Chaldaean oracles
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The ''Chaldean Oracles'' are a set of spiritual and philosophical texts widely used by
Neoplatonist Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of thinkers. But there are some id ...
philosophers from the 3rd to the 6th century CE. While the original texts have been lost, they have survived in the form of fragments consisting mainly of quotes and commentary by Neoplatonist writers. They were likely to have originally formed a single mystery-poem, which may have been in part compiled, in part received via trance, by Julian the Chaldean, or more likely, his son, Julian the Theurgist in the 2nd century CE. Later Neoplatonists, such as Iamblichus and Proclus, rated them highly. The 4th-century emperor Julian (not to be confused with Julian the Chaldean or Julian the Theurgist) suggests in his ''Hymn to the
Magna Mater Cybele ( ; Phrygian: ''Matar Kubileya/Kubeleya'' "Kubileya/Kubeleya Mother", perhaps "Mountain Mother"; Lydian ''Kuvava''; el, Κυβέλη ''Kybele'', ''Kybebe'', ''Kybelis'') is an Anatolian mother goddess; she may have a possible foreru ...
'' that he was an initiate of the God of the Seven Rays, and was an adept of its teachings. When Christian Church Fathers or other
Late Antiquity Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...
writers credit "the Chaldeans", they are probably referring to this tradition. An analysis of the Chaldean Oracles demonstrates an inspiration for contemporary
gnostic Gnosticism (from grc, γνωστικός, gnōstikós, , 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems which coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Jewish and early Christian sects. These various groups emphasized pe ...
teachings: fiery emanations initiate from the transcendental First Paternal Intellect, from whom the Second Intellect, the
Demiurge In the Platonic, Neopythagorean, Middle Platonic, and Neoplatonic schools of philosophy, the demiurge () is an artisan-like figure responsible for fashioning and maintaining the physical universe. The Gnostics adopted the term ''demiurge'' ...
comprehends the cosmos as well as himself. Within the First Intellect, a female Power, designated
Hecate Hecate or Hekate, , ; grc-dor, Ἑκάτᾱ, Hekátā, ; la, Hecatē or . is a goddess in ancient Greek religion and mythology, most often shown holding a pair of torches, a key, snakes, or accompanied by dogs, and in later periods depict ...
, is, like Sophia, the mediating World-Soul. At the base of all exists created Matter, made by the Demiurgic Intellect. The matter farthest from the Highest God (First Father / Intellect) was considered a dense shell from which the enlightened soul must emerge, shedding its bodily garments. A combination of ascetic conduct and correct ritual are recommended to free the soul from the confines of matter and limitations, and to defend it against the demonic powers lurking in some of the realms between Gods and mortals.


Origin

The exact origins of the ''Chaldean Oracles'' are unknown, but are usually attributed to Julian the Theurgist and/or his father, Julian the Chaldean. " Chaldea" is the term that Greeks of the 4th century BCE and later used for Babylon. It is the way they transliterated the
Assyria Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the ...
n name Kaldū, which was an area that lay southeast of Babylonia towards the coast of the
Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...
. It is not known whether Julian the Chaldean was actually of Eastern descent, or whether the term "Chaldean" had by his time come to mean "magician" or practitioner of mysterious arts. His son, Julian the Theurgist, served in the Roman army during
Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Latin: áːɾkus̠ auɾέːli.us̠ antɔ́ːni.us̠ English: ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good ...
' campaign against the Quadi. Julian claimed to have saved the Roman camp from a severe drought by causing a rainstorm. At least four other religious groups also claimed credit for this rainstorm. The circumstances surrounding the writing of the Oracles are also mysterious, the most likely explanation being that Julian uttered them after inducing a sort of trance, leading to the belief that they were handed down to Julian by the gods.Majercik, Ruth. ''The Chaldean Oracles: Text, Translation and Commentary''. Studies in Greek and Roman Religion, vol. 5. Prometheus Trust, 2013 (1st edn., Leiden: Brill, 1989; Greek text, English introduction). No original documents containing the ''Oracles'' have survived to the present day, and what we know of the text has been reconstructed from fragments and quotes by later neoplatonist philosophers, as well as Christian philosophers who were influenced by Platonist thought. Neoplatonists including Porphyry, Iamblichus, and Proclus wrote extensive commentaries on the ''Oracles'' which are now lost. The most extensive surviving commentary was written by the Christian philosopher
Michael Psellus Michael Psellos or Psellus ( grc-gre, Μιχαὴλ Ψελλός, Michaḗl Psellós, ) was a Byzantine Greek monk, savant, writer, philosopher, imperial courtier, historian and music theorist. He was born in 1017 or 1018, and is believed to ha ...
in the eleventh century; Psellus' work has been an important tool for interpreting earlier and more fragmentary excerpts from the ''Oracles''. Whether or not they were composed by Julian himself, or whether Julian compiled them from actual Chaldean originals, the oracles are mainly a product of
Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...
(and more precisely
Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...
n) syncretism as practiced in the cultural melting-pot that was Alexandria, and were credited with embodying many of the principal features of a "Chaldean philosophy". They were held in the greatest esteem throughout Late Antiquity, and by the later followers of
neoplatonism Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of thinkers. But there are some i ...
, although frequently argued against by Augustine of Hippo. The doctrines contained therein have been attributed by some to
Zoroaster Zoroaster,; fa, زرتشت, Zartosht, label= Modern Persian; ku, زەردەشت, Zerdeşt also known as Zarathustra,, . Also known as Zarathushtra Spitama, or Ashu Zarathushtra is regarded as the spiritual founder of Zoroastrianism. He is ...
.


Importance of the ''Oracles''

The ''Chaldean Oracles'' were considered to be a central text by many of the later neoplatonist philosophers, nearly equal in importance to
Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
's ''
Timaeus Timaeus (or Timaios) is a Greek name. It may refer to: * ''Timaeus'' (dialogue), a Socratic dialogue by Plato *Timaeus of Locri, 5th-century BC Pythagorean philosopher, appearing in Plato's dialogue *Timaeus (historian) (c. 345 BC-c. 250 BC), Greek ...
''. This has led some scholars, beginning with F. Cumont, to declare the ''Oracles'' "The
Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...
of the Neoplatonists". The essence of
Hellenistic civilization In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...
was the fusion of a Hellenic core of religious belief and social organization with Persian-Babylonian (" Chaldean"), Israelite and Egyptian cultures, including their mysterious and enthusiastic cults and wisdom-traditions. Hellenistic thinkers philosophized the mythology and
cults In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This s ...
, as well as foreign oracular utterances and initiatory lore. Philosophy originating from these two areas, or simply attributed to them, was regarded as possessing knowledge transmitted from the most ancient wisdom traditions. In Egypt, the attempt to philosophize and synthesize ancient religious content resulted in part in the writings conventionally attributed to
Hermes Trismegistus Hermes Trismegistus (from grc, Ἑρμῆς ὁ Τρισμέγιστος, "Hermes the Thrice-Greatest"; Classical Latin: la, label=none, Mercurius ter Maximus) is a legendary Hellenistic figure that originated as a syncretic combination of t ...
. The Chaldean Oracles are a parallel endeavour, on a smaller scale, to philosophize the wisdom of Chaldea. However, rather than the prose writings that came out of Egypt, the Chaldean Oracles originated from the fragments of a single mystery-poem, which has not been entirely preserved. By far the greatest number of the poem's known fragments are found in the books of the later
Platonic Plato's influence on Western culture was so profound that several different concepts are linked by being called Platonic or Platonist, for accepting some assumptions of Platonism, but which do not imply acceptance of that philosophy as a whole. It ...
philosophers, who from the time of Porphyry, and probably that of
Plotinus Plotinus (; grc-gre, Πλωτῖνος, ''Plōtînos'';  – 270 CE) was a philosopher in the Hellenistic tradition, born and raised in Roman Egypt. Plotinus is regarded by modern scholarship as the founder of Neoplatonism. His teacher wa ...
, held these Oracles in the highest estimation. Iamblichus of Syria referred frequently to the Oracles and mingled their ideas with his own.


Metaphysics of the ''Oracles''

The metaphysical schema of the Chaldean Oracles begins with an absolutely transcendent deity called Father, with whom resides Power, a productive principle from which it appears Intellect proceeds. This Intellect has a twofold function, to contemplate the Forms of the purely intellectual realm of the Father, and to craft and govern the material realm. In this latter capacity the Intellect is Demiurge. The Oracles further posit a barrier between the intellectual and the material realm, personified as
Hecate Hecate or Hekate, , ; grc-dor, Ἑκάτᾱ, Hekátā, ; la, Hecatē or . is a goddess in ancient Greek religion and mythology, most often shown holding a pair of torches, a key, snakes, or accompanied by dogs, and in later periods depict ...
. In the capacity of barrier, or more properly "membrane", Hecate separates the two 'fires,' i.e., the purely intellectual fire of the Father, and the material fire from which the cosmos is created, and mediates all divine influence upon the lower realm. From Hecate is derived the World-Soul, which in turn emanates Nature, the governor of the sub-lunar realm. From Nature is derived Fate, which is capable of enslaving the lower part of the human soul. The goal of existence then is to purify the lower soul of all contact with Nature and Fate by living a life of austerity and contemplation. Salvation is achieved by an ascent through the planetary spheres, during which the soul casts off the various aspects of its lower soul, and becomes pure intellect. Beneath the world of the Intelligible Triad of Father, the Magna Mater or Hecate, and Intellect lie the three successive descending Empyrean, Ethereal and Elemental Worlds. A Second Demiurgic Intellect represents the divine power in the Empyrean World, a Third Intellect represents the divine power in the Ethereal World. An Elemental World is ruled by Hypezokos or Flower of Fire. The Chaldean Oracles were first translated into English by Thomas Stanley in 1662, and popularized by Thomas Taylor in 1797, followed by Isaac Preston Cory in 1832. They were taken up in the 19th-century esoteric order, the
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn ( la, Ordo Hermeticus Aurorae Aureae), more commonly the Golden Dawn (), was a secret society devoted to the study and practice of occult Hermeticism and metaphysics during the late 19th and early 20th ...
and Taylor's translation was published in an edition by William Wynn Westcott in 1895, titled 'The Chaldaean Oracles of Zoroaster' as part of the Golden Dawn's 'Collectanea Hermetica' series.


State of the text

The original poem has not come down to us in any connected form, and is known through quotations in the works of the neoplatonists, especially
Damascius Damascius (; grc-gre, Δαμάσκιος, 458 – after 538), known as "the last of the Athenian Neoplatonists," was the last scholarch of the neoplatonic Athenian school. He was one of the neoplatonic philosophers who left Athens after laws ...
. Wilhelm Kroll published an edition, ''De oraculis Chadaicis'' in 1894 arranging all known fragments in order of subject with a Latin translation, and this is the basis of most later scholarly work, including the study by Hans Lewy (1956), a Greek-French edition of the Oracles by Edouard des Places in 1971 and the currently standard (though not critical) edition in Greek and English by Ruth Majercik in 1989. None of these purport to be a reconstruction of the original poem but rather of the surviving fragments. Summaries of the poem (and of the related "Assyrian Oracles", not known from elsewhere) were composed by Michael Psellos, and attempts have been made to arrange the surviving fragments in accordance with these summaries: Westcott's translation (above) is an example of such an attempt. These reconstructions are not generally regarded as having scholarly value, but sometimes surface in theosophical or occult use.


See also

*
Nabataeans of Iraq The Nabataeans of Iraq or Nabatees of Iraq ( ar, نبط العراق, Nabaṭ al-ʿIrāq) is a name used by medieval Islamicate scholars for the rural, Aramaic language, Aramaic-speaking, native inhabitants of central and southern Iraq (the ) durin ...
, a term used by Arabic authors as a synonym of 'Chaldean' in (pseudo-)historical and philosophical contexts * The ''Nabataean Agriculture'', a 10th-century Arabic work similarly attributed to the ancient Mesopotamians or 'Nabataeans'


Notes


References

*Des Places, Édouard, ''Oracles chaldaïques'', 3rd edn. Revised and corrected by A. Segonds, Paris 1996 (Greek text, facing French translation; introduction and notes; also contains editions of works by Psellos on the Chaldaean oracles). *Dillon, J.M. ''The Middle Platonists''. Ithaca: Cornell University Press 1977. *Fernández Fernández, Álvaro,
La teúrgia de los Oráculos Caldeos: cuestiones de léxico y de contexto histórico
'. Doctoral thesis, directed by José Luis Calvo Martínez. Granada: Universidad de Granada, 2011. *Johnston, Sarah Iles. ''Hekate Soteira: A Study of Hekate's Roles in the Chaldean Oracles and Related Literature''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990. *Lewy, Hans. ''Chaldean Oracles and Theurgy: Mystic Magic and Platonism in the Later Roman Empire'', 3rd edn. Revised by Michel Tardieu. Paris: Institut des Études Augustiniennes, 2011 (2nd edn. 1978; 1st edn. 1956). * Seng, H., ''Un livre sacré de l'Antiquité tardive: les Oracles chaldaïques''. Bibliothèque de l'École des Hautes Études, Sciences Religieuses 170. Turnhout: Brepols, 2016,


External links


''De Oraculis Chaldaicis''
edited by Wilhelm Kroll, with a Latin translation
''Collection of the Chaldean Oracles''
collected and translated by
Thomas Taylor (neoplatonist) Thomas Taylor (15 May 17581 November 1835) was an English translator and Neoplatonist, the first to translate into English the complete works of Aristotle and of Plato, as well as the Orphic fragments. Biography Thomas Taylor was born in the C ...

''Echoes from the Gnosis: The Chaldæan Oracles''
by G.R.S. Mead

edited and revised by Sapere Aude. William Wynn Westcott, with an introduction by L. O. Percy Bullock, (1895) * Fernández Fernández, Álvaro (2013)
«En búsqueda del paraíso caldaico»
''’Ilu: revista de ciencias de las religiones'', 18: p. 57–94. * Fernández Fernández, Álvaro (2015)
«La ἴυγξ mediadora: ornitología, magia amorosa, mitología y teología caldaico-neoplatónica»
''Cuadernos de Filología Clásica. Estudios griegos e indoeuropeos'', 25: p. 223-271. {{Authority control 3rd-century books Ancient Greek poems Classical oracles Greek literature (post-classical) Hellenistic philosophical literature Hellenistic philosophy and religion Hermeticism Neoplatonic texts Occult books Chaldea Hecate