The Shelves · Philosophy

Commentary on the Golden Verses of Pythagoras (with the Golden Verses)

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

I · The entry, in his form

In the table of Philosophy

Conjectured · Our reconstructionour placement

Hierocles of Alexandria (commentary); the Golden Verses are anonymous

fl. c. 430 CE. A Platonist who taught in Alexandria and wrote a commentary on the Pythagorean Golden Verses and a work on providence, known through Photius. Damascius tells of his teaching.

Commentary on the Golden Verses of Pythagoras

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 whole

The commentary survives; his On Providence survives only in Photius's summaries.

Was it in Alexandria?

Known · Attested

Written in Alexandria.

On the table: written in Alexandria; no evidence it was in the Library.

Read it today

The Commentary of Hierocles upon the Golden Verses (English, 1756) · a translation · link checked 31 Oct 2026

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 (2)

Photius, Bibliotheca cod. 214, 251
Damascius, Philosophical History (in the Suda)

Modern scholarship (2)

H. S. Schibli, Hierocles of Alexandria (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002).
J. C. Thom, The Pythagorean Golden Verses (Leiden: Brill, 1995).

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

COMMENTARY ON THE GOLDEN VERSES OF PYTHAGORAS

Read what is told

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

Legend

Blood thrown at the judge

Damascius tells, some eighty years later, that Hierocles was flogged in Constantinople and caught his own blood in his hand and threw it at the judge, quoting the Odyssey.

Told by Damascius, c. 520s CE, some eighty years later

What the evidence supports

Hierocles taught in Alexandria and his commentary on the Golden Verses survives. The flogging is an anecdote in a reverent history, not a record.

Sources (2)

Damascius, Philosophical History (in the Suda)
Photius, Bibliotheca cod. 214, 251

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