Neoplatonic Angels and Demons

304 Pages·2018·1.86 MB·English

by  Luc Brisson

NeoplatonicDemonsandAngels
Studies in Platonism,
Neoplatonism, and the Platonic
Tradition
Editedby
RobertM.Berchman(DowlingCollegeandBardCollege)
JohnFinamore(UniversityofIowa)
EditorialBoard
JohnDillon(TrinityCollege,Dublin)–GaryGurtler(BostonCollege)
Jean-MarcNarbonne(LavalUniversity,Canada)
volume 20
Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.com/spnp
Neoplatonic Demons and Angels
Editedby
LucBrisson
SeamusO’Neill
AndreiTimotin
LEIDEN | BOSTON
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Contents
ListofContributors vii
Introduction 1
TheDaimonandtheChoiceofLifeinPlotinus’Thought 7
ThomasVidart
TheAngelsinAncientGnosis:SomeCases 19
MadeleineScopello
DemonsandAngelsintheChaldaeanOracles 46
HelmutSeng
WhatisaDaimonforPorphyry? 86
LucBrisson
PorphyryofTyreontheDaimon,BirthandtheStars 102
DorianGieselerGreenbaum
DaimonesinPorphyry’sOntheCaveoftheNymphs 140
NiluferAkcay
EvilDemonsintheDeMysteriis
AssessingtheIamblicheanCritiqueofPorphyry’sDemonology 160
SeamusO’Neill
Proclus’CritiqueofPlotinus’Demonology 190
AndreiTimotin
TheAngelsinProclus:MessengersoftheGods 209
LucBrisson
Ontology,Henadology,Angelology
TheNeoplatonicRootsofAngelicHierarchy 231
GhislainCasas
vi contents
DionysiustheAreopagiteonAngels
Self-ConstitutionversusConstitutingGifts 269
MarilenaVlad
Index 291
List of Contributors
NiluferAkcay
HoldsaPh.D.inClassicsfromtheUniversityofDublin,TrinityCollege(Novem-
ber 2016). Her dissertation is the analysis of Porphyry’s On the Cave of the
Nymphsagainstthebackdropofhiswiderphilosophicaloeuvre.Shewasedu-
catedatIstanbulUniversitywhereshetranslatedOvid’sHeroidesintoTurkish
duringherM.A.degree.Heraimistocontinuetoworkinthefieldof Neopla-
tonismandancientallegoricalinterpretation.
LucBrisson
DirecteurdeRecherche(1eclasse)attheCentreNationaldelaRechercheSci-
entifique, Paris, a member of the Centre Jean Pépin (UPR 76 du CNRS). His
worksinclude HowPhilosophersSavedMyths(Chicago,2004); PlatotheMyth
Maker(Chicago,1999);InventingtheUniverse,withW.Meyerstein(NewYork,
1995);SexualAmbivalence:AndrogynyandHermaphroditisminGraeco-Roman
Antiquity(Berkeley,2002),amongothers,andnumeroustranslationsandcom-
mentariesontheSophists,Plato,Plotinus,Proclus,andIamblichus,including
(withA.Ph.Segonds)Jamblique,ViedePythagore(Paris,1996).
GhislainCasas
CurrentlylecturerinphilosophyattheSorbonne,Paris.HecompletedhisPh.D.
attheÉcolePratiquedesHautesÉtudesandtheÉcoledesHautesÉtudesen
SciencesSociales,Parison medievalangelology.He haspublishedpaperson
neoplatonicandmedievalphilosophy,including“Lenéoplatonismesanspla-
tonisme du ps.-Denys l’Aréopagite,” in Les chrétiens et l’hellénisme. Identités
religieusesetculturegrecquedansl’Antiquitétardive,ed.ArnaudPerrot(Paris,
2012); “Les statues vivent aussi. Théorie néoplatonicienne de l’objet rituel”,
Revuedel’histoiredesreligions,231/4(2014);“Languagewithoutvoice:locutio
angelicaasapoliticalissue,”inVoiceandVoicelessnessinMedievalEurope,ed.
I.R.Kleiman(Houndmills,2015).
DorianGieselerGreenbaum
Tutor at the University of Wales Trinity St David. Her Ph.D. from the War-
burgInstituteformedthebasisof herbook,TheDaimoninHellenisticAstrol-
ogy:OriginsandInfluence(Brill,2016).ShehaswrittenarticlesforBlackwell’s
EncyclopediaofAncientHistoryandSpringer’sHandbookofArchaeoastronomy
andEthnoastronomy,andedited/co-translatedthevolume, Kepler’sAstrology
(Lampeter,2010).Recentpublicationsinclude(withco-editorCharlesBurnett)
viii list of contributors
FromMāshāʾallāhtoKepler:TheoryandPracticeinMedievalandRenaissance
Astrology(Lampeter,2015);and“EternityintheAstrologyofVettiusValens,”in
Eternity:AHistory,ed.YitzhakMelamed(Oxford,2016).
SeamusO’Neill
AssociateProfessorof PhilosophyatTheMemorial Universityof Newfound-
land.HecompletedhisPh.D.inClassicsatDalhousieUniversityonSt.Augus-
tine’sPlatonism.Recentpublicationsinclude:“‘Aequalesangelissunt’:Demon-
ology,Angelology,andtheResurrectionoftheBodyinAugustineandAnselm,”
TheSaintAnselmJournal,12/1(2016);“‘Howdoesthebodydepart?:ANeopla-
tonicReadingofDante’sSuicides,”DanteStudies,132(2014);and“TheDemonic
Body: Demonic Ontology and the Domicile of the Demons in Apuleius and
Augustine,”inPhilosophicalApproachestoDemonology,ed.R.ArpandB.Mc-
Craw(Routledge,2017).HeiscurrentlycompletingamonographonSt.Augus-
tine’sdemonology,theculminationofaresearchprojectentitledReconstruct-
ingtheDemonologyofSt.Augustine,fundedbytheSocialSciencesandHuman-
itiesResearchCouncilofCanada.
MadeleineScopello
Correspondantof theInstitutdeFrance(AcadémiedesInscriptionsetBelles-
Lettres),CorrespondingFellowof theAustralianAcademyof theHumanities
(FAHA),Directeurderecherche(1stclass)atCentreNationaldelaRecherche
Scientifique,Paris(UMR8167),Paris,Directeurd’étudesattheÉcolePratique
desHautesÉtudes,Paris(chairof “GnosisandManichaeism”).Herworksin-
clude L’Exégèsedel’âme(NagHammadiII,6):introduction,traduction,com-
mentaire(Leiden,1985);LesGnostiques(Paris,1991,translatedinItalian,Japa-
neseandCorean);L’Allogène(NagHammadiXI,3),withW.-P.Funk,P.-H.Poi-
rier, J.D. Turner (Québec-Louvain, 2004); Femme, Gnose et Manichéisme. De
l’espace mythique au territoire du réel (Leiden, 2005); Saint Augustin, Sur la
GenèsecontrelesManichéens.SurlaGenèseausenslittéral,Livreinachevé,with
A.-I.Bouton,M.Dulaey,P.Monat(Paris,2005);and LesÉvangilesapocryphes
(Paris,2007and2016).
HelmutSeng
Associate Professor at the Universities of Konstanz and Frankfurt am Main.
In2010,hewasalsodirecteurd’étudesinvitéattheÉcolePratiquedesHautes
Études(Paris).Heisalsoserieseditorof theBibliothecaChaldaica.Hisworks
include Untersuchungen zum Vokabular und zur Metrik in den Hymnen des
Synesios(FrankfurtamMain,1996);VergilsEklogenbuch.Aufbau,Chronologie
undZahlenverhältnisse(Hildesheim,1999);ΚΟΣΜΑΓΟΙ,ΑΖΩΝΟΙ,ΖΩΝΑΙΟΙ.Drei
list of contributors ix
BegriffechaldaeischerKosmologieundihrFortleben(Heidelberg,2009);Unlivre
sacrédel’Antiquitétardive:LesOraclesChaldaïques(Brepols,2016,MédailleLe
Fèvre-DeumierdePons2018oftheAcadémiedesInscriptionsetBellesLettres);
aswellasnumerousarticles,mainlyonlateantiquetopics,inparticularonthe
ChaldaeanOracles.
AndreiTimotin
SeniorresearcherattheRomanianAcademy(ISEES),AssociateProfessoratthe
UniversityofBucharest,Ph.D.inHistory(ÉcoledesHautesÉtudesenSciences
Sociales,Paris),Ph.D.inAncientPhilosophy(ÉcolePratiquedesHautesÉtudes,
Paris).HispublicationsonthePlatonictraditionincludeLadémonologiepla-
tonicienne.HistoiredelanotiondedaimōndePlatonauxderniersnéoplatoni-
ciens(Brill,2012,ReinachPrizeoftheAssociationdesÉtudesGrecques,Paris);
PlatonicTheoriesofPrayer,withJohnDillon(Brill,2016);andLaprièredansla
traditionplatonicienne,dePlatonàProclus(Brepols,2017).
ThomasVidart
Teacherof PhilosophyinClassesPréparatoiresauxGrandesÉcoles(Khâgne)
at the Lycée Champollion (Grenoble, France). He currently also teaches at
theUniversityofGrenoble.HehastranslatedPlotinus’treatise,OnWell-Being:
Plotin,Traité46,inL.BrissonetJ.-F.Pradeau(eds.),Plotin,Traités45–50(Paris,
2009).
MarilenaVlad
Holds a Ph.D. in sciences religieuses from École Pratique des Hautes Études,
Paris (2011). She coordinates a research project at the Institute for Philos-
ophy “Al. Dragomir” (Bucharest), is assistant professor at the University of
Bucharest,andmemberof theeditorialboardof Chôra.Revued’étudesanci-
ennesetmédiévales.ShetranslatedintoRomanianthefirstpartofDamascius’
De principiis, and several treatises of Plotinus’Enneads. Recent publications
include: Damascius et l’aporétique de l’ineffable (Paris, forthcoming); “Step-
pingintotheVoid:ProclusandDamasciusonApproachingtheFirstPrinciple,”
InternationalJournalofthePlatonicTradition11.1(2017);“Denysl’Aréopagiteet
l’imagedivine:symbole,empreinte,statue,”in L’icônedanslapenséeetdans
l’art, ed. by K. Mitalaité and A. Vasiliu (Brepols, 2017); and “Damascius and
Dionysiusonprayerandsilence,”inPlatonicTheoriesofPrayer,ed.byJ.Dillon
andA.Timotin(Brill,2016).