Iamblichus

Iamblichus (c. 245–c. 325) was a Syrian Neoplatonist philosopher, born at Chalcis in Syria. He studied with Porphyry, the pupil and editor of Plotinus, and later founded his own school in Syria. Where Plotinus and Porphyry stressed contemplation, Iamblichus taught that the soul could only be raised to the divine through theurgy, ritual practices rooted in the traditional cults, and he set out a complex hierarchy of gods and spiritual beings. His surviving works include On the Pythagorean Life and On the Mysteries, his reply to Porphyry's doubts. His ideas shaped later pagan Neoplatonism and the emperor Julian's attempted revival of the old religion.