Iamblichus

Iamblichus (c. 245-325) was a Neoplatonic philosopher born in Chalcis, in the Syrian region of Coele Syria, today Qinnasrin. He is also regarded as a Neopythagorean. His work gave Neoplatonism a new direction, making it more systematic and more religious. According to the sources, he came from the Emesene dynasty, and his name is closely tied to theurgy, the ritual practice meant to unite the soul with the divine.

He first studied with Anatolius of Laodicea and then with Porphyry, a pupil of Plotinus. The disagreement with Porphyry was deep. Iamblichus gave weight to ritual and to faculties of the soul higher than the intellect in dealing with the divine, and he held that the soul is embodied in matter, which he did not regard as wholly base. This set him apart from Plotinus, who had placed the soul apart from the body. According to tradition, the work On the Mysteries of the Egyptians contains his reply to Porphyry's objections to theurgy, written under the name of an Egyptian priest called Abammon. Its authorship is debated.

Around the start of the fourth century he returned to Syria and founded a school at Apamea, a city known for its Neoplatonists, later moving it to Daphne. There he designed a course of study in Plato and Aristotle; his commentaries survive only in fragments. Pythagoras was his highest authority. He wrote a Life of Pythagoras and a collection of Pythagorean doctrines, of which only the first four books survive. Other surviving works include the Protrepticus, an exhortation to philosophy, and writings on mathematics and arithmetic.

His system unfolds hierarchically from the Monad, from which the Nous and the soul proceed. He multiplied divine beings according to mathematical patterns: twelve heavenly gods, seventy-two derived gods, twenty-one chiefs and forty-two nature gods. Between the divine and the material he placed intermediate beings that influence natural events and can be approached through prayer and offerings. For him nature is bound by fate, while the divine lies beyond fate and can turn evil toward good ends.

His influence was considerable. His followers Sopater of Apamea and Dexippus carried on his line, and his impact reached the Academy of Athens, especially Syrianus, Proclus and Damascius. The emperor Julian held him in high regard, and during the Renaissance his name returned, often with the epithet "divine". Today he is studied as a bridge between Plotinus and late Neoplatonism.