IAMBLICHUS

Neoplatonist philosopher; b. Chalcis in Coele Syria, c. a.d. 250; d. c. 325. He was a student of porphyry, the successor of plotinus, and later conducted his own school, possibly at Apamea. He is credited by his successors with important elaborations within the scheme of Neoplatonist emanation, with the promotion of theurgy and with the dethronement of the human soul from its Plotinian perpetual union with the intellect. Unfortunately, his commentaries upon various dialogues of plato have not survived, and one is left to conjecture what his system may have been from quotations and testimonies in later writers, especially proclus and Damascius.

See Also: neoplatonism.

Bibliography: His extant works form part of a Pythagorean collection: De vita pythagorica, ed. l. deubner (Leipzig 1937); Adhortatio ad philosophiam or Protrepticus, ed. h. pistelli (Leipzig 1888); De communi mathematica scientia liber, ed. n. festa (Leipzig 1891); In Nicomachi arthmeticam introductionis liber, ed. h. pistelli (Leipzig 1894); Theologoumena arithmeticae, ed. v. de falco (Leipzig 1922), authorship disputed; De mysteriis liber, ed. g. parthey (Berlin 1857), probably correctly attributed to Iamblichus. Grouped together with commentary are fragments of his lost treatise De anima, in La Révélation d'Hermès Trismésiste, ed. and tr. a. j. festugiÈre, 4 v. (Paris 1950–54) v.3. Lost are works on the gods and on the Chaldean oracles. g. faggin, Enciclopedia filosofica, 4 v. (Venice–Rome 1957) 2:707–708. f. ueberweg. Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie, ed. k. praechter et al., 5 v. (12th ed. Berlin 1923–28) 1:612–618. p. merlan, From Platonism to Neoplatonism (2d ed. The Hague 1960). aristotle, Protrepticus, ed. i. dÜring (Göteborg 1961).

[w. h. o'neill]