The Shelves · History

Philosophical History (Life of Isidore)

Conjecturedin Alexandria?Conjectured · Our reconstructionour placementLegend · Told storya told story on its tag

See it on the shelves ›

I · The entry, in his form

In the table of History

Conjectured · Our reconstructionour placement

Damascius

Philosophical History

Opening words not preserved.

Length: not counted

Above, his entry form, filled from what we know. Below, ours.

II · Does it survive? Where to read it

Survives in fragments

Reconstructed from excerpts in Photius and the Suda.

Was it in Alexandria?

Conjectured

A witness to the city.

On the ledge: written elsewhere, a witness to the city; not known in the Library.

Read it today

Greek text and English translation in Athanassiadi (1999).

III · In the show

Platonism, Neoplatonism & New Distinctions, episode 22, at 2 minutes 13 secondsTranscriptPlatonism, Neoplatonism and the new distinction.Known: attested
Neoplatonic Influence on Qabalah, episode 17, at 45 minutes 12 secondsTranscriptKnown: attested
Tree of Life, Henads & Neoplatonic Influence, episode 24, at 51 minutes 24 secondsTranscriptKnown: attested

+ 8 more

Pagan theurgy and Neoplatonism influences, episode 16, at 22 minutes 21 secondsTranscriptPagan theurgy and Neoplatonic influences on the Golden Dawn (station 3 of Martinism and Reintegration).Known: attested
Platonism, Neoplatonism & New Distinctions, episode 22, at 2 minutes 13 secondsTranscript“he would have considered himself just a platonist just a philosopher”Right: the label is modern.Known: attested
Path: The Path of the Theurgist, station 1Locate the aim of theurgy.Known: attested
Path: Martinism and Reintegration, station 3See Christ as the theurgic model. Iamblichean theurgy, Proclus, Plotinus and Plato behind the Golden Dawn.Known: attested
Philosophy · Republic VI–VII: the line, the cave and the turningKnown: attested
Mysticism · Ladders of AscentKnown: attested
Theurgy · De Mysteriis VKnown: attested
Theurgy develops in Neoplatonic ritual philosophyTheurgy in Neoplatonic ritual philosophy.Known: attested

IV · Sources and the living entry

Ancient references

Photius, Bibliotheca cod. 181, 242

Modern scholarship (2)

P. Athanassiadi (ed. and trans.), Damascius: The Philosophical History (Athens: Apamea, 1999)
E. J. Watts, City and School in Late Antique Athens and Alexandria (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006)

Entry checked 31 Oct 2026 · no corrections · Suggest a correction ›

PHILOSOPHICAL HISTORY

Read what is told

The back of the tag: a story told of this work, in its teller's voice.

Legend

The living statue and the dead

Damascius tells of his elders in Alexandria that the priest-philosopher Heraiscus could tell a living cult statue from a dead one by the feeling it gave him.

Told by Damascius, c. 520s CE, within a generation or two

What the evidence supports

Damascius studied in Alexandria and knew these men or their pupils; his history, excerpted by Photius and the Suda, is the inside story of the city's last pagan teachers. The powers he gives them are his report.

Sources

Photius, Bibliotheca cod. 181, 242

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