A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

iAMIBLICHUS. IAMBLICHUS. U49
was educated it Babylon, and did not be'omenac- the study of Plato, and consisted 6riginally of ten
quainted with the Greek language till a late period books,-of which five only. are extant. The first of
of his life. After having lived at Babylon for a them, entitled fIepl'roD IlvuOaopKov,Loov, contains
number of years, he was taken prisoner and sold as a detailed account of the life of Pythagoras and his
a slave to a Syrian, who, however, appears to have school, but is an uncritical compilation from earlier
set him free again. He is said to have acquired works; as however these works are lost, thecompilasuch a perfect knowledge of Greek, that he even tion of Iamblichus is not without its peculiar value
distinguished himself as a rhetorician. (Suidas, to us. This life of Pythagoras was first edited
s. v.'Ilc'AtXos; Schol. ad Phot. Bibl. Cod. 94, p. by J. Arcerius Theodoretus in Greek and Latin,
73, ed. Bekker.) He was the author of a'love Franeker, 1598, 4to. The most recent and best
story in Greek, which, if not the_earliest, wvas at editions are those of L. Kuster (Amsterdam, 1707,
least one_.of_the. first productions of this kiid in 4to.) and Th. Kiessling (Leipzig, 1815, 2 vols.
Greek literature. It bore the title BeigXuai;ia, 8vo.) The second book, entitled nlpoTpEsrTCKol
and containedthe story of two lovers, Sionis and Adyot es pkAoooptaiv, forms a sort of introduction
P oqdaAen. According to Suidas, it con-isitARd to the study of Plato, and is, like the former, for
39 books; but Photius (Bibl. Cod. 94), who gives the most part compiled from the works. of earlier
a tolerably full epitome of the work, mentions only writers, and almost without any plan or system.
17. (Comp. Phot.' Bibl. Cod. 166; Suid. s. vc. The last chapter contains an explanation of 39?ydpp os, O p4oua.) A perfect copy of the work in Pythagorean symbols. The first edition is that of
MS. existed down to the year 1671, when it was Arcerius Theodoretus, and the best that of Th.
destroyed by fire. A few fragments of the original Kiessling, Leipzig, 1813, 8vo. The third book is
work are still extant, and a new one of some entitled Isepl Iicotvs 1,a7)0iia'tris E&7rLor-'ns, and
length has recently been discovered by A. Mai. contains many fragments of the works of early
(Nov. Collect. Script. Vet. vol. ii. p. 349, &c.) The Pythagoreans, especially Philolaus and Archytas.
epitome of Photius and the fragments are collected It exists in MS. in various libraries, but for a long
in Chardon de la Rochette's M6langes de'Critique time only fragments were published, until at length
et de Philologie, pp.. 18, &c., 34, &c., 53, &c., and Villoisonin his Anecdota Graeca (vol.ii. p. 188, &c.)
in Passow's Corpus Erotic. vol. i.; comp. Fabric. printed the whole of it, after which it was edited
2Bibl. Graec. vol. viii. p. 152, &c.; Vossius, De separately by J. G. Fries, Copenhagen, 1790, 4to.
Hist. Graec. p. 275, ed. Westermann. The' fourth book, entitled Ilepl qTs NKOtMopXOV
2. A celebrated Neo-Platonic philosopher; was dpt'isTiCKj ei a eiaaywrys, was first edited by Sam.
born at Chalcis in Coele-Syria, and was perhaps a Tennulius, Deventer and Arnheim, 1668, 4to
descendant of No. 1. He was a pupil of Anatolius The fifth and sixth books, which treated on physics
and Porphyrius. Respecting his life we know and ethics, are lost; but the seventh, entitled Td
very little beyond the fact that he resided in Syria aEsAooyooj/eva r'js aipLOJuLTIClr, is still extant, and
till his death, making every year an excursion to has been published by Ch. Wechel (Paris, 1543,
the hot springs of Gadara. He died in the reign 4to) and Fr. Ast (Leipzig, 1817, 8vo.). With
of Constantine the. Great, and probably before A. D. regard to the other books of this work, we know
333. (Suidas, s.v.'Id/ApLXos; Eunapius,-Iamblich.) that the eighth contained an introduction to music
Hie had studied with great zeal the philosophy of (Iambl. Vit. Pyth. 120, ad Nicomn. Arithm. pp. 73,
Plato and Pythagoras, and was also acquainted With 77, 172, 176), the ninth an introduction to geothe theology and philosophy of the Chaldaeans and metry (ad Nicom. Arithm. pp. 141, 176), and the
Egyptians. The admiration which he' enjoyed tenth the spheric theory of Pythagoras (ad Nicom.
Among his contemporaries was so great that they Arithm. p. 176).
declared him to be equal to Plato himself, and that ~ 2. rIEp! MvTrrTxpwv,p in one book. An Egyptian
the difference of time was the only one existing priest of the name of Abammon is there introduced
between them. (Julian, Orat. iv. p. 146, Epist..'as replying to a letter of Porphyrius. [PORPRY40.) We cannot join in this admiration, for al- RIUS.] He endeavours to- refute various doubts
though he pretended to be a follower of Plato, his respecting the truth and purity of the Egyptian:Platonism was so much mixed up with notions and religion and worship, and to prove the divine'doctrines derived from the East, and with those of origin of the Egyptian and Chaldaean theology, as
other Greek philosophers, especially Pythagoras, wMell as that men, through theurgic rites, may comthat it may justly be termed a syncretic philosophy. mune with the Deity. Many critics have endeaBy means of this philosophy, which was further voured to show that this work is not a production
combined with a great deal of the superstition of of Iamblichus, while Tennemann and others have
the time, he endeavoured to oppose and check the vindicated its authenticity;, and there are approgress of Christianity. He did not acquiesce in parently no' good reasons why the authorship should
the doctrines of the earlier New Platonists, Por- be denied to Iamblichus. The Work'has been
phyrius and Plotinus, who regarded the perception edited by Ficinus (Venice, 1483, 4to, with a Lat.
and comprehension of the Deity, by means of ecsta- translation), N. Scutellius (Rome, 1556, 4to.), and'sies, as the object of all philosophy; but his opinion Th. Gale (Oxford, 1678, fol., with a Lat. translawas that man could be brought into direct commu- tion).- Besides these works, we have'mention of
nion with the Deity through the mediium of theurgic one, TIlep 4uXis, of which a fragment is preserved
rites and ceremonies, whence he attached parti- in Stobaeus (Flor. tit. 25,'6),' Epistles, several of
cular importance to mysteries, initiations, and the which are quoted by Stobaeus, on the gods and
like.' other works, among which we may notice a great
Iamblichus was the author'of a considerable one, lepl1 7s't1rEoTd77s XaAiKLea!KscpLTPoompar,
number of works, of which a few only have come of which some fragments are preserved by Damas-:down to us. The most important among them are: cius in his work, lcipl dipX/v. Iamblichus further
1. Ilepl lv0ay4pov aipe'-ews, on the philosophy of wrote commentaries -on some of Plato's dialogues,
-Pythagoras.' It was intended as a preparation for viz., ion -the Parmenides, Timaeus and Phaedon,
NN 3