The Letters

Writings from the Greco-Roman World #19

by John M. Dillon, Iamblichus, Wolfgang Polleichtner

Iamblichus is the only Platonist philosopher whose philosophical letters have survived from the ancient world. These nineteen letters, which are translated into English here for the first time, address such topics as providence, fate, concord, marriage, bringing up children, ingratitude, music, and the cardinal virtues, with some letters addressed to students and others to prominent members of Syrian society and the imperial administration. The letters reflect the concerns of popular moral philosophy and illustrate the more public aspects of Iamblichuss philosophy. This volume provides a useful complement to On the Mysteries, and On the Pythagorean Way of Life, both published by the Society of Biblical Literature, and will be of interest to students of late antiquity, of Neoplatonic philosophy, and of early Christianity.

Genres: Philosophy

146 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

John Myles Dillon (/ˈdɪlən/; born 15 September 1939) is an Irish classicist and philosopher who was Regius Professor of Greek in Trinity College, Dublin between 1980 and 2006. Prior to that he taught at the University of California, Berkeley. He was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Athens on 15 June 2010. Dillon's area of research lies in the history of Platonism from the Old Academy to the Renaissance, and also Early Christianity.

Reviews

[Erick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was somewhat interesting. There's not much more of Iamblichus I feel inclined to read right now though. This doesn't seem to add much to our knowledge of his Neo-Platonist system, but it does provide some interesting details in regards to his interpretation of fate and providence. Most of the rest would be qualified as ethical philosophy.

Dillon and Polleichtner do add some commentary and notes regarding the Greek text that I found helpful. John Dillon is considered one of the foremost authorities on Neo-Platonism. He is a contributor on numerous books I've been collecting and reading on the subject. It seems as though he has mined Stobaeus' works pretty thoroughly in order to provide us with some of these editions of Neo-Platonist writings. Stobaeus was a doxographer and took extracts from notable Neo-Platonists. If he hadn't done this in the case of Iamblichus, we would be a lot more limited in our knowledge of his philosophy. Iamblichus' De Anima and his letters only exist in Stobaeus. It seems that instead of just providing a critical edition of Stobaeus, whole books are published based on rather meagre extracts from his anthologies. I like the commentaries and they do provide us with some useful information, but one must be honest regarding the fact that the extracts amount to very few pages of actual text. I found the commentary on Iamblichus' De Anima a bit more informative and useful, so maybe I didn't feel the need to state the preceding on that review.

Kessinger has numerous pamphlets from Stobaeus that would be great if they were collected into one volume. It would be nice if someone did that. I would certainly purchase it. As it stands, if one were to buy individually the pamphlets at 5-10$, one would be paying more than 100$ for all of them.

[Philemon - · Rating 4 out of 5]

Iamblicus (3rd c. AD) was the second to last major Neoplatonic philosopher, and the only one in that line with extant letters. This text is interesting in showing how the Greek mythos and Platonic philosophy survived relatively intact almost 700 years past Plato and well into the early Christian era. That said, Iamblichus's epistolary style is relatively formal compared to, say, Seneca's, which is a bit of a disappointment.

[Edward Butler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since we are sadly deprived of so much of Iamblichus' prolific output, it is gratifying to have these fragments of his letters gathered together in this slender volume. They are not of the greatest philosophical import, but it must be said that what systematic significance they possess tends to be obscured for the English-only reader by the rather casual translations here.

[Kaye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read. The commentary notes are very illuminating.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection opens with a short introduction that covers the genre of philosophical letters (omitting however Isocrates' 'Letters to Young Tyrants'), the author, his time, and the text itself. The text of the letters is fragmentary, and preserved as excerpts primarily in the Florilegium of John Stobaeus. The translations are all quite readable and are accompanied by brief commentaries that introduce the letter and situate it within Neoplatonic philosophy. The commentary often shows where Iamblichus has drawn on Plato, on Aristotle, or on one of his Neoplatonic predecessors. In line with the publication by the Society of Biblical Studies, there is also the occasional mention of potential overlap between the language of these texts and that of the early church fathers.

These letters are humble texts, and their value seems to have long been doubted thanks to their identification as "popular philosophy" (AKA philosophy aimed primarily at non-specialists). I would love to say that this book could still be profitably used by non-specialists today, but it is probably still best if you have some basic knowledge about ancient philosophy and Neoplatonism in particular. The translation makes the text accessible for those without Greek, but these texts are best appreciated by someone who understands their place in late-antique philosophy.