Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

836 28. philosophy and philosophical schools
and the material world perceived by the senses goes back to Plato. In the
philosophy of Plotinus this contrast was developed into an elaborate metaphysics
in which, above and beyond the material world, there are three
further levels or ‘hypostases’: the One, the source of all other things, Mind
or Intellect and finally Soul. Iamblichus and his successors developed this
Plotinian metaphysics further, offering more detailed accounts of the three
hypostases and their relation to one another, as well as introducing some
intermediate levels.
In later Neoplatonism philosophy and religion go hand-in-hand.
Iamblichus himself was both a sophisticated philosopher and a pagan ‘holy
man’, credited by Eunapius with performing all kinds of wonders. The
same combination reappears in the philosophers of the fifth and sixth
century. Proclus, for example, is reported as celebrating the main feasts of
all (pagan) religions, 3 while at the same time he integrated the traditional
Greek gods into his philosophical system, identifying them with the divine
‘henads’ which he posited between the One and Mind in order to mediate
the transition from the One to the rest of reality. In philosophical terms
the supreme entity remains the transcendent One. Here too philosophy
and religion come together. The One is beyond Mind and so ultimately
inaccessible even to the intellect. It can be reached only by mystical experience.
Plotinus writes as one who has had such experience but he always
regards it as something which comes only after rigorous intellectual effort. 4
Later Neoplatonists continued to talk in a Plotinian way about mystical
experience, but from the time of Iamblichus onwards they also practised
the rites of theurgy, a type of religious magic associated with the Chaldaean
Oracles. The belief that theurgy could assist the soul in its return to the gods
and the One opened the way to a less severely intellectual approach to mysticism.
In the third and fourth century Porphyry, Iamblichus and their pupils
were firmly opposed to Christianity, although at the same time many
Christian thinkers were heavily influenced by Platonism. In the fifth and
sixth century attitudes became more diverse. At Athens the philosophers
continued to be strongly pagan; Proclus and his successors remained consistently
hostile to Christianity. At Alexandria, as we shall see in more detail
later, the school gradually moved from paganism through accommodation
with Christianity to the situation at the end of the sixth century, in which
the last known teachers of Neoplatonism were themselves Christians.
The term ‘Neoplatonism’ is a modern invention. All the Platonists of
late antiquity saw themselves as interpreters of Plato, and from the time of
Porphyry onwards commentaries were the main vehicle for the exposition
of Neoplatonist ideas. The Neoplatonists commented not only on Plato
3 Marinus ch. 19. 4 See e.g. Plotinus 6.7.36.6–21.
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