THE EGYPTIAN MYSTERIES

BY IAMBLICHUS

TRANSLATED ANEW AND ANNOTATED

BY ALEXANDER WILDER, M.D., F.A.S.*

CHAPTER I

LETTER OF PORPHYRY TO ANEBO

*The aim is to express "the original, the whole original and nothing but the original, and withal good, readable English." A. W.

†Porphyry was a distinguished scholar and the foremost writer of the later Platonic school. A native of Tyre, his name—"Molech" or "King"—was rendered by Longinus as Porphyrius (denoting the royal purple) as an appropriate equivalent. He was a disciple of Plotinus, who had broadened the scope of philosophical study to include the "Wisdom of the East." In his personal habits, he followed the Pythagorean discipline. He was a severe critic of the Gnostic beliefs current at the time, and he evidently included the new Christian faith among them. His mysticism was spiritual and contemplative, and he regarded the ceremonial rites of Egyptian theurgy Ritualistic practices intended to invoke or influence divine beings. with suspicion. He favored Mithraism, which prevailed in Asia, whereas Iamblichus belonged more to the cult of Serapis, the state religion of Egypt.

Of Anebo, we know little. He is addressed as an Egyptian priest, and his name is synonymous with Anabu or Anubis, the Egyptian psychopomp A guide of souls. and patron of sacred literature. He was a "prophet" (or hen niter, servant of divinity) and an interpreter of oracles. Porphyry, himself an epoptes (an initiated person), asks him to explain Egyptian theosophical doctrines regarding divine beings, religious rites, and faith.