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A Neo-Pythagorean philosopher of Greece who had a great reputation for magical powers. The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, written by Philostratus at the urging of Julia, mother of the Emperor Severus, is the only extant source of information concerning the sage, although other biographies, now lost, are known to have existed.
Born at Tyana in Asia Minor, Apollonius was contemporary with Christ. He was educated at Tarsus and at the Temple of Aesculapius in Aegae. At the temple he became an adherent of the sect of Pythagoras, to whose strict discipline he submitted himself throughout his life. In his desire for knowledge he traveled widely in eastern countries, and is said to have performed miracles wherever he went. At Ephesus, for instance, he warned the people of the approach of a terrible plague, but they paid no attention to him until the pestilence was actually in their midst; then they recalled the warning and summoned the potent magician who had uttered it. Apollonius identified a poor, maimed beggar as the cause of the plague and an enemy of the gods, and he advised them to stone the unfortunate wretch to death. The citizens were at first reluctant to comply with the cruel injunction, but something in the expression of the beggar confirmed the prophet's accusation, and the wretch was soon covered with a mound of stones. When the stones were removed, the man had disappeared. In his place was a huge black dog, the cause of the plague that had come upon the Ephesians.
In Rome Apollonius raised from death or apparent death (his biographer does not seem to know which) a young lady of a consular family who had been betrothed and was mourned by the entire city. Yet another story relates how Apollonius saved a friend of his, Menippus of Corinth, from marrying a vampire. The youth neglected all the earlier warnings of his counselor, and the preparations for the wedding proceeded. Just as the ceremony was about to begin, Apollonius appeared and caused the wedding feast, the guests, and all the evidences of wealth— which were but illusion—to vanish; then he wrung from the bride the confession that she was a vampire. Many other similar tales are told of the philosopher's clairvoyant and magical powers.
His death is wrapped in mystery, although he is said to have lived to be nearly one hundred years of age. His disciples were quick to say that he had not died at all, but had been caught up to heaven. When he had vanished from the Earth, the inhabitants of his native Tyana built a temple in his honor, and statues were raised to him in various other temples.
The account given by Philostratus was compiled from the memoirs of "Damis the Assyrian," a disciple of Apollonius, but Damis may be a literary fiction. The work seems largely a romance; fictitious stories are often introduced, and the whole account is mystical and symbolical. Nevertheless, it is possible to glimpse the real character of Apollonius beyond the literary artifices of the writer. The purpose of the philosopher of Tyana seems to have been to infuse into paganism practical morality combined with a transcendental doctrine. He himself practiced a very severe asceticism and supplemented his own knowledge by revelations from the gods. Because of his claim to divine enlightenment, some would have refused him a place among the philosophers, but Philostratus holds that this in no way detracts from his philosophic reputation. He points out that Pythagoras, Plato, and Democritus used to visit eastern sages, and they were not charged with dabbling in magic. Divine revelations had been given to earlier philosophers; why not also to the Philosopher of Tyana? It may be that Apollonius borrowed considerably from Oriental sources and that his doctrines were more Brahminical than magical.
Sources:
Eells, Charles P. Life and Times of Apollonius of Tyana, Rendered into English from the Greek of Philostratus the Elder. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1923.
Mead, G. R. S. Apollonius of Tyana: The Philosopher-Reformer of the First Century A.D. 1901. Reprint, New Hyde Park, N.Y.: University Books, 1966.
Philostratus. The Life of Apollonius of Tyana. Translated by F. C. Conybeare. London: Macmillan, 1912.
| Wikipedia: Apollonius of Tyana |
| Western Philosophy Ancient philosophy |
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Apollonius of Tyana[1] |
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| Full name | Apollonius of Tyana |
| Born | ca. 15 AD |
| Died | ca. 100 AD |
| School/tradition | Hellenistic philosophy |
| Main interests | Pythagoreanism, Occultism |
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Apollonius of Tyana (Greek: Ἀπολλώνιος ὁ Τυανεύς; ca. 15?–ca. 100? AD[2]) was a Greek Neopythagorean philosopher and teacher. He hailed from the town of Tyana in the Roman province of Cappadocia in Asia Minor. A contemporary of Jesus of Nazareth, the life and wandering mission of Apollonius is often compared to his.
After his lifetime, Apollonius' name remained famous among philosophers and occultists. In a "novelistic invention"[3] inserted in the Historia Augusta, Aurelian, at the siege of Tyana in 272, was said to have experienced a visionary dream in which Aurelian claimed to have seen Apollonius speak to him, beseeching him to spare the city of his birth. In part, Aurelian said that Apollonius told him "Aurelian, if you desire to rule, abstain from the blood of the innocent! Aurelian, if you will conquer, be merciful!"
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Apollonius's dates are uncertain. His primary biographer, Philostratus the Elder (c.170–247 CE) places him c. 3 BCE to 97 CE.[4] Others agree that he was roughly a contemporary of Jesus of Nazareth. Charles P. Eells[5] states that his date of birth was three years before Jesus, whose date of birth is also uncertain. However, Philostratus, in his Life of Apollonius of Tyana, places him staying in the court of King Vardanes I of Parthia for a while, who ruled between c.40–47 CE. Apollonius began a five year silence at about the age of 20, and after the completion of this silence travelled to Mesopotamia and Iran. Philostratus also mentions emperors Nero, Vespasian, Titus, Domitian, and Nerva at various points throughout Apollonius’ life. Given this information, a timeline of roughly the years 15–98 CE can be established for his adult life.
By far the most detailed source is the Life of Apollonius of Tyana, a lengthy, novelistic biography written by the sophist Philostratus at the request of empress Julia Domna. She took her own life in 217 CE,[6] and he completed it after her death, between 217 and 238 CE. Philostratus’ account shaped the image of Apollonius for posterity and still dominates discussions about him in our times. To some extent it is a valuable source because it contains data from older writings which were available to Philostratus but disappeared later on. There are strong indications that Philostratus fabricated many of the stories and dialogues in his biography.[citation needed] On the other hand, some excerpts and letters are preserved which provide us with a more accurate picture of the historical Apollonius. Among these works are an excerpt (preserved by Eusebius) from On sacrifices, paraphrased selections from Moirogenes' and Maximus' works (preserved in Philostratus' work) and certain letters like #8, 10, 23, 26, 58, etc. He may really have written some of these works, along with the no-longer extant Biography of Pythagoras.[7] Some modern scholars challenge the credibility of Philostratus' work.[8] Some scholars dismiss most of it as pure invention (invented either by Philostratus or by his sources).[8] Philostratus’ chronology, for instance, is often questioned.[citation needed] According to him, Apollonius lived from ca. 3 BC to about 97 CE, while many contend that he was born more than four decades later and died more than two decades later, perhaps around 120 CE.[9]
One of the essential sources Philostratus claimed to know are the “memoirs” (or “diary”) of Damis, an acolyte and companion of Apollonius. Some scholars believe the notebooks of Damis were an invention of Philostratus,[citation needed] while others think it was a real book forged by someone else and used by Philostratus. It has been claimed to be a literary fake.[10] Philostratus describes Apollonius as a wandering teacher of philosophy and miracle worker who was active in Italy, Spain and Ethiopia and even travelled to Mesopotamia, Arabia and India. In particular, he tells lengthy stories of Apollonius entering the city of Rome in disregard of emperor Nero’s ban on philosophers, and later on being summoned, as a defendant, to the court of emperor Domitian, where he defied the emperor in blunt terms. The latter charge had regarded the foretelling of a certain plague, to which Apollonius attributed to his prayer to Heracles and not to any sorcery on his part, arguing "[what wizard] would dedicate his personal achievement to a god?[11]
Apollonius was also a known figure in the medieval Islamic world[12] as described later in this article.
Apollonius may have never left the Greek East.[citation needed] Manywho? contend that he never came to Western Europe and was virtually unknown there till the third century AD when empress Julia Domna, who was herself an Easterner, decided to popularize him and his teachings in Rome.[13] For that purpose she commissioned Philostratus to write the biography, where Apollonius is exalted as a fearless sage with supernatural powers, even greater than Pythagoras. Philostratus implies that upon his death, Apollonius of Tyana underwent heavenly assumption.[14] Subsequently Apollonius was worshipped by Julia’s son emperor Caracalla[15] and possibly also by her grandnephew emperor Severus Alexander.[16]
At least two biographical sources earlier than Philostratus are lost: a book by emperor Hadrian’s secretary Maximus of Aegaeae describing Apollonius’ activities in the city of Aegaeae in Cilicia, and a biography by a certain Moiragenes, as well as others.
Little can be derived from sources other than Philostratus. Hence if we dismiss Philostratus’ colorful stories as fiction, the figure of the historical Apollonius appears to be rather shadowy. As James Francis put it, "the most that can be said...is that Apollonius appears to have been a wandering ascetic/philosopher/wonderworker of a type common to the eastern part of the early empire."[17] What we can safely assume is that he was indeed a Pythagorean and as such, in conformity with the Pythagorean tradition, opposed animal sacrifice, and lived on a frugal, strictly vegetarian diet.[18] He seems to have spent his entire life in the cities of his native Asia Minor and of northern Syria, in particular his home town of Tyana, Ephesus, Aegae, and Antioch.[19] As for his philosophical convictions, we have an interesting, probably authentic fragment of one of his writings (On sacrifices) where he expresses his view that God, who is the most beautiful being, cannot be influenced by prayers or sacrifices and has no wish to be worshipped by humans, but can be reached by a spiritual procedure involving nous, because he himself is pure nous and nous is also the greatest faculty of humankind.[20]
Philostratus implies on one occasion that Apollonius had extra-sensory perception (Book VIII, Chapter XXVI). When emperor Domitian was murdered on September 18, 96 AD, Apollonius was said to have witnessed the event in Ephesus "about midday" on the day it happened in Rome, and told those present "Take heart, gentlemen, for the tyrant has been slain this day...". The words that Philostratus attributes to him would make equal sense, however, if Apollonius had been informed that the emperor would be killed at noon on Sept. 18th. Both Philostratus and renowned historian Cassius Dio report this incident, probably on the basis of an oral tradition. Both state that the philosopher welcomed the deed as a praiseworthy tyrannicide.[21] He is also said, on many occasions to have healed the wounded and the sick, and while there is nothing which details his death, or the approximate date thereof, there are claims of ressurection.[22]
Philostratus devoted two and a half of the eight books of his Life of Apollonius (1.19–3.58) to the description of a journey of his hero to India. According to Philostratus' Life, en route to the Far East, Apollonius reached Hierapolis Bambyce (Manbij) in Syria (not Nineveh, as some scholars believed), where he met Damis, a native of that city who became his lifelong companion. Pythagoras, whom the Neo-Pythagoreans regarded as an exemplary sage, was believed to have travelled to India. Hence such a feat made Apollonius look like a good Pythagorean who spared no pains in his efforts to discover the sources of oriental piety and wisdom. As some details in Philostratus’ account of the Indian adventure seem incompatible with known facts, modern scholars are inclined to dismiss the whole story as a fanciful fabrication, but not all of them rule out the possibility that the Tyanean actually did visit India.[23]
On the other hand, there seemed to be independent evidence showing that Apollonius was known in India. In two Sanskrit texts quoted by Sanskritist Vidhushekhara Bhattacharya in 1943[24] he appears as "Apalūnya", in one of them together with Damis (called "Damīśa"). There it is claimed that Apollonius and Damis were Western yogis who held wrong Buddhist views, but later on were converted to the correct Advaita philosophy.[25] Classical philologists believed that these Indian sources derived their information from a Sanskrit translation of Philostratus’ work (which would have been a most uncommon and amazing occurrence), or even considered the possibility that it was really an independent confirmation of the historicity of the journey to India.[26] Only in 1995 were the passages in the Sanskrit texts proven to be interpolations by a modern (late 19th century) forger .[27]
Several writings and many letters have been ascribed to Apollonius, but some of them are lost; others have only been preserved in parts or fragments of disputed authenticity. Porphyry and Iamblichus refer to a biography of Pythagoras by Apollonius, which has not survived; it is also mentioned in the Suda.[28] Apollonius wrote a treatise On sacrifices, of which only a short, probably authentic fragment has come down to us.[29]
Philostratus’ Life and the anthology assembled by John Stobaeus contain purported letters of Apollonius. Some of them are cited in full, others only partially. There is also an independently transmitted collection of letters preserved in medieval manuscripts. It is difficult to determine what is authentic and what not. Some of the letters may have been forgeries or literary exercises assembled in collections which were already circulated in the 2nd century AD.[citation needed] It has been asserted that Philostratus himself forged a considerable part of the letters he inserted into his work; others were older forgeries available to him.[30]
In the second century the satirist Lucian of Samosata was a sharp critic of Neo-Pythagoreanism. After 180 AD he wrote a pamphlet where he attacked Alexander of Abonoteichus, a student of one of Apollonius’ students, as a charlatan, and suggested that the whole school was based on fraud.[31] From this we can infer that Apollonius really had students and that his school survived at least till Lucian’s time. One of Philostratus’ foremost aims was to oppose this view; although he related various miraculous feats of Apollonius, he emphasized at the same time that his hero was not a magician, but a serious philosopher and a champion of traditional Greek values.[32]
When emperor Aurelian conducted his military campaign against the Palmyrene Empire, he captured Tyana in 272 AD. According to the Historia Augusta he abstained from destroying the city after having a vision of Apollonius admonishing him to spare the innocent citizens.[33]
In Philostratus’ description of Apollonius’ life and deeds there are a number of similarities with the life and especially the claimed miracles of Jesus. Perhaps this parallel was intentional, but the original aim was hardly to present Apollonius as a rival of Jesus. However, in the late third century Porphyry, an anti-Christian Neoplatonic philosopher, claimed in his treatise Against the Christians that the miracles of Jesus were not unique, and mentioned Apollonius as a non-Christian who had accomplished similar achievements. Around 300, Roman authorities used the fame of Apollonius in their struggle to wipe out Christianity. Hierocles, one of the main instigators of the persecution of Christians in 303, wrote a pamphlet where he argued that Apollonius exceeded Christ as a wonder-worker and yet wasn’t worshipped as a god, and that the cultured biographers of Apollonius were more trustworthy than the uneducated apostles. This attempt to make Apollonius a hero of the anti-Christian movement provoked sharp replies from bishop Eusebius of Caesarea and from Lactantius.[34] Eusebius wrote an extant reply to the pamphlet of Hierocles, where he claimed that Philostratus was a fabulist and that Apollonius was a sorcerer in league with demons. This started a debate on the relative merits of Jesus and Apollonius that has gone on in different forms into modern times.
In Late Antiquity talismans made by Apollonius appeared in several cities of the Eastern Roman Empire, as if they were sent from heaven. They were magical figures and columns erected in public places, meant to protect the cities from afflictions. The great popularity of these talismans was a challenge to the Christians. Some Byzantine authors condemned them as sorcery and the work of demons, others admitted that such magic was beneficial; none of them claimed that it didn’t work.[35]
In the Western Roman Empire, Sidonius Apollinaris was a Christian admirer of Apollonius in the 5th century. He produced a Latin translation of Philostratus’ Life, which is lost.[36]
Apollonius was a known figure in the medieval Islamic world. In the Arabic literature he appears as Balīnūs (or Balīnās or Abūlūniyūs). Arabic-speaking occultists dubbed him "Lord of the talismans" (Ṣᾱḥib aṭ-ṭilasmᾱt) and related stories about his achievements as a talisman-maker. They appreciated him as a master of alchemy and a transmitter of Hermetic knowledge. Some occult writings circulated under his name; among them were:[12]
Medieval alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan's Book of Stones According to the Opinion of Balīnās contains an exposition and analysis of views expressed in Arabic occult works attributed to Apollonius.[37]
There were also medieval Latin and vernacular translations of Arabic books attributed to “Balinus”.[38]
The Tablet of Wisdom written by Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, names "Balinus" (Apollonius) as a great philosopher, who "surpassed everyone else in the diffusion of arts and sciences and soared unto the loftiest heights of humility and supplication."[39]
In Europe, there has been great interest in Apollonius since the beginning of the 16th century, but the traditional ecclesiastical viewpoint still prevailed. Till the Age of Enlightenment the Tyanean was usually treated as a demonic magician and a great enemy of the Church who collaborated with the devil and tried to overthrow Christianity.[40] On the other hand, several advocates of Enlightenment, deism and anti-Church positions saw him as an early forerunner of their own ethical and religious ideas, a proponent of a universal, non-denominational religion compatible with Reason. In 1680, Charles Blount, a radical English deist, published the first English translation of the first two books of Philostratus' Life with an anti-Church introduction. Voltaire praised Apollonius.
As in Late Antiquity, comparisons between Apollonius and Christ became commonplace in the 17th and 18th centuries in the context of polemic about Christianity.[41] In the Marquis de Sade's "Dialogue Between a Priest and a Dying Man", the Dying Man compares Jesus to Apollonius as a false prophet. Some Theosophists, notably C.W. Leadbeater, Alice A. Bailey, and Benjamin Creme, have maintained that Apollonius of Tyana was the reincarnation of the being they call the Master Jesus. In the 20th century, Ezra Pound evoked Apollonius in his later Cantos as a figure associated with sun-worship and a messianic rival to Christ. Pound identifies him as Aryan within an anti-semitic mythology, and celebrates his solar worship and aversion to ancient Jewish animal sacrifice. In the Gerald Messadié's "The man who became god", Apollonius appears as a wandering philosopher and magician of about the same age as Jesus. The two of them supposedly met. French author Maurice Magre also wrote about Apollonius in his little known book Magicians,Seers, and Mystics.
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