IAMBLICHUS AND HIS AGE
born into a lineage of Syrian priest-kings c. 240 A.D., educated to the highest levels of Greco-Roman thought; lived most of his life in the Orontes Valley of Syria, a major conduit of cross-cultural influences; thus familial privilege, educational advantage and geographic circumstance gave him unusual access to the teachings of several ancient traditions
- in the late 200s and early 300s, the political situation of the Roman Empire (which included Syria) was in flux; the Empire was over-extended for its resources, subject to incursions by neighbouring peoples, and leadership was divided into warring factions; the sense of common Roman allegiance was increasingly strained
- this fragmentation was reflected in the philosophical and spiritual domains; the dominant world view was Neoplatonism as conveyed by Plotinus and Porphyry, but this vision was remote from the concerns of ordinary folk, whose simple beliefs were despised by elite thinkers; Christianity was a marginal movement, itself subject to violent schism and lacking a generally accepted "orthodox" centre
- the ancient pagan world was about to die: in 312, Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity; in 325, Christian orthodoxy was first defined at the Council of Nicaea; in 381, Catholic Christianity was proclaimed the Empire’s state religion; in 410, Rome was overrun by Vandal invaders
- Iamblichus died in 325, the last major thinker prior to the rise of Christian intellectual orthodoxy; he responded to his splintering age by proposing a grand synthesis of ancient pagan wisdom; in its fragmentation, his time was not dissimilar to our own; could his views contain ideas of value for us, and light on our philosophical quandaries?