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Theurgia
or
The Egyptian MysteriesBy Iamblichus
 
Reply of Abammon, the Teacher
to
The Letter of Porphyry to Anebo
 together with
Solutions of the Questions Therein Contained
 Translated from the Greek byALEXANDER WILDER, M.D. F.A.S.London: William Rider & Son Ltd. 164 Aldersgate StreetNew York: The Metaphysical Publishing Co. 1911
Chapter 1. Letter of Porphyry to Anebo
Porphyry to the Prophet Anebo.
1
Greeting.I will begin this friendly correspondence with thee with a view tolearning what is believed in respect to the gods and good dæmonsand likewise the various philosophic speculations in regard to them.Very many things have been set forth concerning these subjects bythe (Grecian) philosophers, but the for the most part have derivedthe substance of their belief from conjecture.
1. The Gods and their peculiarities
In the first place, therefore, it is to be taken for granted that thereare gods. I ask then: what are the peculiarities of the superior races,by which they are differentiated from each other? Are we tosuppose the cause of the distinction to be their energies or theirpassive motions, or things consequent: or is it a classificationestablished by difference of bodies -- the gods being distinguishedby aetherial bodies, the dæmons by aërial bodies, and souls bybodies pertaining to the earth?As the gods dwell in heaven only, I ask therefore, why areinvocations at the Theurgic Rites directed to them as being of the
NOTES:
 1. Porphyry, it is wellknown, was a distinguishedscholar, and the foremostwriter in the later PlatonicSchool. He was a native of Tyre, and his name Molech,or King, was rendered byLonginus into
Porphurios,
denoting the royal purple, asa proper equivalent. He wasa disciple of Plotinus, whohad broadened the field of philosophic study till itincluded the "Wisdom of theEast." In personal habits hefollowed the Pythagoreandiscipline. He was a severecritic of the Gnostic beliefsthen current, and heevidently included withthem also the new Christian
 
Earth and Underworld? How is it that although possessing powerunlimited, undivided, and unrestricted, some of them are mentionedas being of the water and of the atmosphere, and that others areallotted by definite limitations to different places and to distinctparts of bodies? If they are actually separated by circumscribedlimitations of parts, and according to diversities of places andsubject-bodies, how will there be any union of them one toanother?faith. His mysticism wasspiritual and contemplative,and he regarded theceremonial rites of theEgyptian theurgy withdistrust. He favoredMithraism, which prevailedin Asia, while Iamblichusbelonged rather to the cultof Serapis, which was theState religion of Egypt.Of Anebo we know little.He is addressed as anEgyptian priest, and hisname is that of Anabu orAnubis, the Egyptianpsyxhopompos and patronof sacred literature. He wasa "prophet"
hen niter 
orservant of divinity, andexpounder of the oracles:and Porphyry himself an"
epoptes"
or initiatedperson, asks himaccordingly to explain theEgyptian theosophicdoctrines respecting thedivine beings, rites andreligious faith.How can the Theosophers
2
consider them as impressionable? For itis said that on this account phallic images are set up and thatimmodest language is used at the Rites?
3
Certainly if they areimpassive and unimpressionable the invocations of the gods,announcing favorable inclinations, propitiations of their anger andexpiatory sacrifices, and still further what are called "necessities of the gods," will be utterly useless. For that which is impassive is notto be charmed or forced
4
or constrained by necessity.Why, then, are many things performed to them in the Sacred Rites,as to impressionable beings? The invocations are made as to godsthat are impressionable beings: so that it is implied that not thedæmons only are impressionable, but the gods likewise, as wasdeclared in Homer:"Even the gods themselves are yielding."2. The Theosophers wereregarded as learned in thearcane knowledge, andespecially in Theurgy.Iamblichus appears to haveadopted these Rites andusages from the Egyptianworship, including withthem a philosophicgroundwork from thePlatonic doctrines.3. The use of images andemblems of a sacredcharacter to typify divinepower and energy isuniversal. Somewhat of the
 
divine was supposed toinhere in them. The"images" and
asheras
or"groves" mentioned in theBible were of this character.So was the "idol in a grove,"made by Queen Maachah, aswell as the simulacrumswhich, as Herodotus states,the Egyptian women carriedat the festivals.4. Compare
Gospelaccording to Matthew,
XI,12. "From the days of Johnthe Baptist till now, thekingdom of heaven isforced, and they who areviolent seize it."Suppose, then, we say, as certain individuals have affirmed, that thegods are pure mental essences and that the dæmons are psychicbeings participating of mind.
5
The fact remains, nevertheless, thatthe pure mental essences are not to be charmed or mingled withthings of sense, and that the supplications which are offered areentirely foreign to this purity of mental substance.
6
But on the otherhand the things that are offered are offered as to sensitive andpsychic natures.Are gods, then, separated from dæmons by the distinction of bodiedand unbodied? If, however, only the gods are incorporeal, howshall the Sun, the Moon, and the visible luminaries in the sky beaccounted as gods?How is it that some of them are givers of good and others bringevil?What is the bond of union that connects the divinities in the skythat have bodies with the gods that are unbodied?The gods that are visible (in the sky) being included in the samecategory with the invisible, what distinguishes the dæmons fromthe visible, and likewise the invisible, gods?
2. The superior races and their manifestations
5. Xenokrates, who was adisciple of Plato, himself taught these doctrines. Heconsidered the heavens asdivine and that the substanceof the divine nature wasmind pure and absolute. Healso described the stars as"visible divinities." Thedæmons were depicted as of a psychic nature,subordinate to that of thegods, and therefore subjectto emotion and perturbationlike human beings, while atthe same time sharing in adegree in the power andintelligence of the gods.6. Greek, the mind or"rational soul," the essenceor principle of intelligencewhich transcends theunderstanding or reasoningfaculty, and is capable of knowing truth intuitivelyand instinctively from being
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