point of the continuum a mediator between the two neighbouring points. For instance, between North and West lies the mediator mean term, the North-West. However, the establishment of that mean point creates the need for addition mean points between, West and North-West (North-West-West) and between North-West and North (North-North-West) and so on. There, there is a continuum of directions between North and West.
Abiding, Proceeding and Reverting
The Abiding, Proceeding and Reverting triad explains how the Essence can emanate into more substantial forms and still retain its identity. on the one hand, the unchanging nature of a thing, the Essence (or abiding /remaining) is regarded as the male pole. Multiplicity on the other hand is regarded as the female pole. While the male pole has the dynamic power or potential to relate to other things, that is, to move by a continuous flux toward greater participation (a more substantial embodiment) in the direction of the female pole, greater multiplicity, a flowing forth would cause it to lose its definition. therefore, it reverts or turns back toward its origin and in so doing mirrors its essence. The result is a third pole, the activity or actualization of the potential emanating from the essence. In other words, change is the mean between beginning and the end or in terms of character, mixture is the resulting mean between the two extremes or opposites.
The Triadic Principle allows us to determine the order of creation. In the Empyrean Realm all beings are immortal, immaterial and unchanging. in the Material Realm, the Earth, all things are in a state of perpetual change. The mean between the two is the Aetherial Realm, the heavens, occupied by celestial bodies, which are immortal yet material, moving and ever-changing.
In yet another application, the Triadic Principle and the Principle of Continuity determine the order of being. Between the Primordial One and Primordial Matter lie three orders: the Realm of Forms (ideas in the mind of the creator), the World Soul which mediates by bringing the Forms into the ordered Material World.
Tetrad
The Monad begets the dyad which begets the triad which begets the tetrad, the four elements of this world: earth, water, fire and air.
Cosmos
Pythagoras may have been the first to use the term cosmos for the universe implying beauty and order. Plato states that communion, friendship, orderliness, temperance and justice bind together heaven and earth, the divine and humans. Therefore, this universe is called cosmos or order (cf. Asha in Zoroastrianism).
The Basis for Astrology
Put another way, there is a continuum between the One and Matter connecting all things in-between. Thus we have connections with celestial bodies and are influenced by them, an explanation for the workings of astrology: human are connected in the "great chain of being."
Ascent to the One
Ascent to the One is a process by which the practitioner, by contemplative meditation, enters into ecstatic union with the One - a form of mysticism. The mediators can be words or sounds (cf. Zoroastrian manthra) that form the divine chord, the continuum provided by the divine for this purpose.
According to Iamblichus of Chalcis, to get closest to the One, the Monad, each individual must engage in divine work (we also take this to mean God's work). This divine work can be defined as each individual dedicating their lives to bettering the created world, humankind's relationship to the world and to one another. A means to this end is living a righteous life seeking after one's higher calling and meaning in life. This sentiment is entirely Zoroastrian.
Transmigration and Reincarnation
Pythagorean believed in repeated transmigration or the reincarnation of the soul into the bodies of humans, animals, or vegetables until it became immortal. Heraclides Ponticus reports that Pythagoras claimed that he had lived four lives that he could remember in detail,[Diogenes Laërtius at viii. 3–4] and, according to Xenophanes, Pythagoras heard the cry of his dead friend in the bark of a dog [Diogenes Laërtius at viii. 36].
Reference: A Summary of Pythagorean Theology by John Opsopaus
The Pythagorean Society of Croton and their Practices
At some point Pythagoras is said to have moved to Croton, a Greek colony in southern Italy. There, he expounded his beliefs and established a select society of followers. The various accounts (see above) agree that the teachings and work of the society's members were kept a profound secret. Porphyry wrote that this silence was "of no ordinary kind." Candidates had to pass a probationary period in which their powers of maintaining silence (echemythia) as well as their general temper, disposition, and mental capacity were tested. What we read is that Pythagoras urged the people of Croton to abandon their luxurious and corrupt ways and to embrace instead a more pure and righteous way of life. Those who accepted his teachings became part of a close-knit brotherhood or sisterhood (there were male and female members) that pursued Pythagorean practices that included temperance and perhaps even vegetarianism. They met for common meals in groups of ten. Their assembly building had all the trappings of a monastery. Iamblichus [at Vit. Pyth. 96–101 quoting Aristoxenus] gives a long description of the daily routine of the members. Their daily routine included music, gymnastics and daily exercises. In their demeanour, they were encouraged to display discipline, a lofty serenity and self-possession. They were to be devoted to each other - to the exclusion of those who did not belong to their society. They bore secret symbols or mannerisms by which they could recognize one-another even if they had never met before. Even though the society's work was secret, its members were nevertheless openly and actively involved in the politics of Croton, an involvement that eventually led to their downfall and the burning of their building where many of the assembled members perished.
[Also see the Golden Verses of Pythagoras]
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Who Were the Aryans?
(Excepts from our pages Who Were the Aryans? Post Classical Western Authors and Western Views.)
Who Were the Aryans?
The Indo-Iranian group whose members composed the Zoroastrian scriptures, the Avesta and the oldest of the Hindu Scriptures, the Rig Veda, called themselves Aryans (Airya/Airyan in the Avesta and Arya/Aryan in the Vedas). The name Arya or Aryan was used in the same manner as we would use Iranian today. Iran is the modern version of Airan (from Airyana, land of the Airya/Aryans).
In the same manner that there are Iranian-like people who are not Iranian, and non-Iranian-like people who are Iranian, the same would have held true for the greater ancient Aryan nation (cf. the sixteen nations listed in the Avesta's Book of Vendidad, or the core nations of the Bactrian, Median, Achaemenian Persian, Parthian, and Sassanian empires. Arya/Aryan is the name of a community, a society, a nation as well as the people of that nation).
Earliest References to the Aryans
The only known ancient texts that contain references to Aryans are the Zoroastrian scriptures, the Avesta and the Hindu Scriptures, the Vedas.
The next references are in the inscriptions of the Achaemenian Persians (see Achaemenian History as well as our page on Naqsh-e Rustam).
Earliest Surviving Western References to the Aryans
Classical Greek texts such as those of Herodotus and Strabo, mention the Aryans exclusively with respect to the Central Asian ancestry of the Medes and Persians. Strabo called the old lands of the Aryans, Ariana or Aryana (cf. Airyana of the Avesta).
How the Aryans Entered Modern Western Consciousness
Anquetil du Perron (1731-1805)
Frenchman Anquetil du Perron was the first Western scholar who travelled to India in order to obtain Avesta manuscripts. He then attempted an early translation of the texts he had obtained into French, and published his translation in three volumes under the title Le Zend-Avesta, ouvrage de Zoroastre.
Who Were the Aryans?
The Indo-Iranian group whose members composed the Zoroastrian scriptures, the Avesta and the oldest of the Hindu Scriptures, the Rig Veda, called themselves Aryans (Airya/Airyan in the Avesta and Arya/Aryan in the Vedas). The name Arya or Aryan was used in the same manner as we would use Iranian today. Iran is the modern version of Airan (from Airyana, land of the Airya/Aryans).
In the same manner that there are Iranian-like people who are not Iranian, and non-Iranian-like people who are Iranian, the same would have held true for the greater ancient Aryan nation (cf. the sixteen nations listed in the Avesta's Book of Vendidad, or the core nations of the Bactrian, Median, Achaemenian Persian, Parthian, and Sassanian empires. Arya/Aryan is the name of a community, a society, a nation as well as the people of that nation).
Earliest References to the Aryans
The only known ancient texts that contain references to Aryans are the Zoroastrian scriptures, the Avesta and the Hindu Scriptures, the Vedas.
The next references are in the inscriptions of the Achaemenian Persians (see Achaemenian History as well as our page on Naqsh-e Rustam).
Earliest Surviving Western References to the Aryans
Classical Greek texts such as those of Herodotus and Strabo, mention the Aryans exclusively with respect to the Central Asian ancestry of the Medes and Persians. Strabo called the old lands of the Aryans, Ariana or Aryana (cf. Airyana of the Avesta).
How the Aryans Entered Modern Western Consciousness
Anquetil du Perron (1731-1805)
Frenchman Anquetil du Perron was the first Western scholar who travelled to India in order to obtain Avesta manuscripts. He then attempted an early translation of the texts he had obtained into French, and published his translation in three volumes under the title Le Zend-Avesta, ouvrage de Zoroastre.
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