The Platonic Heritage

Further Studies in the History of Platonism and Early Christianity

John Dillon

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9781351219204
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: World History

This third collection of articles by John Dillon covers the period 1996-2006, the decade since the appearance of The Great Tradition. Once again, the subjects covered range from Plato himself and the Old Academy, through Philo and Middle Platonism, to the Neoplatonists and beyond. Particular concerns evidenced in the papers are the continuities in the Platonic tradition, and the setting of philosophers in their social and cultural contexts, while at the same time teasing out the philosophical implications of particular texts. Such topics are addressed as atomism in the Old Academy, Philo's concept of immateriality, Plutarch's and Julian's views on theology, and peculiar features of Iamblichus' exegeses of Plato and Aristotle, but also the broader questions of the social position of the philosopher in second century A.D. society, and the nature of ancient biography.

GENERAL INDEX

Academy, Platonic: III passim; IV 311; V passim; VI passim; XX 72

Aetius: III 83; V 11, 14; VI 182–3; X 310; XVII 237, 240

Ahura Mazda/Ahriman: XII 7–9; XXIII 108

Aithêr: III 87; (as dodecahedron) 93n; V 13; XXIII 106

Albinus: 1167–8; XV 20; XXIV 210n

Alcinous: II 68; XV 21; VI 72–4; XVII 244; XIX 88n

Alexander of Aphrodisias: V 10; VII 196; XIX 88n.; XX 69

allegorical exegesis: XXIV passim; XXVI 121

AI-Junaid: XXVI 119–20

Amelius: XV 24; XXI 330–32, 335, 338n

Ammonias, teacher of Plutarch: XII 2, 6; XIV 33–4, 39n

Ammonias Saccas: XV 31n.; XVIII 158

Anaxagoras: XXIII 111; XXIV 214–15

angels: VIII 108; XXI 334

anonymous Theaetetus Commentator: XV 20; XXIV 209

Antiochus of Ascalon: III 80; VII 195n; VIII 103, 106; IX 102; X 305

Apatheia/metriopatheia: VII 191–3

Apollo: XII 3–4, 6–7

Apuleius of Madaura: XV 21; XXII 5n. 8n

Archytas: VI 180

‘Archytas’, On the Un/verse: XX 65–66, 70n., 74–5

Aristocles of Rhodes: XV 21.

Aristophanes of Byzantium: IX 100,

Aristotle: I 30n., 39n., 41; III 80, 89–90, 94n; V passim; VI passim; VII 193n.; VIII 100–101; XI 36; XX passim; XXII 4; XXIII 114; XXIV 215

Ps.-Aristotle, On Idivisible Lines: V 8–10

Ps.-Aristotle, De Μundo: XVII 241n

Armstrong, A.H.: XVI 70n.; XVIII 159

Asclepiades of Bithynia: V 14n., 16

Asclepius (god): XXIII 113–14

astronomy/astrology: IV 305; XIX passim; XX 71n

Athanassiadi., P.: XVIII 165n.; XXIII 103

Athenodorus of Tar...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Acknowledgements
• I The riddle of the Timaeus: is Plato sowing clues?
• II Plotinus, Speusippus and the Platonic Parmenides
• III The Timaeus in the Old Academy
• IV Philip of Opus and the theology of Plato’s Laws
• V Atomism in the Old Academy
• VI Theophastus’ critique of the Old Academy in the Metaphysics
• VII The pleasures and perils of soul-gardening
• VIII Asômatos: nuances of incorporeality in Philo
• IX Thrasyllus and The Logos
• X Plutarch’s debt to Xenocrates
• XI Plutarch and the separable Intellect
• XII Plutarch and God: theodicy and cosmogony in the thought of Plutarch
• XIII Plutarch’s use of unidentified quotations
• XIV The social role of the philosopher in the second century C.E.: some remarks
• XV Pedantry and pedestrianism? Some reflections on the Middle Platonic commentary tradition
• XVI Monotheism in the Gnostic tradition
• XVII An unknown Platonist on God
• XVIII Holy and not so Holy: on the interpretation of late antique biography
• XIX Plotinus on whether the stars are causes
• XX Iamblichus’ noera theoria of Aristotle’s Categories
• XXI Iamblichus’ identifications of the subject-matters of the hypotheses
• XXII Iamblichus on the personal daemon
• XXIII The theology of Julian’s Hymn to King Helios
• XXIV A case-study in commentary: the Neoplatonic exegesis of the Prooimia of Plato’s dialogues
• XXV Damascius on procession and return
• XXVI ‘The eye of the soul’: The doctrine of the higher consciousness in the Neoplatonic and Sufic traditions
• General Index
• Index of Platonic Passages