Proclus' Hymns : Essays, Translations, Commentary.

Intro -- PROCLUS' HYMNS -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- ABBREVIATIONS -- PART ONE ESSAYS -- 1. INTRODUCTION -- 1. Worship in the dusty museum of metaphysical abstractions -- 2. The corpus -- 3. Proclus' hymns in twentieth century scholarship -- 4. Aims and structure of this study -- 2. THE PHILOSOPHER'S HYMN -- 1. Introduction -- 2. The characteristics of a hymn -- 2 1 Prayer and praise -- 2 2 Speech versus song -- 3. Hymns as spiritual motion -- 3 1 Neoplatonic worship of the divine -- 3 2 Hymns as epistrophe -- 4. Philosophy as hymn-singing -- 4 1 The philosopher-poet -- 4 2 The Timaeus and the Parmenides as hymns -- 4 3 The technical use of ύµνεîν -- 4 4 Philosophy as hymn-singing: a characteristic of the Athenian Academy -- 4 5 Proclus' hymns in the religious context of the Athenian Academy -- 5. Synesius' hymns -- 6. Conclusions -- 3. THE GODS OF PROCLUS' HYMNS -- 1. Introduction -- 2. The divine hierarchy -- 2 1 The Theologia Platonica -- 2 2 The divine hierarchy according to the Theol Plat -- 2 3 The place of the gods of the hymns in the divine hierarchy -- 3. The unification of the soul -- 4. Nous and the unification of the human soul -- 4 1 The soul's relation to Nous -- 4 2 The divine Nous -- 4 3 The paternal harbour -- 4 4 Nous and the leader-gods -- 4 5 The leader-gods in the hymns -- 5. Mania and the unification of the human soul -- 5 1 Mania and the triad of Truth, Beauty and Symmetry -- 5 2 The relation between the leader-gods and the anagogic triad -- 6. Conclusions -- 4. THE THEORY BEHIND THEURGY -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Theurgy: the origins -- 3. Iamblichus and the introduction of theurgy in Neoplatonism -- 4. Proclus and the continuation of theurgy in Neoplatonism -- 4 1 Introduction -- 4 2 Proclus the theurgist -- 4 3 Anne Sheppard on Proclus' attitude to theurgy -- 4 4 Proclus on symbols.

5. The relation between the leader-gods and theurgy -- 6. Conclusions -- 5. THE HYMNS: THEURGY IN PRACTICE -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Proclus' theory of prayer -- 2 1 Prayer as theurgy -- 2 2 Do Proclus' hymns follow his theory? -- 3. Symbols in the hymns -- 3 1 Four sorts of symbols -- 3 2 Innate symbols -- 3 3 Symbolic myths -- 3 3 1 Myths as symbols -- 3 3 2 Parallells for the use of symbolic myths -- 3 3 3 Some proof: the use of Il5, 127-8 -- 3 3 4 Further proof from the hymns -- 3 4 Symbolic names -- 3 4 1 Names as symbols -- 3 4 2 Hirschle on divine names and theurgy -- 3 4 3 Hirschle reconsidered -- 3 4 4 Divine names in the hyms -- 3 5 Material symbols -- 4. The ritual context of the hymns -- 5. Conclusion: what the hymns teach us about theurgy -- 6. TYPES OF POETRY -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Proclus on poetry -- 2 1 The issue: Plato's criticism of Homer -- 2 2 Three types of poetry -- 2 3 Proclus' defense of Homer -- 3. The second type of poetry: images versus symbols -- 3 1 Sheppard's interpretation of scientific poetry -- 3 2 A preliminary discussion of the concept eikoon -- 3 2 1 Distinguishing eikones from symbola: likeness versus unlikeness? -- 3 2 2 The distinction likeness versus unlikeness rejected -- 3 3 Scientific poetry reconsidered -- 3 3 1 Science as recollection -- 3 3 2 Mathematics as recollection through eikones -- 3 3 3 The extended use of eikones -- 3 3 4 Homer and Theognis as iconic poets -- 3 3 5 Conclusions: distinguishing eikones from symbola -- 3 3 6 Scientific poetry and the Hymn to Helios -- 4. Emotions in the hymns -- 4 1 The problem with emotions -- 4 2 Human nothingness -- Appendix: Proclus' tripartite division of poetry and Syrianus -- PART TWO COMMENTARY -- I. (EIΣ H٨ION) -- Introduction -- Text -- Translation -- Structure -- Commentary -- II. (EIΣ AΦPPOΔITHN) -- Introduction -- Text -- Translation -- Structure.

Commentary -- III. (EIΣ MOYΣAΣ) -- Introduction -- Text -- Translation -- Structure -- Commentary -- IV. (YMNOΣ KOINOΣ EIΣ ΘEOYΣ) -- Introduction -- 1. H IV, a prayer to the gods of the Chaldaean Oracles? -- 2. H IV compared with the opening prayer of Theol Plat and In Parm -- 3. H IV compared with H III to the Muses -- 4. Conclusions -- Text -- Translation -- Structure -- Commentary -- V. (EIΣ ΛYKIHN AфPPOMTHN) -- Text -- Translation -- Structure -- Commentary -- VI. (YMNOΣ KOINOΣ ΘEΩN MHTPOΣ KAI EKATHΣ KAI IANOY) -- Introduction -- 1. How many gods? -- 1.1 Introduction -- 1.2 Rhea-Hecate, the Mother of the Gods -- 1.3 Hecate on the level of the hypercosmic gods -- 1.4 The goddesses of H IV -- 2. Rhea, Hecate, and Zeus -- 2.1 Rhea, the Mother of the Gods -- 2.2 Hecate -- 2.3 Zeus -- Text -- Translation -- Structure -- Commentary -- VII. (EIΣ AΘHNAN πOA YMHTIN) -- Introduction -- Text -- Translation -- Structure -- Date of composition -- Commentary -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- Editions cited of the principal texts -- Other works cited -- INDICES -- Index locorum -- General Index -- PHILOSOPHIA ANTIQUA.

This work studies the hymns composed by the Neoplatonist Proclus in the context of his philosophy. Its main claim is that the hymns should be understood in the context of theurgy, the ritual art adopted by the Neoplatonists in order to obtain mystical experiences.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2019. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.