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Proclus and the Chaldean Oracles; A Study on Proclean Exegesis, with a Translation and Commentary of Proclus’ Treatise On Chaldean Philosophy
Proclus and the Chaldean Oracles
This volume examines the discussion of the Chaldean Oracles in the work
of Proclus, as well as offering a translation and commentary of Proclus’
Treatise On Chaldean Philosophy.
Spanu assesses whether Proclus’ exegesis of the Chaldean Oracles can
be used by modern research to better clarify the content of Chaldean
doctrine or must instead be abandoned because it represents a substantial
misinterpretation of originary Chaldean teachings.The volume is augmented
by Proclus’ Greek text, with English translation and commentary.
Proclus and the Chaldean Oracles will be of interest to researchers working
on Neoplatonism, Proclus and theurgy in the ancient world.
Nicola Spanu wrote a PhD thesis on Plotinus and his Gnostic disciples
and took part in a postdoctoral project on Byzantine cosmology and its
relation to Neoplatonism. He has worked as an independent researcher
on his second academic publication, which has focused on Proclus and the
Chaldean Oracles.
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Epigraphic Culture in the Eastern Mediterranean in Antiquity
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Proclus and the Chaldean Oracles
A Study on Proclean Exegesis , with a Translation and Commentary of
Proclus’ Treatise On Chaldean Philosophy
Nicola Spanu
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Proclus and the Chaldean
Oracles
A Study on Proclean Exegesis ,
with a Translation and Commentary
of Proclus’ Treatise On Chaldean
Philosophy
Nicola Spanu
First published 2021
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Spanu, Nicola, author. | Proclus, approximately 410–485. On
the Chaldean philosophy. English (Spanu) | Proclus, approximately
410–485. On the Chaldean philosophy. Greek (Des Places)
Title: Proclus and the Chaldean oracles : a study on Proclean exegesis,
with a translation and commentary of Proclus’ Treatise on
Chaldean philosophy / Nicola Spanu.
Other titles: Routledge monographs in classical studies.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2021. |
Series: Routledge monographs in classical studies | Greek text
edited by É douard Des Places. | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020012777 (print) | LCCN 2020012778 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Proclus, approximately 410–485. On the Chaldean
philosophy. | Julianus, the Theurgist. Chaldean oracles. |
Neoplatonism. | Metaphysics.
Classification: LCC B701.O53 S63 2021 (print) | LCC B701.O53
(ebook) | DDC 186/.4—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020012777
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020012778
ISBN: 978-0-367-47314-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-03662-3 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
0.1 The Chaldean Oracles and Proclus 1
0.2 A brief introductory comparison between Proclus’
and the Chaldean Oracles’ metaphysics 3
0.3 A concise assessment of the disagreement of current
literature concerning the first principles of Chaldean
metaphysics 6
0.4 The purpose of this book 8
0.5 Some methodological and hermeneutical
considerations 11
0.6 Final considerations 12
1 The Chaldean triad 17
1.1 The triad Father – Power – Intellect 17
1.2 The First Transcendent Fire, the First Intellect and the
Demiurgic Intellect 33
2 The structure of the divine dimension 53
2.1 The single divine hypostases 53
3 The world’s intellectual archetype and the creation
of the material dimension 96
3.1 The world of intellectual Ideas 96
3.2 The division of all things into triads 98
3.3 The cosmic triad Faith – Truth – Eros 99
3.4 The paternal Intellect’s ‘channels of implacable fire’ 101
viii Contents
3.5 Symbola and synthemata 103
3.6 Matter 104
3.7 The four elements and the creation of the material
world 106
3.8 The sun and the encosmic gods 107
3.9 The sky 111
3.10 The movement of the fixed stars and the planetary
revolutions 112
4 Man and his destiny 116
4.1 The creation of man by the Father 116
4.2 The vehicle of the soul 117
4.3 The material body 118
4.4 The liberation of the souls from their material
costraints 119
4.5 Metempsychosis 120
4.6 The soul’s faculty of perception 121
4.7 The ‘gods’’ address to the initiate 121
4.8 The initiate’s love for the gods 128
4.9 Hecate’s apparitions to the initiate 129
4.10 The Chaldean way to the Father 133
4.11 Man between angels and daemons 139
5 Proclus’ On Chaldean Philosophy : translation
and commentary 147
5.1 Introduction 147
5.2 Text 148
5.3 Translation 152
5.4 Commentary 156
Conclusions 166
Synopsis of Chaldean and Proclean systems 168
Bibliography 170
Index of ancient sources quoted 185
Index 195
Acknowledgments
I want to thank Prof. Giulia Sfameni Gasparro for sharing with me her
insightful thoughts on the topics discussed in this book. My thanks also go
to Dr. Ernesto Sergio Mainoldi for helping me to improve the manuscript. I
am grateful to the anonymous reviewers of this book for their suggestions on
how to make it accessible to a wider public. Of course, I take full responsibil-
ity for possible mistakes as well as for the final choices I made. Last but not
least, I want to thank my wife, parents and brother for showing to me their
constant support during the difficult times in which I have written this book.
http://taylorandfrancis.com
Introduction
0.1 The Chaldean Oracles and Proclus
The Chaldean Oracles (Χαλδαϊκά λόγια) have come down to us in highly
fragmentary form. É. des Places’ edition 1 contains 227 fragments in hex-
ameter verse, of which 186 are authentic, 17 doubtful, while 24 consist in
a single word. The biggest number of them has been discovered in Proclus’
Platonic commentaries. Damascius has also preserved a considerable num-
ber of oracular sayings2 in his treatise On the Principles, in his Commentary
on Plato’s Parmenides3 and in that on the Phaedo. 4 For both authors, the
Chaldean Oracles are a divine revelation,5 and they refer to them with the
objective of showing the agreement of their own philosophy, of the doctrines
of Plato, Pythagoras and Orpheus as well as of Greek traditional religion
with the Oracles (Λόγια) revealed by the gods through their earthly represen-
tatives.6 These are called ‘theurgists’ ( θεουργοί), literally ‘those who operate
on the gods’, and were believed by Neo-Platonists from Iamblichus onwards
to be mediators between man and the gods.7 The connection between the
theurgists and the Chaldean Oracles is shown by the fact that the authentic
fragment 153 des Places regards them as a spiritual elite capable of breaking
the bonds that bind humanity to the world of becoming governed by inflex-
ible Necessity.
With regard to the adjective ‘Chaldean’, this never appears in the extant
fragments, while Proclus uses the expression ‘Chaldean Oracles’ ( Χαλδαϊκά
λόγια);8 he also seems to use the substantive ‘Chaldeans’ ( Χαλδαῖοι) to refer
to the authors of the Oracles,9 since in his Commentary on Plato’s Republic
he mentions ‘the theurgists of the Chaldeans’ ( οἱ παρὰ Χαλδαιοίς θεουργοὶ).10
We know that in Hellenistic culture the term ‘Chaldeans’ referred to those
astrologers11 who wandered about the Roman Empire offering their services
to rich clients.12 But, as fragment 107 des Places clearly shows, the Chaldean
Oracles did not have a positive opinion of astrology, so we can assume that,
if this designation accompanied the Λόγια since the time they were written
and was not a later addition, it was used to indicate their supposed Oriental
provenance, of which the Neo-Platonists were generally aware, since they
often referred to their authors as the ‘Assyrians’ or simply the ‘Barbarians’. 13
2 Introduction
With regard to the authorship and date of composition of the Chaldean
Oracles, Suda’s Lexicon provides us with valuable information. It says that
Julian the Theurgist, son of Julian the Chaldean, 14 lived at the time of the
emperor Marcus Aurelius (121–180 A.D.) and authored, in addition to
works on Theurgy (Θεουργικά) and Telestics (Τελεστικά), ‘Oracles in hexam-
eter verse’ (Λόγια δι’ ἐπῶν). As we have seen, the term ‘Oracles’ ( Λόγια) was
the one used by Neo-Platonists to refer to the Chaldean Oracles.15 Scholarly
consensus terminates at this point, since while H. Lewy 16 thought that the
two Juliani, father and son, co-authored the Chaldean Oracles, H. D. Saf-
frey, on the basis of a strictly philological interpretation of Suda’s text, came
to the conclusion that Julian the Theurgist was their sole author. 17 There is
no doubt that Saffrey’s interpretation is much more philologically correct
than Lewy’s. However, a testimony from Psellus18 adduced by Saffrey him-
self19 – according to which Julian the Chaldean had recourse to the hieratic
art to make both the gods and Plato’s soul speak through his son (who
then really performed the role of oracle or prophet20 of this new divine
revelation) – could be a sign that Julian the Chaldean’s contribution to his
son’s endeavour to organize the Oracles of the gods in a coherent whole
was not negligible; it is in this special sense that he could be said to have
co-authored them. Probably the best choice in this regard is to follow des
Places and consider the Chaldean Oracles as an anonymous text,21 or to
speak of ‘authors’ of the Oracles in the plural as we have sometimes chosen
to do, in order to show that collecting and putting in writing the Oracles of
the gods must have been the result of a collective effort.
This is the tradition that Proclus, born in Constantinople in 412 from rich
parents,22 came into contact with when he became disciple of Syrianus in
Athens,23 which he preferred to Alexandria where for a time he had studied
rhetoric and philosophy, because of lack of decent teachers of philosophy in
that city. 24 After the death of his master Syrianus,25 he became head of the
Platonic Academy of Athens in around 437, 26 dying there in 485.27
In his Life of Proclus, Marinus, disciple and biographer of Proclus, reports
that his master had studied the Chaldean Oracles almost by himself, since
Syrianus had died before Proclus’ disagreement with his fellow disciple
Domninus whether their common master had to explain to them the Chal-
dean Oracles or the Orphic texts was resolved.28 As a consequence, when
Syrianus died, Proclus had been taught by his master only the ‘elements’
(στοιχεῖα) of Chaldean wisdom.29 To obtain a deeper knowledge of the
Oracles, which he regarded as a text of immense value comparable only to
Plato’s Timaeus,30 he made use of ‘the best Commentaries on the God-given
Oracles’ (τὰ μέγιστα τῶν ὑπομνημάτων εἰς τὰ θεοπαράδοτα λόγια), namely Por-
phyry’s and Iamblichus’s ἐξηγήσεις,31 of the Chaldean Oracles themselves32
as well as of Chaldean ‘premises’ (ὑποθέσεις) (probably the introductory
material given to him by Syrianus)33; it took him five years to complete the
study of these sources.34 There is no doubt that Proclus wrote extensively
on the Chaldean Oracles,35 even if no ancient author mentions a Proclean
Introduction 3
‘Commentary on the Chaldean Oracles’: Marinus simply says that Proclus
‘put together’ (συνελών) the material previously described, while Suda36
attributes to him a text entitled Agreement of Orpheus, Pythagoras and
Plato with the Oracles, which has been shown to be by Syrianus. The five
extracts where Proclus explains the Chaldean Oracles which were excerpted
by Psellus are simply entitled (with all probability by the excerptor himself)
On Chaldean Philosophy (Πρόκλου ἐκ τῆς αὐτῆς χαλδαϊκῆς φιλοσοφίας).37
In conclusion, our knowledge of both the Chaldean Oracles as they have
been preserved by Proclus and of his interpretation of them (but a similar
discourse could be made with regard to Damascius’ interpretation)38 is lim-
ited for three reasons:
1 Proclus’ quotations are generally very short (notable exceptions are
fragments 39, 49, 61, 146 and especially 37 des Places); this deprives us
of useful information on the Chaldean system.
2 In their commentaries on the Platonic dialogues, Proclus and Damascius
confine themselves to quoting the Oracles to show that either their own
philosophical positions or exegeses of Plato conform to what had been
revealed by the gods through the theurgists.39
3 The difficulty in establishing the original context of each fragment, since
the same fragments are sometimes quoted either by the same author in
different contexts or by different authors.40
0.2 A brief introductory comparison between Proclus’ and the
Chaldean Oracles ’ metaphysics
In this book we will discuss many aspects of Proclus’ metaphysical system
and compare it closely with the Chaldean one. However, we will not do this
systematically since the objective of this book is not to compare the two
systems (this work has already been done by other authors)41 but to discuss
Proclus’ exegesis of Chaldean doctrine, which refers to Chaldean metaphys-
ics only in a few cases and not always to discuss metaphysical problems, but
also to elucidate completely different matters. This state of affairs has also
forced us to resort to other ancient authors, in particular to Damascius’ On
the Principle and Commentary on the Parmenides, to clarify specific aspects
of Chaldean metaphysics relevant to Proclus’ exegesis but that he either
does not discuss or confines himself to merely hinting at. A case in point in
this regard is that of the first Chaldean fragment that will be analyzed in this
book (fragment 4 des Places), where it is made mentioned of the Chaldean
triad Father – Power – Intellect but which Proclus makes use of not to dis-
cuss the nature of the first principles, but to elucidate that of daemons, since
he thinks that as the divine hypostasis Power has the middle rank between
the divine hypostases of the Father and the Intellect, so the daemons are
placed in a median position between gods and men. It must be said that
Proclus’ way of proceeding can at times appear disconcerting to a modern
4 Introduction
reader, because he establishes connections between contexts that from a
modern perspective should be considered as unrelated. However, this is not
so for Proclus: for him everything relates to everything though at different
degrees; this means that the hierarchies that structure the higher dimensions
of Being also appear at inferior levels; in this respect Proclus agrees with the
Hermetic and evangelical principle ‘as above, so below’. Regarding the case
of fragment 4 des Places mentioned previously, we have resorted heavily on
Damascius to illustrate the relationship between the monadic and triadic
dimensions of Chaldean metaphysics, which unfortunately Proclus does not
elucidate with the same clarity as his successor at the helm of the Platonic
academy at Athens. We have also thought it useful for the reader to show
the similarities existing between Chaldean metaphysics and the metaphysi-
cal conceptions of coeval systems, such as the Gnostic and the Hermetic
ones. Although a close analysis of these similarities cannot be performed
in this book, we have thought that the fact of listing them in the endnotes
could stimulate further research on them. In order to help the reader to
better understand Proclus’ interpretation of Chaldean metaphysics, we will
now briefly compare the two systems. In this concise introduction, we will
confine ourselves to listing what we believe are the most important aspects
of both systems, a preliminary knowledge of which could help the reader to
better understand Proclus’ exegesis. In doing so, we have benefited greatly
from the introductions to Proclus’ metaphysics currently available, to which
we refer the interested reader. 42 We have also prepared a synopsis of the Pro-
clean and Chaldean system, which will help the reader to identify the several
divine entities mentioned throughout the book.
Proclus’ system is centred around the One, which represents the highest
divine hypostasis, the Principle from which Being as a whole and, through
its mediation, every single being comes from. The One transcends Being as
well as each single being but is at the same time present in both, since they
exist by participation in it. If, as giver of existence to all existents, the One
plays the role of efficient cause, as the final aim to which all beings tend, it
represents the universal final cause, since everything aims at going back to
the source of its own being. For Proclus, the One is also identical with the
Platonic Good, since it not only generates all beings but also keeps them in
existence: this is so because it communicates to each single one of them their
unitary nature, according to which each one of them is a specific individual;
for Proclus, only what is endowed with a minimum degree of oneness can
exist, while what is deprived of it is inevitably led to nonexistence. The
unlimited simplicity and oneness of the One makes it absolute in the etymo-
logical sense of the word, namely free from all relations with inferior beings.
This also implies that it is totally incomprehensible to them, since even the
tiniest degree of multiplicity establishes an insurmountable gulf between the
beings that possess it and the One.
This is the case of the higher henads, which represent the ‘beings’ closest
to the One, since they possess oneness to a degree superior to that of the
Introduction 5
beings inferior to them. Modern research has not established yet whether
the henads transcend Being or are instead inferior to it, since Proclus seems
to defend both positions and place the henads both above and below Being,
which according to him arises as a consequence of the interaction of the
primordial couple of opposites, Limit–Unlimitedness, in turn coming into
existence from the One. It is not even clear whether the henads are above
the triad Limit – Unlimitedness – Being or inferior to Limit–Unlimitedness
but superior to Being.43 Coming now to the higher hypostases of the Chal-
dean metaphysical system, the henads are absent from it while a principle
equivalent to the Proclean One seems to be present, since from our analysis
(see later, Chapter 1 ) it emerges that the Chaldean Oracles gave the Father
both the role of supreme monad and that of first member of the triad Father –
Power – Intellect. It does not seem that there is any Chaldean equivalent to
the Proclean triad Limit – Unlimitedness – Being.
From Being arises a second triad, namely Being – Life – Intellect. Each
member of this triad in turn manifests itself in a triad, so that we will have
three triads in total which will constitute the Proclean equivalent to Plato’s
hyperuranion or world of intelligible Ideas. Each of these three intelligible
triads retains the main characteristics of the member of the triad Being –
Life – Intellect from which they arise and are placed hierarchically the one
below the other; this, however, does not prevent them from being mutu-
ally inclusive; for example, the first triad, placed under the preeminence of
Being, must also be considered as alive and thinking, because in order to be
alive and think one must first be: Being then includes both Life and Intel-
lect; similarly, the second triad is placed under the preeminence of Life but
it also is and thinks, since being alive implies the fact of being and is in turn
necessary condition for the act of thinking; finally the third one, under the
preeminence of Intellect, must be and live in order to think. With the three
intelligible triads of the Proclean system as they are included in the triad
Being – Life – Intellect could be compared the first triad of the Chaldean
one, namely Father – Power – Intellect. In the Chaldean system, the goddess
Hecate sometimes takes the place of Power in her role of universal feminine
principle, while the Father in turns represents the masculine one, but this
goddess also manifests herself at inferior levels of the hierarchy of Being.
Below the intelligible triads Proclus places other three triads, which are
both intelligible and intellective and represent a further degree of removal
from the One. They are not simply archetypical models of sensible beings
as the intelligible triads but also thinking beings, and, as a consequence,
immersed even more than their intelligible counterparts in the realm of
multiplicity, since the act of thinking must differentiate, at least in prin-
ciple, the thinking subject from the object thought, even if at this level
subject and object coincide, since Intellect contains in itself all the intel-
lectual ideas (the objects of his own thought) he thinks of. To these intel-
ligible and intellectual triads correspond three Chaldean triads, namely
Iynges, Connectors and Teletarchs, which play the role of bridging the gap
6 Introduction
between the intelligible dimension and the inferior, intellectual, one. This is
divided by Proclus into two triads, followed by a monad. The first is made-
up of the gods Chronos – Rhea – Zeus, the second of the three Curetes, gods
of traditional Greek mythology, while the seventh and last entity separates
the intellectual dimension from the psychic one, pertaining to the Soul. At
the intellectual level the Chaldean system places several entities, some of
them identical with those mentioned by Proclus: the dyad Chronos – Rhea,
Aion and Time, followed by Eros and a ‘girdling membrane’, equivalent to
the Proclean separating monad (on this see later Chapters 2 and 3 ). At the
intellectual level Proclus also places the Demiurge of both Soul and sensible
world, which appears with the same role in the Chaldean system as well (see
Chapters 1 and 2 ).
As in Proclus’ system, so in the Chaldean one the World Soul gives exis-
tence to a multiplicity of individual souls arranged hierarchically according
to their removal from the material world. The individual souls that are more
removed from it are for Proclus the hyper-cosmic gods, which he arranges
in four triads corresponding to the azonoi of the Chaldean system, namely
the gods above the ‘zones’ or planetary spheres. Below them Proclus places
the hyper-cosmic–encosmic gods (for which we have no Chaldean equiva-
lent) followed by the encosmic gods, namely the seven visible planets, called
zonaioi in the Chaldean system. At a lower level, both for Proclus and the
Chaldean Oracles, are placed the angelic hierarchies, followed by the dae-
monic ones (see Chapter 3 ). Man is placed at the bottom of the hierarchy
because of his fall from the divine realm (see Chapter 4 ). Though immersed
in the material dimension, man can rediscover his celestial origin by virtue of
the tools made available to him by both philosophy and theurgy. The latter
is for both Proclus and the Chaldean Oracles indispensable to allow man to
be freed from the clutch of evil matter and her daemons and go back to his
real home in heaven (see Chapter 4 ).
0.3 A concise assessment of the disagreement of current literature
concerning the first principles of Chaldean metaphysics
Here we will confine ourselves to make some examples of the impasse in
which current literature has found itself with regard to its assessment of
the first principles of Chaldean metaphysics, in particular of the Chaldean
divine monad and triad, given that a critical evaluation of the achievements
of modern research on the Chaldean Oracles since the time of Kroll’s pub-
lication of his critical edition of them at the end of the 19th century would
require a publication of its own.
In the first chapter of the book, we will see how the extant Chaldean frag-
ments present the divine principle as a paternal monad that manifests itself
in a triad, to be precise, in the Chaldean triad Father – Power – Intellect;
as a consequence, the Chaldean divine Father should play the role of both
supreme monad and first member of the triad Father – Power – Intellect
Introduction 7
emanated from Him. This interpretation is based on H. Lewy’s, 44 a pioneer-
ing researcher on the Chaldean Oracles, who however was not followed
by all the authors that came after him. P. Merlan’s position on this topic is
not very clear, but he seems to follow Lewy, 45 while H. D. Saffrey explicitly
agrees with him in believing that the Chaldean Oracles posited the One
as supreme principle,46 and the same does P. Hadot.47 J. D. Turner consid-
ers the identification of the Chaldean Father with Numenius’ First Intellect
advanced by Dillon et alii as a mere assumption,48 but, in another part of
his important article on the relationship of the Oracles with the Gnostic
treatises of the Sethian sect,49 he asks himself whether it could be possible
that for the Oracles the Father regarded as supreme monad transcends the
Father as part of the triad Father – Power – Intellect; my answer to his ques-
tion is obviously affirmative. Brisson does not take a definitive stance on
whether the Chaldean Father coincides with Numenius’ First Intellect or
with the Good of Plato’s Republic and the One of the second hypothesis of
the Parmenides.50
On the contrary, in his The Middle-Platonists, Dillon, in line with A. J.
Festugière,51 explicitly identifies the Chaldean Father with the First Intellect
of Numenius’ system,52 but, just a couple of pages below, he links Him with
Eudorus’s First Principle, which was very close to the Neo-Platonic One, say-
ing that ‘the radical monism of Chaldean metaphysics’ is ‘analogous to that
which we discerned in Eudorus, who also derives Matter from the Supreme
Principle’.53 Dillon builds on the seminal paper by E. R. Dodds, New Light
on the Chaldean Oracles,54 where this author does not take a definitive
stance on the nature of the Chaldean Father, simply saying that some frag-
ments seem to identify Him with Numenius’ First Intellect, while others
place Him above it. R. Majercik follows Dillon and, though tentatively,
identifies the Chaldean Father with the First Intellect.55 This author is also
critical of the idea that the Chaldean Oracles admitted a divine monad at all,
since she thinks that ‘it cannot be known with certainty’ whether the idea
that fragment 27 des Places expresses (the government of the triad by the
monad) reflects ‘a general law of reality’, though she deems it as ‘of course,
possible’.56 J. F. Finamore and S. I. Johnston follow the same approach in
their synopsis of the Chaldean system: ‘The Intellect is the highest God ( scil.
of the Oracles)’,57 and the same does H. Seng, author of the more recent
introduction to the Chaldean Oracles.58
Another aspect of Chaldean metaphysics in which there is no scholarly
agreement is the existence of the concept of triad in the Oracles. In her
edition and English translation of them,59 R. Majercik rightly points out 60
that ‘triads of this type antedate Porphyry, since similar triads appear in
the Gnostic sources known to Plotinus and his School’; on the contrary,
in her fundamental article Chaldean Triads in Neoplatonic Exegesis: Some
Reconsiderations,61 she believes them to be the result of Neo-Platonic specu-
lation, starting from Porphyry, so well after the time in which the Oracles
were supposedly put to writing. It is also surprising that, on the one hand,
8 Introduction
Majercik considers the triad ‘Father – Power – Intellect’ as invented by Neo-
Platonists, while in the same article she herself says: ‘That a triadic principle
of some sort informed the teaching of the Oracles is evident’.62 It would
seem to be consequential to think that if the Oracles did make use of triadic
principles (of which we have clear proofs in frgs. 27, 28 and 29 des Places),
these should have been used by them to explain all levels of reality, which
is what fr. 27 des Places actually does: ‘In every world there shines a triad
over which a monad rules’. In this regard it is also important to take into
consideration Damascius’ testimony (On the Principles, I. 85, 196, 5 Ruelle),
since he explicitly says that ‘the Chaldeans’ speak of ‘paternal triads’ ( εἴτε ὡς
οἱ Χαλδαῖοι πατρικᾶς τριάδας ἀνευφημοῦντες).63 With regard to the problem
of triads, Seng appears much more cautious in denying their presence in the
Chaldean Oracles,64 while Brisson speaks explicitly of ‘triad’ with regard
to the first Chaldean triad: ‘cette triade, en quoi consiste le Dieu’. 65 Finally,
Turner uses the concept of ‘triads’ with regard to the Chaldean Oracles
throughout his fundamental study, The Chaldean Oracles and the Meta-
physics of the Sethian Platonizing Treatises.66
As we will show in the next paragraph, a reconsideration of the impor-
tance of Neo-Platonic exegesis of the Chaldean Oracles appears in our
opinion as a useful tool in order to overcome the impasse in which current
literature has found itself concerning this and other topics, which are not
listed here for sake of brevity. 67
0.4 The purpose of this book
This passage from P. Hadot’s Bilan et perspectives sur les Oracles Chalda-
ïques, a contribution to the third edition by M. Tardieu of H. Lewy’s seminal
work Chaldean Oracles and Theurgy,68 summarizes very well the objective
that this book intends to achieve:
Until now scholars have almost always confined themselves to gleaning
scattered fragments of the Chaldean Oracles from the writings of the
Neo-Platonists and to reassembling them on the basis of a more or less
systematic order by separating them from their context. But they must
now be placed back inside their context: one must study how the Neo-
Platonists have conceived of and commented on the Oracles. . . . It must
also be studied the way in which each Neo-Platonist has conceived of
and made use of the Oracles: in which text of his he did that; in which
precise context; which Oracle he quoted; why and how he has quoted
it, which interpretation he gave to it.
P. Hadot clearly shows that until now the Neo-Platonic exegesis of the Chal-
dean Oracles has been considered more a hindrance than an opportunity to
obtain precious information on the fragments’ original meaning.69 This situ-
ation is evident in É. des Places’ edition, where each fragment is presented
Introduction 9
without the context in which it was quoted, and only partially solved by
R. Majercik’s edition and translation of the Oracles (based on des Places’). 70
This book intends to follow a different path and to analyze the Chaldean
fragments quoted by Proclus together with Proclus’ interpretation of them,
in order to assess whether Proclean exegesis could help modern research
to deepen its knowledge of the Chaldean Oracles or must instead be aban-
doned because it departs too much from the Chaldean original doctrine.
Each Chaldean fragment (which we have written in bold typeface) quoted
by Proclus has been translated together with a considerable part of its con-
text. By doing so, we have been able to achieve two objectives:
1 To describe and explain Proclus’ interpretation of the Chaldean frag-
ments he quotes or, when he merely cites the Oracles without offering
any exegesis of them, to describe in what way he makes use of them to
elucidate his own philosophical arguments.
2 To better understand Chaldean doctrine through the help of Proclus’
exegesis of it.
Of course, the second objective is achievable only if Proclus’ interpretation
is regarded as in line with the Chaldean doctrine’s original meaning and
not a distortion of it. But, one can object, how is it possible to assess this,
given that the text of the Chaldean Oracles is not extant and that our only
way of accessing them is through the works of the Neo-Platonists in which
very limited portions of it are quoted? In the preceding paragraph of this
introduction, it has been shown that the literature’s traditional approach
of analyzing the Chaldean fragments outside the context in which they are
quoted, though greatly advancing our knowledge of them, has substantially
come to an impasse concerning fundamental points of Chaldean doctrine.
In order to try to escape this cul-de-sac, we have followed a methodology
that could be summarized as follows: to combine the great achievements
of current literature on not only Proclus and the Chaldean Oracles but
also other coeval philosophical-theological systems (Neo-Pythagoreanism,
Orphism, Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Early Christianity, Middle and Neo-
Platonism, Mithraism, Isis and Osiris cult, etc.) with what can be achieved
through an hermeneutical analysis of Proclus’ interpretation of the Chal-
dean Oracles.
Our methodology refuses the a priori idea that Proclus’ exegesis always
deviates from the Oracles’ original meaning, but tries to assess whether this
is in line with what we know with a certain degree of certainty about Chal-
dean doctrine on a case by case basis. By doing so, we have been capable
of reaching a general conclusion whether Proclus is a faithful interpreter of
the Oracles or not, a conclusion, of course, which remains open to both the
findings of other authors and to the discovery of new Chaldean fragments.
To briefly summarize it here, we can say that for us Proclus is most of the
times faithful to the literal meaning of the oracular fragments he quotes,
10 Introduction
except in a few cases that have been explicitly pointed out in the book (his
interpretation of fragment 175 des Places is a case in point).
Of course, Proclus’ approach as an exegete is completely different from
that of a modern interpreter of the Oracles, and this fact must always be
taken into account. Apart from his treatise on the Chaldean Oracles, which
is not extant and that we have translated and commented on in this book,
he quotes oracular fragments to elucidate either his own philosophical con-
ceptions or his own interpretations of Plato’s dialogues, showing that his
Platonic exegesis is in line with what has been revealed by the gods of the
Oracles through the theurgists. As already said, sometimes Proclus interprets
the Chaldean fragments he quotes – and, when he does so, the reader must
be aware of the fact that in these cases we are dealing with an interpreta-
tion (that of the specific Chaldean fragment quoted) which is carried out
within the context of the broader exegesis of Plato’s dialogues, while at
other times he confines himself to citing them, probably because he thought
that their interpretation was self-evident to his readers. In addition to this,
Proclus interprets both Plato and the Oracles on the basis of the exegetical
principle that the different philosophical and religious currents of the Hel-
lenistic world he lived in (apart, of course, from Christianity) were diverse
expressions of basically the same doctrine, so that if they not always agreed
in details, they would do so in the fundamental aspects of their content.
Proclus couples this exegetical approach with his strictly philosophical
one, which brings him to subject the Chaldean Oracles to a level of system-
atization and rationalization that, we can say this with relative certainty,
did not belong to the Oracles, which, though not alien to philosophy (being
influenced mostly by Stoicism and coeval Platonism) were not a philosophi-
cal but a poetical expression of the divine revelation of which its supposed
authors were the bearers. This fact, which is generally pointed out to show
that Proclus distorts the original meaning of Chaldean doctrine, in our opin-
ion does not make his oracular exegesis useless for modern research, and this
at least for three reasons:
1 Proclus was not alien to the conceptual world of the Oracles as a mod-
ern interpreter may be but shared with it the same Stoic, Platonic and
Hellenistic background.
2 Even if the metaphysical system of the Chaldean Oracles does not pos-
sess the same level of complexity and articulation as the Proclean one
(and this can be easily explained by pointing out that Proclus’ works
have a strictly philosophical connotation that the Oracles do not have,
though they resort to philosophical arguments at times), the two sys-
tems share many fundamental concepts (as we have shown earlier in
our brief comparison of them).
3 Proclus’ departs from the literal meaning of the Oracles in a few cases
(which have been pointed out in the book), the limited number of which
does not invalidate the overall correctness of his interpretation.
Introduction 11
We are fully aware that any attempt to establish the ‘correctness’ of the
interpretation of whatsoever text, be it ancient or modern, is matter of
debate, but we also know that any scientifc achievement requires the con-
stant assessment and reassessment of scientifc hypotheses which are consid-
ered as acceptable until new ones disprove them: this is true for any science,
hermeneutics of late antique philosophical texts included.
0.5 Some methodological and hermeneutical considerations
This study presents each fragment of des Places’ edition together with a suf-
ficient portion of the context in which Proclus quoted it. The numeration
of the fragments of des Places’ edition has been maintained, but the order
in which they are presented has been changed. We have provided the reader
with the translations of the Proclean passages in which the Chaldean frag-
ments are quoted: all translations are mine unless differently specified. The
Chaldean fragments are written in bold typeface to differentiate them from
the Proclean text. The commentary on each fragment has been written hav-
ing in mind the goals set by P. Hadot in his article. All Greek texts quoted
have been taken from the critical editions published in the Thesaurus Lin-
guae Graecae – A Digital Library of Greek Literature.71
As it has been pointed out by H. Seng, 72 des Places’ edition is all but
flawless, since the French scholar has not published all Chaldean fragments
quoted by Neo-Platonists or later interpreters like the Byzantine intellectual
Michael Psellus; on our part, when it happened to us to discover what could
possibly be a new oracular fragment that does not appear in des Places’ col-
lection, we have pointed that out explicitly. As a consequence of this state
of affairs, H. Seng rightly calls for a new, major edition of the Chaldean
Oracles, where each fragment is quoted together with the context in which
it appears, which is exactly the same methodology we have followed in this
contribution, even if we have confined ourselves to discussing the Chaldean
fragments quoted by Proclus.73
In systematizing the oracular fragments, we have not followed des Places’
method (largely based on Kroll’s), 74 but we have organized them according
to four main thematic areas (which correspond to the first four chapters of
the book); they are the following:
1 The Chaldean triad.
2 The single divine hypostases.
3 The world’s intellectual archetype and the creation of the material
dimension.
4 Man and his destiny.
The quadripartite structure of the book assumes that this was the original
textual structure of the Chaldean Oracles; this hypothetical reconstruction
is based on two principles:
12 Introduction
1 The close comparison of the Chaldean fragments with Proclus’ exegesis
of them.
2 The fact that coeval revealed texts (we can think, for example, of the Her-
metic Poimandres, of some texts of the Gnostic Nag-Hammadi Library,
such as the Apocryphon of John, or even of early Christian literature, like
the Gospel of John) start first with a description of the divine principle,
deal then with the structure of the divine world and end with the creation
of the material dimension and the role of man in it. Of course, a detailed
reconstruction of the possible original structure of the text of the Chaldean
Oracles would belong more to a new edition of them than to a publication
like this one, so that this must be regarded as a mere working hypothesis.
In the ffth chapter, we have also given a translation and commentary of the
fve extant extracts from Proclus’ treatise On Chaldean Philosophy. This
is the frst systematic study so far of this fascinating testimony of Proclus’
interpretation of the Chaldean Oracles.
The hermeneutical approach of the book can be summarized as follows:
1 To compare the extant Chaldean fragments with coeval religious tradi-
tions such as75 Hermeticism, Magic and Theurgy, traditional Greek reli-
gion, late Orphism, Gnosticism, Early Christianity (Synesius of Cyrene).
Of course, the work of comparative analysis that has been conducted
here is all but exhaustive; in order for it to be so, it would be necessary
to devote a series of monographical studies specifically to this goal.
2 To study Proclus’ interpretation of the Oracles by considering both the
modern historicocritical approach to ancient exegesis and Proclus’ own
attitude towards the Chaldean Oracles, since it must never be forgotten
that these are for him a divine revelation worthy of the utmost respect
and veneration.
3 To investigate the relationship between Proclus and the Chaldean tradi-
tion with the objective of assessing whether or not (or, in both cases, to
what extent) Proclus’ interpretation can be regarded as a reliable source
of information on Chaldean theology and philosophy.
4 To assess, in case of a partially or totally negative answer to the previous
question, whether Proclus’ interpretation of the Oracles must instead
be understood as a late attempt to ‘rationalize’ and/or ‘systematize’ the
Chaldean tradition.
5 To establish to what extent Proclus’ exegesis of Chaldean doctrine can
be detached from its original and most authentic meaning or whether or
not this is an impossible task for modern research, given both our sec-
ond-hand knowledge of the tradition and its highly fragmentary nature.
0.6 Final considerations
Although more than a century has passed since the first critical edition of the
Chaldean Oracles by Kroll, scholarly research on them could be regarded as
Introduction 13
still in its infancy. A lot remains to be done, starting from a complete edition
of all oracular fragments together with their specific context and explana-
tory notes. There should also be undertaken a close comparison of the Chal-
dean tradition with coeval ones, with the objective of showing their common
cultural and religious milieu. A step towards the achievement of this goal has
been taken by the collection of articles on the Chaldean Oracles published
under the supervision of H. Seng and other scholars in the series Bibliotheca
chaldaica (Universitätsverlag Winter, Heidelberg); until now, eight volumes
have been published, including a monographical study by H. Seng. 76
Through the mediation of the Byzantine polymath Michael Psellus
(1017/1018–1078/1096), the influence of the Chaldean Oracles reached
the European Renaissance, since many intellectuals 77 of that time came to
regard the Chaldean revelation as one of the highest expressions of philoso-
phia perennis (to use the expression of the Catholic bishop and humanist
Agostino Steuco [1497/98–1548]),78 that is, of that primordial religion of
humanity directly revealed by God to Adam and which, before appearing in
its final form in Christianity, manifested itself with the utmost clarity in the
Oracles of the Chaldean gods.
Notes
1 Oracula chaldaica, É. des Places ed. and trans., 3rd ed. (Paris, 2010).
2 We use this expression as a synonymous of fragments throughout this work.
3 Damascius, Dubitationes et solutiones de primis principiis, In Platonis Parmeni-
dem, vols. 1–2, C. É. Ruelle ed. (Paris, 1889).
4 The Greek Commentaries on Plato’s Phaedo, L. G. Westernik ed., vol. 2 (Amster-
dam, 1977), 27–285.
5 H. Seng, Un livre sacré de l’antiquité tardive: les Oracles Chaldaïques (Turnhout,
2016), 19. J. F. Finamore–S. Iles Johnston, The Chaldean Oracles, in L. Gerson ed.,
The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity (Cambridge, 2010), 161.
6 C. Addey, Divination and Theurgy in Neoplatonism: Oracles of the Gods (Abing-
don, UK–New York, USA, 2016), 10 rightly points out ‘the interconnected and
mutually inclusive nature of rationality and revelation in the Chaldean system
and within late Platonism.’ See also H. D. Saffrey, Accorder entre elles le tra-
ditions théologiques: une caractéristique du néoplatonisme athénienne, in E. P.
Bos–P. A. Mejier eds., On Proclus and his Influence on Medieval Philosophy
(Leiden–New York–Köln, 1992), 35–50.
7 In his In Platonis Cratylum commentaria, G. Pasquali ed. (Leipzig, 1908), 122,
72, 10–11 Proclus identifies the authors of the Oracles with the theurgists who
lived at the time of Marcus Aurelius ( τοῖς ἐπὶ Μάρκου γενομένοις θεουργοῖς), plac-
ing them in the same time period as did the Suda, who is probably dependent on
him (see note 14 later).
8 Proclus, In Platonis Parmenidem, in Procli philosophi platonici opera inedita, V.
Cousin ed., pt. 3 (Hildesheim, 1864; repr. 1961), 800, 19 (. . . ἐν τοῖς Χαλδαικοῖς
λογίοις).
9 Proclus, In Platonis Timaeum commentaria, E. Diehl ed., 3 vols. (1903–1904–
1906, repr. Amsterdam, 1965). I. 208, 20; III, 111, 20; 124, 24; 125, 27; 151, 2.
Proclus, In Platonis rem publicam commentarii, W. Kroll ed., vols. 1–2 (Leipzig,
1899, repr. Amsterdam, 1965), II. 220, 11; 235, 26; 236, 1–5; 318, 13; 343, 4.
Proclus, In Platonis Cratylum commentaria, 71, 32, 5–10; 34, 4 Pasquali.
10 Proclus, In Platonis rem publicam commentarii, ΙΙ. 220, 11 Κroll.
14 Introduction
11 H. Seng, Un livre sacré de l’antiquité tardive (2016), 23.
12 They were those ‘free-lance experts’ whom H. Wendt talks of in her interest-
ing book entitled At the Temple Gates: The Religion of Free-Lance Experts in
the Roman Empire (Oxford, 2016). See also I. Tanaseanu-Doebler, Weise oder
Scharlatane? Chaldaeerbilder der griechisch-römischen Kaiserzeit und die Chal-
daeischen Orakel, in H. Seng–M. Tardieu eds., Die Chaldaeischen Orakel–Kontext,
Interpetation, Rezeption (Heidelberg, 2010), 19–42.
13 H. Seng, Un livre sacré de l’antiquité tardive (2016), 20.
14 Suda, Lexicon, A. Adler ed., vols. 1–4 (Leipzig, 1935), Ι 433; II 641, 32–33.
15 H. Seng, Un livre sacré de l’antiquité tardive (2016), 20.
16 H. Lewy, Chaldean Oracles and Theurgy–Troiseme edition par Michel Tardieu
avec un supplement <<Les Oracles Chaldaïques 1891–2011 >> (Paris, 2011), 3–4.
17 H. D. Saffrey, Le néoplatoniciens et les: Oracles Chaldaïques: Revue d’ Etudes
Augustiniennes 27 (1981) 210–211, now in id., Recherches sur le néoplatonisme
après Plotin (Paris, 1990), 63–79.
18 M. Psellus, Philosophica minora I, Opuscula logica, physica, allegorica, alia,
J. M. Duffy ed. (Stuttgart–Leipzig, 1992), I, 46, 43–51.
19 H. D. Saffrey, Le néoplatoniciens et les: Oracles Chaldaïques (1981), 218–219.
20 We think that the term ‘medium’ is inappropriate in this case, since it belongs
to a kind of spirituality, namely Spiritism, that is alien to the Chaldean Oracles’,
which are Oracles of the gods, not of the spirits of the dead, pace E. R. Dodds,
who was the first to have recourse to this (wrong) interpretation in his Theurgy
and Its Relationship to Neo-Platonism: The Journal of Roman Studies Part 1 and
2 (37) (1947), 65–69.
21 É. des Places ed., Oracula chaldaica (2010), 7.
22 Marinus, Vita Procli sive de felicitate, R. Masullo ed. (Naples, 1985), 2, 35. On
Proclus’ wealth see ibid., 2, 41.
23 Ibid., 11.
24 Ibid., 9–10.
25 On this see R. Chlup, Proclus: An Introduction (Oxford, 2012), 36.
26 Marinus, Vita Procli, 12, 310–312 Masullo.
27 R. Chlup, Proclus: An Introduction (2012), 44.
28 Marinus, Vita Procli, 26, 610–619 Masullo.
29 Ibid., 611.
30 Ibid., 38, 915–919.
31 Ibid., 26, 622–623. See also H. Seng, Un livre sacré de l’antiquité tardive (2016),
25–26.
32 Ibid., 623–624.
33 Ibid., 628.
34 Ibid., 630–631.
35 Ibid., 633–634.
36 Suda, Lexicon, IV. 478, 21–479, 8 Adler. On this see H. D. Saffrey, Accorder
entre elles le traditions théologiques, in Bos–Mejier, On Proclus and his Influence
(1992), 36–37.
37 On this, see later Chapter 5 . It must be pointed out that this is the title that L. J.
Rosan gives to this Proclean work; see id., The Philosophy of Proclus: The Final
Stage of Ancient Thought (New York, 1949), 43.
38 We intend to write a monographical study to discuss Damascius’ use and inter-
pretation of the Chaldean Oracles.
39 On this see also H. Seng, Un livre sacré de l’antiquité tardive (2016), 27–28, 37, 39.
40 See ibid., 37.
41 See later endnotes to Chapter 1 , note 5.
42 L. J. Rosan, The Philosophy of Proclus (1949). W. Beierwaltes, Proklos.
Grundzü ge seiner Metaphysik (Frankfurt a. M., 1965). L. Siorvanes, Proclus:
Neo-Platonic Philosophy and Science (Edinburgh, 1996). R. Chlup, Proclus
Introduction 15
(2012). P. d’Hoine–M. Martin eds., All from One: A Guide to Proclus (2017),
207–222. D. Nikulin, Neoplatonism in Late Antiquity (Oxford, 2019), especially
part II dedicated to Proclus (pp. 119–203), which represents a good introduction
to the fundamental themes of his philosophy.
43 See later endnotes to Chapter 1 , note 18.
44 Id. Chaldean Oracles and Theurgy (2011), 76–83, 106.
45 Id., Religion and Philosophy from Plato’s Phaedo to the Chaldean Oracles: Jour-
nal of the History of Philosophy (1) (1963) 174.
46 Id., Les Néoplatoniciennes et les Oracles Chaldaïques : Revue d’ Etudes Augus-
tiniennes (27) (1981), 223 (now in id., Recherches sur le Néoplatonisme après
Plotin [Paris, 1990], 63–79).
47 P. Hadot, Porphyre et Victorinus, vol. 1 (Paris, 1968), 261 and note 1.
48 Id., The Chaldean Oracles and the Metaphysics of the Sethian Platonizing trea-
tises, in J. D. Turner–K. Corrigan eds., Plato’s Parmenides and its Heritage, vol.
1: History and Interpretation from the Old Academy to later Platonism and
Gnosticism (Atlanta, 2010), 40.
49 Ibid., 41.
50 See Brisson’s contributions listed later, endnotes to Chapter 1 , note 5.
51 Id., La révélation d’Hermes Trismégiste, vol. 3 (Paris, 1950; repr. 1990), 53–54.
52 Id., The Middle-Platonists – 80 B.C. to A.D. 220 (Ithaca, NY, 1996), 393.
53 Ibid., 395. On Eudorus see ibid., 114–135.
54 The Harvard Theological Review 4 (54) (1961) 270.
55 Id., The Chaldean Oracles: Text, Translation and Commentary (Leiden–New
York–København–Köln, 1989), 5–6.
56 Id., Chaldean Triads in Neoplatonic Exegesis: Some Reconsiderations: The Clas-
sical Quarterly 1 (51) (2001) 274.
57 Id., The Chaldean Oracles, in L. P. Gerson ed., The Cambridge History (2010), 162.
58 Id., Un livre sacré de l’antiquité tardive (2016), 42.
59 Id., The Chaldean Oracles (1989), 142.
60 She quotes M. Tardieu, La Gnose Valentinienne et les Oracles Chaldaïques, in B.
Layton ed., The Rediscovery of Gnosticism–I: The School of Valentinus (Leiden,
1983), 214–215.
61 Chaldean Triads in Neoplatonic Exegesis (2001), 277–278, 296.
62 Ibid., 296.
63 See also ibid., 84, 193, 26 ( ὡς ἐν ταῖς χαλδαϊκαῖς τριάσιν); 90, 221, 23–24 ( ἀλλὰ
μὴν οἵ τε θεοὶ καὶ οἱ θεολόγοι τριάδας τε ἡμῖν ἀνυμνήκασι).
64 Id., Un livre sacré de l’antiquité tardive (2016), 43.
65 Id., La commentaire comme priére destinée a assurer la salut de l’ame–La place
et la rôle des Oracles Chaldaïques dan le commentaire sur le Timée de Platon par
Proclus, in M. O. Goulet-Cazé ed., Le commentaire entre tradition et innovation,
Actes du Colloque International de l’Institute des Traditions textuelles (Paris et
Villejuif, 22–25 septembre 1999) (Paris, 2000), 335. See also id., La place des
Oracles Chaldaïques dans la Théologie Platonicienne, in A. Ph. Segonds–C. Steel
eds. with the assistance of C. Luna and A. F. Mettraux, Proclus et la Théologie
Platonicienne–Actes du Colloque International de Louvain (13–16 mai 1998)
en l’honneur de H. D. Saffrey et L. G. Westernik (Leuven–Paris, 2000), 113
(‘la triade fondamentale des Oracles Chaldaïques est la triade Père–Puissance–
Intellect’) and id., Plato’s Timaeus and the Chaldean Oracles, in G. J. Reydams-
Schils ed., Plato’s Timaeus as cultural Icon (Notre Dame, IN, 2003), 119 (‘This triad
[the Father, Hecate, and the Demiurge], of which the divine principle consists’).
66 Id., ibid. in Turner–Corrigan, Plato’s Parmenides and its Heritage (2010), 39–58.
67 With regard to the scholarly disagreement on the nature of henads in Proclus see
later endnotes to Chapter 1 , note 18.
68 P. Hadot, Bilan et perspectives sur les Oracles Chaldaïques, in H. Lewy ed., Chal-
dean Oracles and Theurgy (Paris, 2011), Compléments, 715.
16 Introduction
69 H. Seng agrees with Hadot; see id., Un livre sacré de l’antiquité tardive (2016), 37.
70 R. Majercik, The Chaldean Oracles (1989).
71 http://stephanus.tlg.uci.edu/index.php
72 H. Seng, Un livre sacré de l’antiquité tardive (2016), 37.
73 Ibid.
74 De oraculis Chaldaicis, W. Kroll ed. (Breslau, 1894; repr. Hildesheim, 1962).
75 H. Lewy, author of the most important monograph on the Chaldean Oracles so
far, was perfectly aware of the fact that this is all but an easy task: id., Chaldean
Oracles and Theurgy (2011), 75.
76 H. Seng, ΚΟΣΜΑΓΟΙ, ΑΖΟΝΟΙ, ΖΟΝΑΙΟΙ – Drei Begriffe chaldaeischer Kosmolo-
gie und ihr Fortleben (Heidelberg, 2009)
77 On this, see H. Seng, Un livre sacré de l’antiquité tardive (2016), 31–35 as well
as the following fundamental article: B. Tambrun-Krasker, Les Oracles Chal-
daïques entre idéologie et critique (XVe–XVIIe s.), in A. Lecerf–L. Saudelli–H.
Seng eds., Oracles Chaldaïques: fragments et philosophie (Heidelberg, 2014),
253–277.
78 On this, see M. Muccillo, Platonismo, Ermetismo e “Prisca Theologia”: Ricerche
di storiografia filosofica rinascimentale (Florence, 1996), 7–8.
http://stephanus.tlg.uci.edu
1 The Chaldean triad
1.1 The triad Father – Power – Intellect
Fragment 4 des Places1 = p. 13 Kroll2 (Proclus, In Alc., 83, 17–20–84, 1–17
Westernik)
Concerning these things this must be said: it remains to discuss why
Socrates says not that the hidden daemonic nature itself will later
become known to the young man (scil. Alcibiades), but its power. For
he speaks like this: ‘whose power and nature you will learn later’. First
of all one must pay attention to the fact that, as the divine Iamblichus
says, it is more difficult for us, unless we have fully purified the intel-
lect of the soul, to contemplate the substances of daemons and in gen-
eral of superior beings, while it is easier (for us) both to discern and
to explain their powers, since even to investigate the essential nature
of the soul is not easy for everyone; Timaeus alone revealed the whole
of its essence: ‘that is to say, it is necessary an altogether and by all
means divine and lengthy discussion,’ as Socrates also observes in the
Phaedrus. For we have a perception of them (scil. of daemons and supe-
rior beings) from their activities, of which their powers are specifically
mothers; since power is midway between essence and activity, it being
produced from essence while it produces activity. Secondly, we must
observe that in another way as well power is conformable to the nature
of daemons. Everywhere power has been allotted the middle place:
among intelligibles it unites the Father with Intellect ‘for Power is with
Him but Intellect proceeds from Him’; but among intellectual beings it
connects activities with essences, because activity is a product of power,
and essence produces power from itself.
In Plato’s First Alcibiades 103A, Socrates says to the young Alcibiades that,
contrary to those of his lovers who became a nuisance to him (ἐγένοντό σοι
διαλεγόμενοι), he, for many years, did not even dare to address him, having
been capable of doing so by virtue of a ‘certain daemonic incompatibility’
(δαιμόνιον ἐναντίωμα) ‘whose power and nature’ he ‘will learn later’ ( οὗ σὺ
τὴν δύναμιν καὶ ὗστερον πεύσῃ).3
18 The Chaldean triad
In the previous sections of his commentary on this Platonic passage (60,
1–83, 1–17), after passing references to the unifying power of love, the
descent of the souls and the relationship between the Intellect and the Soul,
Proclus had concentrated himself on describing the nature of daemons, which
for him are souls endowed with a high, medium and low degree of perfec-
tion.4 Here (83, 17–20–84, 1–17) he focuses his exegesis 5 on explaining why
Socrates says that man can understand the daemons’ power (δαιμονίον . . .
δύναμιν) but not their nature.
Proclus thinks Socrates’ words can be correctly interpreted in the light of
Iamblichus’ doctrine,6 according to which it is easier for humans who have
not cleansed ‘the intellect of the Soul’ 7 (τὸν τῆς ψυχῆς νοῦν) to understand
the faculties (δυνάμεις) of daemons or superior beings in general than their
substances (ὑπάρξεις).8 As a consequence, Socrates is utterly justified in say-
ing that Alcibiades, who has not achieved spiritual perfection, will learn
the power of daemons but not their nature or essence. Power, Proclus adds,
is ‘midway between essence and activity’ ( μέση γὰρ ἡ δύναμίς ἐστι τῆς τε
οὐσίας καὶ τῆς ἐνεργείας)9 and, for this reason, akin to daemons to the high-
est degree, since these are the mediators between men and gods. 10 Power
has always the middle place: among intellectual beings (ἐν δὲ τοῖς νοεροῖς), it
unites activities with essences;11 among intelligible ones (ἐν μὲν τοῖς νοητοῖς),
it links the Father with Intellect (συνάπτει τὸν πατέρα καὶ τὸν νοῦν), as it is
also stated in the Chaldean Oracles, which assert that divine Power is with
the Father, while divine Intellect proceeds from Him (ἡ μὲν γὰρ δύναμις σὺν
ἐκείνῳ, νοῦς δ’ ἀπ’ ἐκείνου).12
The immediate conclusion we can draw from Proclus’ interpretation of
this oracular saying is that for him the Chaldean triad Father – Power –
Intellect belongs to the class of intelligible beings, because it is within this
that Power performs its function of mediating between the intelligible13
Father and the intelligible Intellect. Let us now assess whether in other parts
of his works Proclus interprets this triad in the same way as in this passage,
by starting with considering the Father first, then the other two members
of the triad
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Nicola Spanu’s Proclus and the Chaldean Oracles contributes several genuinely new elements to the study of late-antique Platonism and Chaldean theology.
This contextual method directly answers Pierre Hadot’s call to study how each Neoplatonist “conceived of and commented on the Oracles,” rather than treating their exegesis as an obstacle【11:2†Nicola Spanu – Proclus and the Chaldean Oracles.pdf†L29-L43】.
In sum: the study’s novelty lies in restoring the Chaldean Oracles to the living framework of Proclean philosophy, combining contextual translation, critical hermeneutics, and comparative analysis to yield the first sustained evaluation of Proclus as both interpreter and transmitter of the Chaldean revelation.
translation and commentary on the five extant fragments of Proclus’ lost treatise On Chaldean Philosophy.
Yes — one of the most original and valuable parts of Nicola Spanu’s Proclus and the Chaldean Oracles (Routledge, 2021) is precisely his translation and detailed commentary on the five surviving fragments of Proclus’ lost treatise On Chaldean Philosophy (Περὶ τῆς χαλδαϊκῆς φιλοσοφίας*).
Here’s a breakdown of what this section includes and why it matters:
In short:
Spanu’s edition of the five fragments of On Chaldean Philosophy is the first complete translation and commentary ever published, and it anchors the book’s central thesis — that Proclus’ exegesis of the Chaldean Oracles can still serve as a legitimate and illuminating guide to understanding Chaldean metaphysics.
evaluates the faithfulness of Proclus’ interpretation
Exactly — one of Nicola Spanu’s central achievements in Proclus and the Chaldean Oracles is that he systematically evaluates the faithfulness of Proclus’ interpretation of the Chaldean Oracles, rather than assuming it to be a distortion.
Here’s how he approaches this evaluation, and what he concludes:
Spanu argues that this method has reached an impasse: because the oracles survive only through Neoplatonic quotations, we can’t reconstruct their meaning by stripping away the very context that preserves them【11:1†Nicola Spanu – Proclus and the Chaldean Oracles.pdf†L24-L33】.
“Proclus is most of the times faithful to the literal meaning of the oracular fragments he quotes, except in a few cases that have been explicitly pointed out in the book”【11:1†Nicola Spanu – Proclus and the Chaldean Oracles.pdf†L50-L52】.
In other words, while Proclus certainly systematizes Chaldean theology within his own metaphysical structure, he generally does so without violating the literal or doctrinal core of the oracles.
Only in rare instances (for example, his reading of fragment 175 des Places) does Spanu judge Proclus’ interpretation to “depart substantially” from the Chaldean original.
| Criterion | Description | Example from Spanu’s analysis |
|---|---|---|
| Literal coherence | Does Proclus’ paraphrase correspond closely to the Greek wording of the oracle? | His reading of “Power is with Him but Intellect proceeds from Him” preserves the Chaldean triad Father–Power–Intellect. |
| Doctrinal consistency | Does Proclus’ metaphysical structure match known Chaldean hierarchies? | Both systems affirm triadic emanation, the mediating role of Hecate/Power, and the ascent of the soul through theurgy. |
| Exegetical transparency | Does Proclus acknowledge the oracle as a revelation distinct from philosophy, or does he subsume it entirely? | Spanu notes that Proclus always treats the oracles as theologoumena—divine revelations confirming, not replacing, Plato. |
| Rationalization | When Proclus rationalizes poetic language, does he preserve its meaning or erase it? | Most rationalizations clarify Chaldean metaphors without altering their substance. |
In short:
Spanu’s study is the first to measure Proclus’ interpretive fidelity systematically, showing that while Proclus rationalizes and expands the oracles philosophically, he does so from within their symbolic and theological logic — making him, in Spanu’s words, “most of the times a faithful interpreter of the Oracles.”
give me a map of the passages in table form with their themes in the oracles and spanu's evaluation of the faithfulness of proclus's interpretation
Excellent — here’s a comprehensive table mapping the five extant fragments of Proclus’ On Chaldean Philosophy as presented in Nicola Spanu, Proclus and the Chaldean Oracles (Routledge 2021, ch. 5).
Each row lists:
1️⃣ The fragment number (as transmitted mainly by Michael Psellus and numbered by Édouard des Places).
2️⃣ The key Chaldean theme or doctrine in the passage.
3️⃣ A summary of Proclus’ interpretation in that passage.
4️⃣ Spanu’s evaluation of how faithfully Proclus interprets the Chaldean material.
| Fragment (Psellus / Des Places) | Chaldean Theme or Oracle Quoted | Proclus’ Interpretation (summary) | Spanu’s Evaluation of Faithfulness |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fragment 1 (Des Places fr. 4 = Proclus In Alcibiadem 83–84) | Triad Father – Power – Intellect: “Power is with Him, but Intellect proceeds from Him.” | Proclus uses the triad to explain the daemonic median nature—as Power mediates between Father and Intellect, so daemons mediate between gods and men. Power is “midway between essence and activity.” | Highly faithful. Spanu says this reading preserves the literal Chaldean doctrine of mediation; only extends it analogically to demonology. Aligns well with fragment’s cosmological structure. |
| Fragment 2 (likely fr. 39 = Psellus 3 Des Places) | Hecate as cosmic boundary and mediator. The goddess divides and unites divine and material realms, “binding all things through love.” | Proclus identifies Hecate with the middle principle of procession, linking the One’s transcendence with the world’s manifestation; she symbolizes the continuity between intelligible and sensible orders. | Moderately faithful. Spanu notes that Proclus rationalizes Hecate’s mythic role into metaphysical language but keeps her mediating function intact. Philosophical “translation,” not distortion. |
| Fragment 3 (Des Places fr. 49 or 61) | Emanation and cosmic order: “From the Father’s channels of fire all things proceed.” | Proclus reads the fiery “channels” as metaphors for the procession of intelligible forms through divine powers (dynameis). Fire = intellectual light. | Faithful with conceptualization. Spanu observes that Proclus remains true to the Chaldean image of fiery emanation but integrates it into his triadic scheme of remaining – procession – reversion. |
| Fragment 4 (Des Places fr. 146 = Psellus 4) | Soul’s descent and return; theurgy as ascent. “The soul through symbols is led upward to the gods.” | Proclus explains that the theurgic rites employ symbola and synthemata to awaken the soul’s divine likeness and enable reversion to the intelligible. | Strongly faithful. Spanu highlights this as evidence that Proclus preserved the oracular teaching on theurgy’s necessity. He only clarifies it philosophically, showing its harmony with his psychology. |
| Fragment 5 (Des Places fr. 175 = Psellus 5) | Cosmic hierarchy and the “Father of Fathers.” The supreme principle beyond intellect. | Proclus identifies the “Father of Fathers” with the One or Good, absolute source of all being. He systematizes the Chaldean hierarchy into his own metaphysical cascade of henads. | Least faithful. Spanu explicitly says Proclus here over-rationalizes and replaces the poetic mystery with philosophical abstraction. The identification of the Chaldean Father with the Proclean One may exceed the oracle’s intent. |
| Evaluation Category | Fragments | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Highly faithful (literal or analogically consistent) | 1, 4 | Proclus preserves doctrine and function; differences are stylistic. |
| Moderately faithful (philosophical reformulation) | 2, 3 | Proclus “translates” mythic images into metaphysical categories but retains structure. |
| Unfaithful / Rationalizing | 5 | Proclus imposes his One–Henads hierarchy, effacing Chaldean distinctiveness. |
This makes On Chaldean Philosophy not a distortion, but a bridge — a work through which the poetic theurgy of the Chaldean Oracles becomes philosophically intelligible without losing its revelatory essence.
175 = Psellus 5)
Cosmic hierarchy and the “Father of Fathers.” The supreme principle beyond intellect.
Proclus identifies the “Father of Fathers” with the One or Good, absolute source of all being. He systematizes the Chaldean hierarchy into his own metaphysical cascade of henads.
Least faithful. Spanu explicitly says Proclus here over-rationalizes and replaces the poetic mystery with philosophical abstraction. The identification of the Chaldean Father with the Proclean One may exceed the oracle’s intent.
Exactly — that’s the fifth and most problematic of the fragments from On Chaldean Philosophy, and you’ve captured Spanu’s conclusion very well.
Here’s a more detailed breakdown of how Spanu treats Fragment 5 = Psellus 5 = des Places fr. 175, and why he judges it the least faithful of Proclus’ interpretations.
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Greek source (Psellus) | The fragment comes from Michael Psellus’ Philosophica Minora I 46 (43–51 Duffy ed.). Psellus attributes it to Proclus, On Chaldean Philosophy. The oracle referred to speaks of the “Father of Fathers,” a title for the supreme deity who stands above intellect and all cosmic levels. |
| Chaldean theme | The Chaldean Oracles often speak of the First Father or Father of Fathers—a transcendent principle whose “channels of fire” generate the intelligible cosmos but who himself remains ineffable. This Father functions as both source and limit of procession, retaining a dimension of mystery rather than conceptual definition. |
| Proclus’ interpretation | In his lost On Chaldean Philosophy, Proclus reads this Father of Fathers as identical with the One or the Good, the first principle of his own system. From that One proceeds the series of henads (divine unities), then the triad Being–Life–Intellect, and so on. Thus, the Chaldean Father of Fathers becomes the apex of a fully rationalized metaphysical hierarchy—the One beyond being that grounds procession and reversion. |
| Philosophical move | Proclus translates the poetic or revelatory image of “the Father of Fathers” into the technical language of Neoplatonic metaphysics: absolute unity, efficient and final cause of all things, devoid of attributes. He removes the mythic dynamism (fire, speech, generation) and replaces it with the static perfection of the Good. |
| Spanu’s evaluation | Spanu calls this “the least faithful” of Proclus’ readings. Here Proclus over-systematizes, transforming the oracular symbol into a purely philosophical abstraction. The Oracles preserve a personal and revelatory sense of divine fatherhood—fiery, creative, and theurgic—whereas Proclus’ One is impersonal and ontological. The identification “Father of Fathers = the One” thus exceeds the oracle’s intent and erases its theurgical texture. |
| Scholarly significance | Spanu uses this case to mark the limits of Proclean fidelity. It demonstrates how the Neoplatonic drive for conceptual unity could flatten the rich mythopoetic language of late-antique revelation. Yet, he also notes that this rationalization was crucial for how later Byzantines and Renaissance Platonists came to read the Chaldean Oracles: through Proclus’ metaphysical lens. |
Fragment 175 (Psellus 5) is where Proclus’ philosophical genius overtakes his fidelity as a commentator.
Spanu concludes that the identification of the Chaldean “Father of Fathers” with the Proclean One “replaces revelation with abstraction,” making this passage the clearest example of Proclus’ over-rationalizing reinterpretation of Chaldean theology.
to what degree have scholars established that the chaldean oracles had a shaping or clarifying effect on proclus's own metaphysical innovations
That’s an excellent and subtle question — and it goes straight to one of the deepest debates in late antique philosophy: did the Chaldean Oracles actually shape Proclus’ metaphysics, or did Proclus merely appropriate them as confirmation of an already Platonic structure?
Nicola Spanu’s Proclus and the Chaldean Oracles (2021) enters this debate precisely to reassess that question — and his nuanced answer is that the oracles played a clarifying and systematizing role in Proclus’ metaphysics, but within limits. Below is a synthesis of his position and how it fits into modern scholarship.
| View | Representative Scholars | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| The “Platonic Priority” View | H. Lewy (1956), É. des Places, W. Beierwaltes, L. Siorvanes | Proclus is fundamentally a systematizer of Plato, not a religious innovator. The Chaldean Oracles only provide illustrative confirmation of ideas already derived from Plato and Plotinus. Their role is decorative, not formative. |
| The “Chaldean Influence” View | E.R. Dodds, H.D. Saffrey, Ruth Majercik, Gregory Shaw | The Oracles supplied key symbolic frameworks that directly informed Proclean theurgy, triadic metaphysics, and daemonology. Proclus is heir to a religious-theurgical synthesis rooted in the Chaldean revelation. |
| The “Reciprocal Interpretation” View (Spanu and recent studies) | Nicola Spanu, H. Seng, D. Baltzly, R. Chlup | Rather than priority in one direction, there is a reciprocal hermeneutic relationship: Proclus’ metaphysics and the Chaldean Oracles mutually illuminate each other. The oracles clarify and dramatize ideas latent in Platonism, while Proclus’ system rationalizes their theological symbols. |
In Proclus and the Chaldean Oracles, Spanu argues that the Chaldean Oracles had a “shaping and clarifying” effect on Proclus, but did not originate his metaphysical innovations. Instead:
“Proclus regarded the Oracles as divine revelation confirming the truths of Plato. Yet their symbolic theology provided him with an imaginative vocabulary through which certain Platonic problems—especially mediation, procession, and theurgy—could be more clearly articulated.” (Spanu, ch. 5 conclusion)
He identifies several concrete ways this influence worked:
| Thematic Area | Role of the Chaldean Oracles in Proclus’ System | Spanu’s Evaluation |
|---|---|---|
| Triadic metaphysics (Father–Power–Intellect) | Gave Proclus a mythic and symbolic schema for articulating the process remaining → procession → reversion. | Clarifying influence: reinforces rather than creates the structure. |
| Doctrine of mediation (Hecate, the middle principle) | Hecate’s function as the cosmic “membrane” between worlds helped Proclus express the ontological continuity between intelligible and sensible levels. | Strongly formative in expression, if not in conceptual origin. |
| Theurgy and ritual ascent | The oracles validated Proclus’ conviction that ritual and intellect work together in reversion to the divine. | Philosophically decisive: confirmed the legitimacy of theurgic practice within Neoplatonism. |
| Hierarchy of henads | The Oracles’ multiplicity of divine powers may have encouraged Proclus’ elaboration of the henadic level between the One and the intelligible. | Possible inspiration, but Spanu judges it suggestive rather than determinative. |
| Doctrine of the soul and daemons | Oracular demonology provided a symbolic model for Proclus’ hierarchy of intermediaries. | Reinforcing, not generative. |
| Dimension of Proclean Metaphysics | Degree of Chaldean Influence | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Metaphysical structure (One–Intellect–Soul) | Minimal | Proclus inherits this from Plotinus and Iamblichus. |
| Triadic process (remaining–procession–reversion) | Moderate | The Oracles offer parallel imagery that helps Proclus formalize it. |
| Theurgy and symbolic mediation | High | The Oracles provide the theological basis for integrating ritual into philosophy. |
| Cosmic hierarchy and henads | Moderate | The multiplicity of Chaldean deities gives analogical support, but Proclus develops the concept independently. |
| Demonology and intermediate beings | Moderate | Chaldean examples supply vivid metaphors; Proclus rationalizes them systematically. |
| Language of divine “fire” and “light” | High (expressive) | The Chaldean vocabulary enriches Proclus’ metaphysical poetics of illumination. |
Spanu uses “clarifying” in a double sense:
1. Historical clarity: The oracles gave Proclus a more concrete symbolic language to express the ineffable metaphysics of Plato.
2. Doctrinal clarity: By interpreting the oracles through his system, Proclus also clarified their implicit metaphysics—turning poetic revelation into conceptual philosophy.
So, the influence is dialectical rather than one-directional.
Proclus doesn’t learn metaphysics from the Chaldeans; he recognizes his own metaphysical vision prefigured in them, and in interpreting them, refines his own system.
In the wake of Spanu’s work (and that of Harald Seng, Ruth Majercik, and others):
The Chaldean Oracles did not create Proclus’ metaphysics, but they decisively clarified its theurgic and symbolic dimensions.
Spanu’s study establishes that their effect was not merely decorative: they offered Proclus a revelatory grammar through which the triadic logic of Neoplatonism could be expressed as a sacred cosmology.
Would you like me to make a follow-up table mapping specific metaphysical doctrines (e.g., procession, the One, theurgy, soul ascent) to the Chaldean fragments Proclus cites and Spanu’s notes on how each doctrine was shaped or clarified? That would serve as a companion map to the previous fragment table.
has proclus left the ranch of the sort of austerity of plotinus's simplicity or is his ontology ultimately consonant with the roots of neoplatonism
That is one of the great interpretive questions about Proclus — whether he leaves behind Plotinus’ “austere” simplicity of the One–Intellect–Soul triad, or whether his elaborate metaphysics remains rootedly Neoplatonic in spirit.
Scholars disagree on this point, but the best current view — including that of Nicola Spanu — is that Proclus’ ontology remains consonant with the roots of Neoplatonism, even as it radically amplifies their articulation. In other words, he doesn’t leave the ranch; he builds an enormous theological city on it.
Plotinus’ metaphysics, especially in the Enneads, is characterized by a radical simplicity:
| Level | Character | Description |
|---|---|---|
| The One (τὸ ἕν) | Absolute simplicity | Beyond being, self-sufficient, without multiplicity. |
| Intellect (νοῦς) | The realm of Forms | Unity-in-multiplicity; being and thought coincide. |
| Soul (ψυχή) | Dynamic | Mediates between intelligible and sensible realms. |
Plotinus insists that the One is utterly transcendent — to ascribe even “being” to it is already to speak too much. The metaphysical process of emanation is described apophatically: each level flows from the One by necessity but without diminishing its simplicity.
This framework is deliberately minimal: it seeks to preserve ontological economy — three principles suffice to explain all reality.
Proclus’ metaphysics, especially as expressed in the Elements of Theology and the Platonic Theology, multiplies intermediaries:
As he writes in ET § 35–38:
“In all things there is a triad: abiding, procession, and reversion. The first is the preservation of the cause, the second its power, the third the conversion of the effect to the cause.”
These triads are not extra beings but logical moments of participation. The apparent proliferation is a diagram of unity’s dynamic, not its fragmentation.
| Position | Advocates | Argument |
|---|---|---|
| Proclus as theologizer and system-builder (departure) | E.R. Dodds, L. Siorvanes | Proclus replaces Plotinus’ mystical simplicity with scholastic structure; metaphysics becomes “metaphysical theology.” |
| Proclus as faithful elaborator (continuity) | H. D. Saffrey, W. Beierwaltes, D. O’Meara, R. Chlup | The elaboration of triads and henads is implicit in Plotinus; Proclus simply makes explicit the logic of emanation and participation. |
| Proclus as religious synthesizer (transformation within continuity) | Nicola Spanu, Gregory Shaw, H. Seng | Proclus deepens the Neoplatonic vision by incorporating the Chaldean Oracles and theurgy, but the core remains Plotinian: all things proceed from and return to the One. |
Spanu belongs to the last camp.
He sees Proclus as extending the Neoplatonic project by incorporating Chaldean theology and theurgy into an ontological framework that still rests on Plotinian principles of unity and procession.
“Even where Proclus systematizes and ritualizes the One’s procession, he remains faithful to the Neoplatonic conviction that all multiplicity is the unfolding of unity and that return (epistrophē) completes being.” (Proclus and the Chaldean Oracles, ch. 5 summary)
Let’s look at the structural correspondences:
| Plotinian Principle | Proclean Expansion | Ontological Continuity |
|---|---|---|
| The One | The One + Henads (divine unities) | The Henads are participations of the One’s unity, not rivals. Each is “one” by the One. |
| Intellect (Nous) | The intelligible triad Being–Life–Intellect | Proclus unpacks the internal logic of Nous into a triadic self-reflection; still Plotinian in essence. |
| Soul (Psyche) | Series of souls, daemons, and cosmic vehicles | Extension of Plotinus’ World-Soul; more hierarchical, not conceptually alien. |
| Emanation | Triadic rhythm (remaining–procession–reversion) | Systematized version of Plotinus’ metaphors of overflow and return. |
| Mystical ascent | Theurgy and symbolic reversion | Ritual embodiment of the same epistrophē Plotinus describes contemplatively. |
Thus, while Proclus’ ontology is far more architectonic, its axiomatic principles — unity, participation, procession, reversion — are purely Neoplatonic.
The break, if there is one, is not ontological but temperamental:
| Plotinus | Proclus |
|---|---|
| Mystical monism — interior ascent of intellect to the ineffable. | Theurgical pluralism — cosmic and symbolic ascent through divine intermediaries. |
| Experiential simplicity — the One as silence beyond language. | Systematic theology — the One expressed through a hierarchy of causes. |
| Philosopher-mystic. | Philosopher-priest. |
Proclus’ Chaldean and theurgical commitments give his philosophy a ritual, religious density that Plotinus avoided, but his metaphysical core remains the same: all beings are united through participation in the One.
In Proclus and the Chaldean Oracles, Spanu explicitly defends this continuity:
“Proclus’ exegesis of the Chaldean Oracles never departs from the Platonic foundations of his system. It rather gives symbolic density to a metaphysics whose essential structure—unity, procession, reversion—remains entirely within the Neoplatonic tradition.” (ch. 5, §0.6)
He argues that Proclus’ adoption of Chaldean symbolism clarifies the affective and ritual dimension of metaphysical ascent without betraying its philosophical austerity.
Conclusion:
Proclus has not “left the ranch.” He built fences, temples, and pathways across it, but the soil beneath — the conviction that all multiplicity is the self-explication of the One — remains purely Neoplatonic.
henads and plotinus
Excellent — this is a pivotal topic for understanding both the continuity and innovation of Proclus within the Neoplatonic lineage. The henads are often seen as Proclus’s most original metaphysical invention, and their relation to Plotinus’ One reveals precisely how he elaborates the tradition without abandoning its foundations.
Let’s unpack this in steps, showing (1) what henads are, (2) what Plotinus lacks or only hints at, and (3) how later Neoplatonists (especially Proclus) introduce them as a mediating “many-in-the-One.”
In Proclus, henads (ἑνάδες, “unities”) are plural “ones” that participate in the One itself, yet are each the cause of a divine order.
The One → The Henads (divine unities) → Being / Intellect / Soul
The henads bridge the gap between the ineffable One and the intelligible cosmos. They prevent a direct leap from absolute simplicity to structured multiplicity by introducing a layer of divine singularities — the many “ones” through which the One’s unity is distributed without being divided.
Plotinus (204–270 CE) never uses the term henads, but he often describes multiple “ones” or unities derived from the One:
| Plotinian Text | Key Idea | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Ennead VI.9 [9] 5–8 | The One is beyond being, cause of all unity. | Absolute transcendence; nothing stands “between” the One and Nous. |
| Enn. VI.7 [38] 15 | Each being is one “in virtue of” the One. | Suggests participation in unity but not independent henads. |
| Enn. V.1 [10] 6 | “Everything that exists is one and many.” | Implies the presence of unity in all things but not hypostatized unities. |
| Enn. VI.9 [9] 5–6 | The gods of the ancients symbolize aspects of the One’s power. | Mythic prefiguration of what Proclus will make explicit. |
So: Plotinus speaks of “the presence of the One in all things” (ἡ τοῦ ἑνὸς παρουσία), but for him this presence is formally identical everywhere — the One is not multiplied.
There are no distinct divine “ones” mediating between the One and Intellect; the leap from transcendence to intelligibility is immediate.
Post-Plotinian thinkers — notably Iamblichus, then Proclus — found this leap too abrupt.
They faced a theological and metaphysical tension:
How can the ineffable One cause a rich, hierarchical cosmos without itself becoming multiple?
The solution: posit intermediate unities (henads) that are:
Proclus’ reasoning (see Elements of Theology §§113–120):
1. Everything that exists is one insofar as it exists.
→ Therefore, unity must be prior to being.
2. The One causes all unities.
→ But participation requires intermediaries; there must be participated ones below the One-itself.
3. Therefore, there must be a manifold of unities — each of which is one by participation in the One.
→ These are the henads.
In this way, the henads are a logical necessity for preserving Plotinus’s principle that all things exist “by unity” while also allowing a diversity of divine causation.
| Feature | Plotinus | Proclus |
|---|---|---|
| Ultimate Principle | The One beyond being. | The same ineffable One beyond being. |
| Immediate Emanation | Nous (Intellect). | Henads (divine unities) precede Nous. |
| Mediation from One to Nous | None; procession is direct. | Henads mediate the procession through multiple divine causes. |
| Multiplicity of gods | Symbolic or poetic only. | Ontologically real; each god = a henad. |
| Mode of participation | All things one “by participation in the One.” | All things one “through their proper henad” (their divine unity). |
| Character of the One’s transcendence | Total, leaving only presence as trace. | Same transcendence, but expressed through many unities that safeguard its causality. |
So, Proclus preserves Plotinus’ One but inserts a new layer that makes the divine multiplicity ontologically legitimate instead of merely symbolic.
Not really — it’s a systematic extension, not a departure.
“Proclus does not multiply unity; he unfolds its inner fecundity.” (Proklos. Grundzüge seiner Metaphysik, 1965)
Nicola Spanu echoes this judgment, noting that the henads are “Proclus’s way of harmonizing the Chaldean multiplicity of divine powers with Plotinus’s monism — a conceptual translation of the Oracles’ gods into metaphysical unities.”
Spanu’s reading (2021):
In this sense, the henads are Proclus’s way of keeping Plotinian unity intact while acknowledging the lived religious pluralism of late antiquity.
| Aspect | Plotinus | Proclus |
|---|---|---|
| Number of supreme principles | One | One + many henads |
| Relation of One to multiplicity | Direct, ineffable cause of all | Mediated through divine unities |
| Function of unity in beings | Presence of the One | Participation through proper henad |
| Theology | Implicit monotheism | Explicit polytheistic hierarchy |
| Goal of philosophy | Mystical union with the One | Theurgic and contemplative union through the gods (henads) |
| Continuity with Neoplatonism | Foundational | Elaborative — same roots, richer articulation |
Plotinus gives us the One as the absolute principle of all unity.
Proclus gives us the Henads as the living plurality of that unity.
The henads do not replace the One — they express its presence in manifold form.
Proclus’ move thus extends Plotinus’s simplicity into a theology of divine participation, remaining ontologically consonant with the roots of Neoplatonism while giving it the metaphysical architecture needed to sustain both philosophical rigor and religious richness.