Iamblichus
Iamblichus (/aɪˈæmblɪkəs/ eye-AM-blik-əs; Greek: Ἰάμβλιχος, translit. Iámblichos; Arabic: يَمْلِكُ, romanized: Yamlīḵū; Aramaic: 𐡉𐡌𐡋𐡊𐡅, romanized: Yamlīḵū;[2][3] c. 245[4] – c. 325) was an Arab[5] neoplatonic philosopher.[6] He determined a direction later taken by neoplatonism. Iamblichus was also the biographer of the Greek mystic, philosopher, and mathematician Pythagoras.[7][8] In addition to his philosophical contributions, his Protrepticus is important for the study of the sophists because it preserved about ten pages of an otherwise unknown sophist known as the Anonymus Iamblichi.[9]
For other people named Iamblichus, see Iamblichus (disambiguation).
Iamblichus
c. 245[1]
c. 325 (aged around 80)
Iamblichus Chalcidensis, Iamblichus of Chalcis, Iamblichus of Apamea
- On the Pythagorean Way of Life (Περὶ τοῦ πυθαγορικοῦ βίου; De vita pythagorica), Protrepticus (Προτρεπτικὸς ἐπὶ φιλοσοφίαν), On the Egyptian Mysteries (Περὶ τῶν αἰγυπτίων μυστηρίων; De Mysteriis Aegyptiorum)
Life[edit]
According to the Suda and Iamblichus' biographer, Eunapius, Iamblichus was born in Chalcis (later called Qinnašrīn) in Coele, now in northwest Syria.[10][11] Iamblichus was descended from the Emesene dynasty. He initially studied under Anatolius of Laodicea and later studied under Porphyry, a pupil of Plotinus (the founder of neoplatonism). Iamblichus disagreed with Porphyry about theurgy, reportedly responding to Porphyry's criticism of the practice in On the Mysteries of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians.
He returned to Coele Syria around 304 to found a school in Apamea (near Antioch), a city known for its neoplatonic philosophers. Iamblichus designed a curriculum for studying Plato and Aristotle, and wrote commentaries on the two which survive only in fragments. Pythagoras was his supreme authority, and he wrote the ten-volume Collection of Pythagorean Doctrines with extracts from several ancient philosophers; only the first four volumes and fragments of the fifth survive.[12]
Iamblichus wrote the Exhortation to Philosophy in Apamea during the early fourth century.[13] Considered a man of great culture and learning, he was renowned for his charity and self-denial and had a number of students. According to Johann Albert Fabricius, he died sometime before 333 during the reign of Constantine the Great.[11]
Reception[edit]
Iamblichus was praised by his followers, and contemporaries credited him with miraculous powers. The Roman emperor Julian, not content with Eunapius' modest eulogy that Iamblichus was inferior to Porphyry only in style, regarded him as second only to Plato and said that he would give all the gold in Lydia for one of his letters. During the 15th- and 16th-century revival of interest in his philosophy, Iamblichus' name was rarely mentioned without the epithet "divine" or "most divine".[11]
Attribution[edit]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Sorley, William Ritchie (1911). "Iamblichus, the chief representative of Syrian Neoplatonism". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 14 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 213–215.
