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Iamblichus: De Mysteriis (Writings from the Greco-Roman World, V. 4.)

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Before this English translation of Iamblichus' only surviving defense of theurgy, scholars and those few others, curious about such matters had only Taylors' version to refer to. (While I am aware of A. Wilders' translation it suffers from far too many errors to be of much real value). Now Clarke, Dillon, and Hershbell have gifted us with what is sure to be the standard for years to come. That is not to say that Thomas Taylor was not a super-Damion among men. His translation no doubt will remain for years. This due to the fact that Taylor truly understood Theurgy as few other scholars.
So why the need for a new critical translation? Besides the fact that more extant manuscripts were examined than ever before in its preparation, this is a near transparent reading of Iamblichus' intent with clarity and fidelity. Unlike Proclus and many other Platonic fathers, Iamblichus according to Eunapius did not possessed a silver tongue. His writing is at times both tortured and unconventional. Somehow our current team has managed to negotiate many of the traditional Iamblichean hurdles.
The De Mysteriis is a brief examination of noetic or abiding principles of the soul together with proceeding and returning principles. Add to this that based upon the the focused questions from Porphyry, Iamblichus takes on some of the more difficult questions left unanswered by Plotinus. Questions such as the descent of the soul; whether or not the charioteer or One of soul remains undescended. In adddition Iamblichus deals with material sacrifice and its relation to the unmovable Gods, appearances of sound and light and their relation to the quale of beingness, epopteia and the art of Telestai. All these thorny questions and still more Iamblichus tackles in De Mysteriis.
An absolute must for all Scholarch-mystae!

I was very excited to get my copy of this classic work. From all the reviews I read I thought this would be the best version being more accurate in the translation than the previous one. However, I think the translation is a little too literal in some cases which tends to obscure the meaning of the text unless you are familiar with the colloquialisms they are translating. For example they use the phrase "necessity of the Gods" in reference to magical work where other translations use the word "spell" as in magical spell. Although the phrase gives an interesting insight into the thinking of Iamblichus, "necessity of the Gods" doesn't help the lay reader understand what he is talking about in that section.

Overall it is a good translation, but make sure to read other translations as well to get some insight into what Iamblicus is actually trying to say.

Finally an English Translation of Iamblichus' letters On The Mysteries that is both readable and profound. Well done!

Along with the works of Plato, Plotinus, and Proclus this work can easily be considered as a cornerstone of the great Pythagorean-Neoplatonic tradition. Unlike Plato Iamblichus is writing here on esoteric subjects without the usual veils that hide the Mysteries from the uninitiated public. This is probably due to the fact that he is writing in the form of letters to Porphyry, a highly developed student in his own right, and not to the general public.

Except for the distracting not very useful footnotes this translation along with its very informative Introduction is nearly perfect. I recommend it highly.

De Mysteriis is written under the name "Abamon" represented as an Egyptian, Proclus however identified Iamblichus as the author and many scholars follow his queue and ascribe this to Iamblichus, indeed the notes in this book points out times where the author seems to forget his roleplaying and the mask slips. In any case the book seems to be in large part a response to a letter of Porphyry's which was sent to an Egyptian priest by the name of Anebo, Porphyry had some queries about theurgical practice to ask Anebo, Porphyry while perhaps somewhat sympathetic was suspicious of the value of theurgy in raising the soul through to the One. Throughout De Mysteriis "Abamon" attempts to answer Porphyry and address his doubts. This is a defence of theurgy as well as an exposition of its function and the universe it takes place in, there is even a little bit allegorical religio-philosophical interpretations of Egyptian myth in this book. Divination is also defended.

This book is filled to the brim with superstition, a sort of occultic theosophic religio-philosophy. It seems to me that Iamblichus was very capable of answering Porphyry's questions, in fact one time in the book Porphyry is reported to have said something rather strange that seemed very inconsistent with the entire system of Neoplatonism and Iamblichus pounces on this and tears down what was said with ease.

So again; this book is filled with superstition, however among all the dross there is still a little bit of good, that is if one is reading it for plain philosophical thought, as to its historical value of course it is all good for this is an important book. Indeed Iamblichus is part of a line that goes to Proclus and through Proclus (it would seem) comes to influence the angelology of Pseudo-Dionysius, who wrote some monumentally influential texts.