The wisdom of the mystic East- Suhrawardī and platonic orientalism By John Walbridge

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1

The Lure of Oriental Wisd , om

THE G REEK lPSEU DElP IG RA P HA .AND PLAT 'ONIC OR]ENTALISM

The Greekslooked down 011 the '~barbi : l [ iaJ: l I1s, ," but thisdistaste disguised

a fasdmnion with a n things fo rdgn , aadparticularly with, m e Persians, ' the

greatest of all the barbarians. The first surviving c las s ic of Gn~ek prose is

Herodotus' H istory of the P ersian W ars a, Xenephon prnduced two best-

sd leJ . ' sa ibour th e Persians=-tbe A,nabasis and the Cymp:aed ia ,==<3 !od

Aeschy l i l 1 sap ]ay , The ,P ersia n Women . Refereneesto dung s fe1:s~.allappe.ar

frequ ently in G Lie ek ljterature of a ll .pe r iods ., Persian ~~'Wisdom~~seco rded

in works, ma~n~y on. occult sciencescatrribured to three Persia:n sages:

Zoroaster fZarathustr,a." the founder of Zorossteiarrism), Hystaspes

(V i stas pa, tih e .ldngwho was: Zor'OI9 i ;S~r'8 patron), and Ostanes {one o . f the

M agi w ffilosupposed ly ae c em panied X erxe s on the ' invasion of Greece and

who stayed to eeach in A s , r u a . Minor] '. It was not J ust Persians; otheralien

nations also interested t~e GreeksOlfl l .d the~rRoman h.e i~s . Egyptiain8 abovea . n ~B8!byloruans~ Indians, Ce l t s , T hrac ian s, S ey th ian s, J e w s , and 80 on.

Diogenes Laer t ius , the wen- .~n : fo rmed ~iogmpher ( ) i i thephUosoph.e r s :~

wrote in thethird ceutury;

Thereare some w.ho say tn;ait the : s~~d.y of phUos opffily h ad i~s

beginning among me barbarians. Tilley urge that the Persians

have had. their Magi,the Babylonians or As.sy.rians their Chal-daeans, and m e Indianstheir Gymnosophisrs; and among theCeles and Gau~s there are the people caned Druids or Ho~.yOnes,



6 THEW:ISDOM 0[" TfiE .MYSTIC EAST

· f ' " , · t , , · h . ' h , . . . ' - . ' . . 1 L . . ' i ' i ' ; . A · · _ . rr -.~> . M · · · · · . - . . . . CC(' d ' S · · , ' ' " , ' . .. o r WnlC, . t , e y em f as : au tnonne s __nstotte s ~""ag~c.us an . .Guon .

'. ,. ' .These authoss forget th a t th e ac h ie vem enrs w h ic h , th e y at-

trihute to the barba,rians belong to the G[eeks~ with whom notme[e~y philesophy but th e h um an race ]tse~fbegan. , ..

:8'"t the advocates of the the.o:ry thatphilosophy took itsriseam O'l!Ii,g t~'"L "" [ , - n . , , , rA""",. 0'''''", ...n to ,....... la ]'n'~\e d ' lff-:r,el!lilt fo rn""",."",,,_._ ,. -_',0 --~,!~ U~..,U~.,~~.iL.L.:;!aU v . __'' 1 i ; , ; .- • . o I ' : ' I r . _ ' , ~ _ • • ~.Il.~ = _ J !l . t : . . _ "" _ J i . ! _ ·~JH!I~ . ~ ' * ' IYI~

s um e d in d iHe rem cQ um rie s ,. , . , TheM,a,gi spend their time in

the worship of the gods, in sacrifices and in praye:rs~ hnp]yi.ng

ehat none bur themselves havethe ear of the gods, They pro-

pou nd th e ir views c onc em ing th e : being B 1!nd .rig in of th e god s ,

whom they ho l d to be f i re , earth" and water ...,,1

Th e persistence of this tradition is shown by the fact that Stl iht! ' l lwardI

cites b y name the Zoroastrian g)OGS associated with these same three

elements Ordibehesht, E sfa nd a,rm o d1 1, an d Khordad ,2 , Theidenrifica-

tion of philosophy wi th . the wi sdom of the barbarian nations pmceeds in.. -

tw o w ay s . Firs t, as In th e th e o ry c ite d by Dioge ne s Lae rtiu s, th e w ise m en

of other naeions are thd.f philosephers. A second version holds that

Greek phHosophy was deri vedin some degll{';~from the bar badan sages ..

Thus, Diogenes Laerriusreports:

[fyth.ag() .I l~s] had rhree silver f.~agon.s.m a d e and rook them as

pre se nts to e ac h of thepriests of Egypt. . . . While s ti l l y ou ng "

so eager was hefor know l edge , he left his ow n couatrj' andh ad h im s elf initiated in to a ll th e m y s te rie s and . rite s no t on ] .y o rGreece but alsoof foreign countries .... He learnt th e Egypt-ian. language and he also journeyed among the Chaldaeans

and ! Magi}

~~lts aUtoo often. fo. l lgot l teo)·1writes Peter Kingsley, ~~thatPythagoras was

acnllector: a collector of ideas~a. collector of traditions. '~4In the Islamic

Ver8]Ofl of this s tory , p rob ab ly u nd e r th e influence of Chrisrlan sources,

Pythagoras studies with disciples of Solomon in . Egypt, but the story is

re co gn izab ly th e 8:aJltne.$Likewise, Democ r i t u s i s . s uppo s ed to h av e s tu d ie d

with. Ost'anes.'6 In this version. the!Oriental wisdom ~snot just similar to

Greek phi~osophn it is its origin ..The: mania for bar har ian wisdom was

s :a t id :zed .by Lucian in The:Runaways. in whichPhilcsephy re lls Z e u sth at

he first went to t~e Indians, and so the Brahmans, u n d e r the name ofgym:nosophi.sts,. f<)~[()iw his d~ : sc : i p~ iDe . .He then went successively to

Eth icpja , Egypt, B\aby]o] ] l~where he taught the C hald ae ans and M ag i.~

Scytbia, Thrace.where he taught E.1!lmolpililsand Orphel l l s ,aJndi only af~er

tlrat, Greece ..The Gr45eksrec~iv.ed h.im C Q O n y at firs t, though .PYi l rhagoras



and Dem oc ri tu s w e re am ong rh e firs t to foHow h im , W hen th e G re eks d idaccepr his eeaebing, h:was soon corrupted ~y the Sophists.?

From here itwas an easy step to the production of v ario us p se i!U d !e p.~ -graph ic Oriental ljteratures. A great many works c i r cu la ted in ]ater clas-

Sk:81.~.tim es u nd e r th e nam e of one or another fam ou s anc ie nt sage . Som e ,

notably the Orphic works, purported to be ancient Greek wisdom, but

mos t were fathered on s ome Orien tal sage . Th e [b e s tknowaare the Her-

merle works" supposedly rep.re:fient~ngvery ancient Egyptian wisdom ..The

works arrrihured to the .Ma.gi-.inpartkula.r ZoroaJstj!l1'~ Hystaspes, and

Osranes=dealr with oceulr topics: astro~(}gy" alchemy) magic, and

proph ec y . .only one su c h w ork surv ives whole, th e Zostrianos ofthe NagHammadi ] ibrary , . a gnostic work and atypical, but theeewere manyorb-

e rs .. TI'JJ.e sew e re c e re ain ly n ot aurhenric Zoroastrian works. Th e name-s:of

their s upposed authorslenr th em an . auth.odty they otherwise would [1 IOt

have had, Som e m ay h ave b ee n prod uc ed ! s imp ly to deffa~d th e e age r H-

brarians of Alexandria. The Greeks were f a 8 c hm~ e d . b y a]ie n wisdom, but

th e y sh ow ed no parric u lar in te re s t in find ing ou t w h at it re ally w as . Th ey

dId not learnforeignJanguages, nor did! they always bother to readau-

t hen de wQrks . when. tffiler we:m:e avatnab le to them. ill Gc 'eek-Fo . r ex :ample . ,

the Septuagint veesion of th e B ib le . B

By the ~;l:teHellenistlc period an. Informed and not overly skeptical

Gre ek w ou ld h ave se en th e s itu ation as fo llow s : Th e anc ie n tPers ians h adt he ,~ rph i losopher s [ io who were known as Mag i , Zoroaster wasaPersiaasage wh o had prob ab ly M ve d som e s ix m il le n ia e arlie r. Som e of h is weir-

ings still ex is ted , showing that he was a great auzhor i ry 011 astro]~ogy..He

had sem e th ing to do w~th the Cbaldaea:ns~ fo.rPych, i3!:gor.a$ mer h im or his

disciples: in Bia.lby]o~ia.Oth,e.rworks of the .Mag~.showed that theancient

Persians had masteredthe occult sciences,"

This fasc iaa t icn with m e e xotic , and ! espec i aHy w ith th e Od e~ t;3 J~ ,wasparticalaely pronounced among the philosophers of the Pyrhagorean and

Platonic traditions, the so-called Italian School.l" Ancient tradition links

Pydlagpms~p[Obably aurhentkally,wh:h Syria b y b~rtl l i land Egypt b y edu-c:liti.orl..'law is s,aJ~d~Ulite plausib~y~n .my vruew-to, hav.e visited Egypt..

and he invoke s th e anc ie ne authority of th e figyp t~ ans in h is d ialogu es , Th e

earliest sources, Steabo and Cicero in the flrst cenrurys.c.r., say that he

went to' Egypt to learn arithmetic and asrrenomy from the 'priests. Straho

add s m a t Plate and Eud oxu s spent tmr t e en ye ars (th e anc ie ne pacaUds . givem o r'e p]au s~ b l'e pe riod s of s~ xte en m o nth s 'to th re e y ears ] ~1lHelicpolis nearmodem Cairo and that they learned the exact . ~ . engd l of the solar year~

somerhing p.reviol!1:S '~Ynknown in Greece," 1Th e N e op yd la go .re aJu s and

Neeplatonists of the Roman Empire w ere also fasd nare d with the Orien-

tal and theexotic ..The second-ceaniry Neopythagorean, Numenlus of



T h e L u re o f O r l e [ [ i } . t a . lW .L s d :O M 9

Py th .agore an id e as : ab ou t nu m be r w ere c entra] , If th e P laronis r b el ie ve s in

reincarnation or the fa.H.of the soul, recovering memocies of past lives

.m~ghthe lp inpiercing th e veil of' appearances. The Neoplatonisesprac-tic ed th eu rgy , and . S : u h r a w a . r d I D ' Suf i . con.te:mp~,a:iI:~.Q.n n d whit '€: magic.

However, for the who~e Pythagorean -Empedoclean -Platonic tradltion,

sy m b ol and my t h were , eSese l l t ~a~ools fo r u n d e rs ta n d in g th e i f l t emgi l lb le .

Symbolism is S J . wayroeonceel th e teurhfremthese incapable of un-

de,lrstanding it, to i n t r o d u c e the student to t h e phi~~)50,hk~, a , t h , a , r . l J d to

e xp re s s t~ e In .e xp .re -s s.ib le .Pythago . ras had eoaeealed th e t rue doctrines of

bis school .~ncryptic maxims and rules, Empedccles had pcrerayedthe

c osm o s . in poetry. Plato'sdialogues

are fHle d wh h analogies and myt~s.The .Neopla~CJn~;stsgave anegor .~ .ca l interpr,etations of m.yth.o.~ogic:a,~.exts.

Su brafw ard ~ w rote h is alle god es in sym b ols forme b eginne rs on m e phi lo -

sophie/mystical path and wrote h is masterwork, The Phill)sophy of IU u-mi'fUltion,~~nymb ols , because he C Q l ] J 1 d express what he had d i 8 c O V e m d ~ 1 T I J

no other way.

The same was nottrue for other tradinons, fortheir adherents did

not tbinktha r tbe most ~mportant espects of being were hiexpressible.

The Peripatet ics sought to . k n o w the causes ofthe se:ns,ib~ethroug~ the

d i s covery 0 '£ the midd l e e e r m s ef sy~ . rnog: i sms , .Sens ib le . q u a . r n i d e s were al-mOSi I :,a lw ay s w h at' th e re was to b e known abou t s cm eeh ing , The a tomis t s

.might believe that m e true reaH.tyof things was Mdden~tom.saJ.nd their

motions weretoo smaJ.~lo be seen-e-lnrrehe secrets of the atom. could be

r evea l ed , w e h ave s inc e c onfirm e d , by c l eve r experiment , a n d i l r h e o r . w z ~ n g .

The Kalam theologians, atomism 1 1 1 1 another sense.rhoughc there was 1110

m.ea l l l i ng behind appea rance s except the arbitrary will of God. Fo! s u ch .schools, symbolism hsd .H~deimpcrtanca.Ior it W'a:S simply an imprecise:

way of expressing what could be sa.rud-or" better, written-s-mese dearlyand.accuratelj' i~~~a~n scientif lc language, In hlam1cphH.() \Soph,y"th~s at-

titude was expressed In the Peripatee ic theory tD 1lJirlle du ce d. poe try to a

.k in d o f s yll og ism . u s in g~m ag i] ]Ja tiv e premises.

S~noethe Platonist recorded jn symbols what he knew but could not

f u : U y expn;!ss. then what others had written ht symbo~s must betheie at-

tempts [0 do [he same, The Platonist dUIS h ad 3.double motive for ex-

ploringtbe symbolic litesature of o t h e r 8>ch.001s and nations. First; such.

~ifera.mremight eonfirm his own pbibsophkal discoveries ..Second, it is

Hkely that sages o f otn .e i times and places h a ve things® G

teach h~m. Thi s~ s P : 8 L ' r t ~ c u ~ a I 1 1 yrue s i n c e ot~e : r n a t i o n s were m uch o ld e r than the Greeks.

The symbolic representation of the intelligible world! was nor s~mp'ly

a qu es tion of c od ing ~ rtlinn te lle ctu al sys tem as an .au .egory i t : was net it

~dosed" aJ~)egory like the Tabula of Cebes or th e Persianallegerles of

Suhraward i ," A symbolic representatien of the realm of Being ; or of



1 1 . 2 THE WISDOM .oF'TUI!. M'ii.'S1'.ICEAsT

,~l1dud~ngMead's Theosophical rranslation of the Hermetica, works on

th e w h o le range of oc c u lt: s c ie nc e s , th e Ka b b ala , Egypt, andgnos t i c i sm ,

Its l is t thus R ink s Th eo s c ph y , FI1'~emasonl1'y"thecontemporary New A gem o ve m en t, th e Re nais s anc e and ea . dy modern occult uad~tjons~and th e

escreric and occu~ tph ilosoiph ical and IieHg~ ~)u .strad~ti'ons of amti!qujty.I~

is a combinanen of subjects that would bJarve;made perfect s ens e to

Iambl ic lnrs ,

At the samerime, the well-beingsndIegitimacy ofr.he .P~atornlkschool

d epend e d on th e pre s e nc e of som e sort of r,especca.bledome s t i c spiritu:l~t:radit~on to which theycould aetach their doctrines as an esoteric inter-

pretaticn, In ancient Greece, Pythagoreans and P~awnists gave h~gh.ef

meaningm th e ta tte re d cults of th e O~ympiansand in re tu rn took legit i-macy from them ..In Christianity Platonism thrived whena mysticalJn-

te.~p'n~lrat~onof ChdSIr~atnspirituality was ia the a.~r.Ir Is l i k ewi se noac cid en t th at th e re vival o f P la ton ism in k~ a:m i c pb ik .ls opb y~ la.rge~ybeg t run .

by Suhrn.wa.rdi') was do~ely Iinked with the ris e o f e cs tarlc Su fism . . A sup-

port~n:gtradition of, as .~twere, e 1 l L ' J o t e : r . k esotericism seems to he neces sa ry

to p ro vid e th e s piri tu al e ne rgy , th e s tu de nts , and th e le gitim a cy fn r Nee-platonism.

In sum:m,@I.i}':.he Being/Becoming drn~rl:~nctiOlllin Platonism is at theb ottom ofth .e P rn .rook fasc ination w ith th e e xotic and th e Orn:ienmtBeing

Ca.~11I.(I,t b e known in th e s am e ways: we k:!!JiQilW ord inary things b u t must b e

unveiled or revealed, Since .~tcannot he known in o.rd~nafY ways, litcannot be expressedjn ordinary ways" so the pbilosophers of thePythagoremn-P~a t : onw, ctradit ion have .aJ.~ w aysbe en driven to re ly on 8 : ym~

bo li c ~ i ln ,g :u a.g eto expres s their deepes lrpM~.ofsoph: icaJ l . ~n . s~gh t s : .h is b e i ng

so , oc he rs who h ave also se e n B e ing win. e xp re ss , tb d .a r ow n. insigbts in

symboUc~~a:f l ;g iUl!age. S in ce tl l ls kn ow le d ge is re V 'e ~ a.tio n,.w e c an learn f~om

w h;aJ~b as b ee n re ve ale d to others, fo r ou r ow n know~,edg ,e i s . Inevi ta b iypa.rtial. Neeplatonists ha.·vealways sought fo r this kn.ow~edge intradi-

~iol!lsthat are symboUcanyrich~ involve practjca] search fOol ecstacy 0.(

mag i c a l power, and are both exotic and welcoming, T he m o srim p e e tan r

suchtcaditioes have, b e e n those of th e Orphics, the Egyptians., aadthe

Pers ians . HnaUy ; . theprosperity of Platonism requ ie e s a . s1.)1!itabledomes t i c

esoterictradirlon w.~.thin.which Platonism can find legitimacy and from

which itcen draw strength,

These dynamics do not work i 1 1 l the same way for the Greek philo-

soph~caltraditions that do not g~veulr imaJ.re l1 'e '~di tyo th e ililrem:g~bfe:.For

them s ym bolic expre s s ic n is not n ec es sary ..Other tmd.rutioHS a re te sta .lb ly

true or f'a~se.Truths can be d i s covee ed for the first tim e , Th us" it is on].y

the Pythago.rea:ns and the Platcnists :fOf whom a fa:sdmatruon with t h e : Ori-ent isam1integra] pert of their pM~osiOphicalworld,



T he L ure o f O rie 'l!l.m . ~W is d:om .

SUHRAWA RDI A SOR[ENTALIZ [N 'GNEO lPLATON[ST

Sunr .a :wardr W1]J,s, by h is own ~ e st~ m o ny ,. a revives ofpre-Arissetelian

G ~e ekph ilo8oph y . In . v iew o~ d:lepe.l1'sistent Pytha.g.ore;anlPhltonicfNeo-

p la to ni c fa sc in a.ri on . with 3. rom a ntic ize d O rie nt, it is s ca rc e ly s urp ris ing

t o f i n d tha t he W'aS in teres ted in, if 1 i l ! o t ne ce sse ri ly ve ry know le dgah le

about; other scets of ancient wisdom. Indeed.even the east of characters

is neady the same as for laeeantique Necplatonistsr Hermes, Thad! and

th e Egyptians , . Zoroaster aJnd!tffiIesages of an d e n t Iran , th e Ind iansand

Buddhists, and the Chinese. He does not know the Orphics but the ec-

Static Persian Sufis ddU:y fill their p lac e ..He knows e cm ewh a tmor e about

theancient P e r s i a n s than the Greeks did) but in general S u h : r a w a n - I D r s . Ori-

eat is reccgnizablythe same place, in lh .ab . i t edby the s am e sage s ,

Modern scholarship on Suhrawardf, mainly dilleto the influence of

Henry COm 'b in"h as t ended to s tre s s th ese Orien tal , and e spe c ial ly Iranian,

themes in his work. Thus, fOf example, Corhirssranslates thet~de of

J:ltkmat al- Is.bfaq~ which rrntave rendered as The Phi lo1;OP' .byQffllumina-

tion, as L e L ivre de ia .sagesse {o.rtheosoph.ie} ori.entale. Am .Q n ~ CQifl)i:n's

earliest works wasa study of Zotoa :St r .~an symbols and themes in Suhra-wardi~s wddngs .. In a survey Q (f ls ]am k : p .hH o;s op hy C o rb in cl l i laracte: r .~2!es

Suhmwardrs project as "the restor ation of the wisdom of ancient Per-.'. ",111 .. JL ...eth ...~ ~.... k e r f ' - · - - · 5 - ·h . '·--~I"'~'- li1fI··)- · · f · · · · , ( ' . , ( • . . . - .SIa, . a parase t aene nas taken rem u r a.wa rU l!l S wOrus (I ')u"tSfft.

Re .pe ate d ly C orb ine e tem s eo th em e s such as th e x v : a r , e n a h (th e roy al hgh t

that descends (Hl the r~gh.tfilllking}, the Zoroastrian angels, and other

Zom<:1!s rr ia l f l mctifs,

Thereare precedents for Corbin ' s interpretation, as we win s e e , espe-

d'lJ.ny am o ngth e Z oroase rian pb Hosoph ers and . gnos tie s of M o g·h u~ .Ind ia ,

but .~.toverstate'S the :symbo~icand Iraniaa eoneent o f S uh ta.WM d i~ s syst'em

and u nd e rs eare s the phi losophic and Platonic, There cer ta in ly ls no wa.[-

[ant whatever forcensidedng Suhrawa. [dIas , an exponent (~fan.y sorr ofgenuine pre-Islamic Iranian wisdom. He shows no evidence of knowledge

of ancient ban. b eyond what m i gh lf b e expec,ted of an . educated MtlsUm of

bws tim e and place , I w . m arg ue th at h is .~ nv ·(K atlQ liJJ.o fh e anc ie n t Pers ians

~s.~ncidenta.~.ven in . terms of hisphilcsephicsl mydliology~and. 'that it is

Plato, Hermes, and t~e Greeb who are central. For S u h l t ' a . w . a , r d i , as for

other Neoplaronists, wisdom is 8iomething accessible to all nations, so heis inee reseed in th e nat ions wit~ p artlc ~ h t re pu tad .o ns fo [ w is dom , T his in-terest is derivative, h ow eve s, .and . so he cites th e sages of ancient' nations

only in . a. ve , ry genera .~ way or to make s om e part icu~ru: PQrunt.. It is th eGreek philosophers who are his sages p. excellence.His attitude 'towards.

the phn08Qphe [ ~ ofthepast is summarizedin tile fuUowing p~ssage.



14 THE 'WISDOM O!' THE Mvs n c EAST

m n all th at m h av e s ald S J.b ou t t f f i : t , es c ienc e of lightsand th~t w h i c h

~s and is nolL.hased I ! 1 p ollil.~t~1ha ve ~ee:rnassisted. b y those who

h av,e tra ve l ed the path o r God . Th is science is th e very intu i t ionof th e insp ire d and mlum ]n e dP~a t o~ th e gu id e and mas t e r of phi-]osophy, and of ehose who came before him. from the eirne of

Hermes, "the father of pbilosophers, ~!,up to Plato's time, includ-

ing such mightyp.mars ofp.Mlosophya.s Empedcclee, Pythagoras,

and oth e rs ..The \'Wordsof th e Ancientsare symboHc and not open

to refutation. Tlre criticisms made of ehe Iireral sense of their

words fail to addresstheir realintendons, for a symbn~cannot be

refuted, Thls is also m e basis o r tb e E as te rn doctrine of ~tgh tandda:rkllil,e:S:i~hich was the teaching of Persian philosophers such as

Jamasp,.Fmshost'a,r;, Bozorgmehr, 19 and others befo re ' them...It isn ,oi~ '~:"'''' d o c r r i n e o f t h , , " ; ' ' ' 1 ' £ ' ~ d · · e · ] 'M '-'g~'l·o·r"h e h e r e ,.,v ,n.~ M ' "" ,n i ""'0· , r•_>L Ll~,,.,,J I J . . . " . . " . . . . . . ' . , . . . . u•.•. I,. , ,,",_,~ .l" I.., .,~ ~J 'U'.~,.. ), •.W '

that which. leads to a ss oc ia e in g other godsw .~ th God~be He ex-

altedabove any such amhroiPo]]'l:mph~sm~

Do noe imagine that phdosophy has existed only in these re-

cent rimes, The world has never b e e n withoue pbilosophy or

wirhoura person posseseingproofs and dear evidences eocham-

pion if. He is God 's v ic e ge '[ \e mo n earth ..Thl!1sshall it be so ~oinga J . S th e h eavens and the e arth e nd u re .. Th e anc ie nt and . m od e rn

p.h l1o~M)phe:rsdif fer only in their u se of ~a:nguase . a . ~dI .~he~ : rdiver-

gent h ab its o f openness and allu sive ne ss .. A U spea.k of th re eW'Qr lds , . agree ing on the u nity of God Am.o i i l g them are the

messengers tahl a,l-silara) and lawgivers (cl'l=shari~un) such as

Agaehadaemen, Hermes, Asclepius, and others.2JfJ

Pride of place is given to Plato, "the guideand master of philesophj,"

foUowed . b y «the father om :ph~.~oso,h.e[s~'Hermes and t h e ; HIlle ofpre-Soeraric philosophers. It is t~e:5iesages whoassisted Suheawardi in devis-

ing h is s c ie nc e of lights, A typ i ca l reference to P la to . :a nd histraditionoceurs in the section on 'Phll.ronk Forms .

Mo s t O f th e allu s ions of th e Proph e tsand th e pm ars of phHasoph :y. . ~ = -

re fe r to th is . P laro , th ose b e f o r - e h irn like Soc rate s) h ls pre de ce ss oe sl ik e A ga.th a d ,a .em .o n and Empedccles, all h eld th is opinion ..u

S~mUu rpa s s ag e s , a r e f O i l l . n e W in e ac h of h is orh e rm e jor m e taph y s ic a l w e rks ..

Thetwo gre at sage s, [A r is to tle ] th e Te ac he r and P laro th e Divine ,

taught this on their ow n authority; as , d id rbeir predeces so r sandsome ofthe Sufis amo~g theMuslims.22



The Lu re of Oriensal W isd om 15

Th e [m od e rn] re fu ra d .on o iEm ped od e cS and P lato ~ s in v aHd .13

Th is w as ihe opinion of P ta to and th e A nc ie n ts. 2 0 l

T hu s , S u hraw ard i re a lly p re s e n ts h im s e l f not as th e rev iver ( ) i f th e w is domof and en.t Pe -fSiabu t as th e c ham p ion ofP ~ato and P re soc ratic d ivine ph ilos -

op.hy . .Th e P ers ian sage s appe a~ as c ou firm e rion of th es e anc ie ntph ilosoph i-cal vj!ew:S;,!parr1cular.~yhe doctrine of P'lartonic forms. His se]f~k!lenil1if~cation

as a P laton is t is strengJEh.enedi by h is p os tu re of o pp os ition (0h e P e rip ate tic s ..

] n the foUow.~ng chapters, i l l will do several things with r e spec t to rh e

O!l1 'i en t, d ~n Suhraw'ardi'sihough.t. First, in th e next chaiPt.er~I wHl eutlinee h e m y ti llo lo gka1 history of Orienralw~;s:domas it appearsin Suhsawardfs

works and those of near followers like Shahrazuri, de.aling~n particular

w~dl. Hermes Trismegistus, tll1eHermetic, !Egypt, andthe general question

of th e attitude towards Gre ek rdigiou:s i d ea s [ r I D . I s l ami c t l l loughlL. .M f a chap -

ter three, I will discuss in somewhae more derail exactly what Suhra-

wa rd i 's c o nn ec tio n withancient Iran w as and w as not. Wha t Suhrawardi

does have to say is of some Interest in undeestanding hisphilosoph Y ' ~ .

whereas .i t is important ~ocla.rify whae be does not say ill relation tothe

vi ews tha t have b een attrib u te d 'toh im ~ ,e xp lid dy o .r impHdd . y , b y mod e r nsc ho le e s , I ' w m d e a l s p ec ific a lly wishthe concepts of l igh t and d arkne ss

i n h i s s hough t , c o n c e p t s th a t mig h t s e em t o b a v i e s om e c on ne crio n to m ! J J . =

dent: l Im,niarn t~ought. In this context 1wil l also d i s c u s s GhazaH, whose

projecrparaUels S1!ih : r~wardi 's in im p cc tanr re spe cts . . In c hapte r fou r~ I willdiscuss the t h em e s ofreincamatien, m e te m psy ch Qs .is , .and th e World of

Im age in the context of Su hra wardi's view of Ind ia and Bud dh ism a nd an -

aJ.yze w.hy h e chose toattrihute t h e se impertant Platonic themes to so re -

m ore a sage , Pinal lv , in c h ap te r Hve~ I w ill d is c u s s th e process by wh i c hSu hraw ard i w as orie n tal ize d in tl l i : teran ian mind, t rac ing th e notion of

Persian sages from its origin ~nancient Greece through its coneemporary

m a .n ~ .fe s ta ti .o n i n m od em kanian national irsw.M y position, as li t wmappea.r in succeeding chapters, may be s um -

m ae ize d as toHows . .

1. Suhrawardl W3.S primarily 9. self-conscious Platonist, a reviver

not of Iranian :bu.tof Platonic wisdom.

2. HIs O de ntalism I s pr lma. fUy a c ons e qu enc e of h~sP la ton ic c om -mitmenes, and his knowledgeand use of Oriental and Iranian

id e as and m o tifs is su .per . f~ .da t

. 3. . None t h e l e s s , through 9. c omp l e x process of c u ltu r al ..interchange

involving GlLee.ce~[ran, fud,~a~and Europe, be came to play a cen-

tiltal role in transmitting. ~.mythology ofancient Iranian wisdom,



16 Tm: WllliEiOM 0[' THE .MYt:miC EA:5T

The story 0,.1he Iranian Satg~s in dIe MusHm. imagination is,closely

linked wid} the f igure of Hermes Tdsmegistus, He t}C:tuaHy has a much

more important pesitien .~nSw.hrawardi'siPhnosQphica~. m.yt'h.o,.~Qgy thanZoroaster and rhe Persian sages do"folt he Isceasideeed "the father of

philosophers," I witl tell his sw.ry~ice,fust in the n.extch~,prer w.~thre-spect to the general Hermetic uadition and his place In Suhrawardf's

thought as the exemplarof E.gypt~anwisdom and then in . more detail in.

chapter foUli:~where m will discuss how Hermes is used byvariou:s Muslim

w rite rs to link toge th er Zoroas t r ian trad itions ab ou t th e A v ,e st:aL,c c u l tideas ult~mately of G.reek and E,gypllia.nor]gin~ andideas about ancient

Pers ian sages,



19

as m e " t echn i c e l Hermetica." Theyforrne m u ch large r body o f l ite r atu r e

and are not as w en klil(lwn.

The doctrines of the Hermetica are a stew of late antique psganrnougiht a, They d€.a!dy~ue not eranslat ions fmmancient Eg.ypt~:an~aJ:Sonce

wasmough~for th ey h ave obvious t r u n k s to all sorts of Greek i]]j , tenectua.~

ClIIm211!1ff i. In. 11[,614he elassicist Is aac C as au be n demonstratedthat th e C or-

p u s He 'f" ln etic umwa:s a prod u c e of th e e arly c e ntu rie s of th e Chr i . : s l t ian e ra ..5

This W!1 l r deforce o f . ea .dy modern scbo.[anhitl' did nor rem ain u neh al ~

lenged, and scholars have differedas to the exace origins of the Hermetica

andwhe r h e r they sh ou ld b e se e n as a pu re ~ y li te rary ph enem e rron or as th e

sacredtexes of a

Hvingcommunity ..

Asearly as

1678;. the CambridgeHe-braiet Ralph.Cudwcrrhdefended the Hermetica in. his Tru e .l nt.e ll ec tu a l

System: of the U n i t . N ! , r S € . A~ a rm e d . b y the thr,eat of materialism and a t h e i sm ,

Cudworth attemptedw prove that there was an innate, primitive, and uni-

versa l monorhds:m~rdlec'ted am ong o th e r p lac e s in the ancient Egyptian

re llg io n, Th is "arc an e theo] ,ogy"rus a d m i ra b l y exempl i f i ed i r r uth e He rm e t-

ka. He points eut, quite reasonab ly , rhatrhe Herrnetica area druverseco l~

leetion of texts and m ar feaeuresfmmdin some cannot be used t',()~mp~gnthe auth.ent~,city.of other.s ..Th . ,ough l i h e <luthen.ticaHyEgyptian. Hermetic

tre atis e s m igh t b elare , they 'w ere none th e le s s w ritte n w hile th e E.gyptianre l ig ious tradition was ve ry m u c h aliv ,e .W ork su c h as C u dw orth 's s e rve d

to keep interest in the Hermetica a~.ive,.especially in occult d rc l e s ,~ong

a .h e r C a s u b on 's debunking and Crn-tampoH.on~s deciphering of hieroglyph-

i cs hadeHmrun .a ted th em from sc h o larly artearionasa SOUILC,e fOIL .Egypr ia[ i J

re l ig ion thought.o 6 Th rough cm t most of theh¥ent~.e:th century,. the coacen-sus was that the Hermetica weretheproduct of a purely Greek environ--, -nt ... ithth a. J r : ' . " oti . - -~I- en t c ' b - . " " , . · ~ I r ' . . . . - . : , - '~:"I .. c· . . •• • c.·. ',1 .menr , w~.u~J .W.e'"'5yp. ]flln erements .e :m g no LUlng m ore m an :5l .age scenery;

This assumption was und . e rm in ed b y t~e d i s covery of several Hermetictexts among the volumes of rhegnostie library found at Nag Hammadi,

.Egypt,.~n~.945~al rhougl i rhe relevant texts were not pu blish ed u ntHm u c h

la te r, Th us" th e Egypt~ an th eQ ry of th e : ol~ghiJJSofthe Herm e tic s h as onc e

aga~ nfo l]!nd d efend ers , w ith th e m o st re cen t s ign lHcant w ork a r " S l U r n n g r h a t

the Hermetica were the product of an Egyptian cult . ~ 1 1 I i .Upper Egypt.'" Mostrecent ly Jan AS5ma[lJTII~anEgyptologist, gives a brisk and unexpected de-

fense of Cudworth and other sevemeenth- and eighreenth-century writers

on ancient Egypt andjts arcane wisdom,

W hile th e orig ins ofth e Herrnet ica are obscure.jheir s :ubseque]]j , t his=t1m y h as b e e n coaspicuous and impostant, C h ris tians w ere interested in

the ir obvious paraUe]s with Genes~:s and with varieuspoinss of Christman

d .o c tri ne :,p artic u ~ a d y s in c e Hennes an d. M o se s were supposed 00 have been

f \Ough~ .ycon t emporary : .Theg . e p a . l1 'a U e l s c o u l d se rv-e V'3r~OU8urposes : CO J : i J J . -

firming Chtj:$tjan~ty~y shownl:g that pagan thin~els, had agreed wi~h basic



.20

Christian doctrines or h ad le arned from .M.ose,s , marg in~d iz~ng Cru.~s t~amity

by mowingma.t its doctrines wereacces s i b l e wlthoct revelat ion, and justi ..

.fy i ng th e USe Q , : f .mag i c 3 J : l J J d . the oc c u lt in . 3 l . Christian context. Th is w as thefamous doctrine of pr.isca theotogia~ the "ancient theo~oID"~)'atradirion

SI t l .Pposoo.o heve begun with. Hermes or Zoroaster and to h ave cnlminated~]]J Plato ..l:h:Dihe Hl]Jl'opean Renaissance, the Hermetica were an I m po . l . '1 I r : 8 J I 1 t

pa[t of th e re disC (lv"e r-e d h eritage : Q . f arnl!Jriqu~Jty.tis em blem atic that in . 1463

.M a rs111oF ie i no was .ordered bY 'hisparron C os im o d e' M e d ic ito de lay h is

cormnissioned t ranslat ion . o f Plato i i i ] ! ord e r to translate th e Hermetica, 3.mar ru sc r i p t o r which h ad just b ee n b rou gh t to Florence fromMaeedonia,"

Tbough. Giordano BnllDJO defended Copernican astronomy and thus has

been reckoned a .ch .amp~o: f I lo f e arly modern s c ie nc e, h ,e and m any oth e r Re -naissance schelars and scientists were de ep . ~y jnfluenced b y the Heemeriea

and used them as just~fica.tion fOil the stil l ldiy andpeactice . o f m.agk:;<lstrol-

og:y,and other lo rms of oc cu lt th ou gh t. In th e R.ena~s8ance and ,e arly m o d -

em p erie d , t!l1eHe rm e tic a w ere thus, at a m in im um ) an impcetaatportion

o.ft"lIDe:redlis:cove:r,ed eri tage of anriqu ity= ·m ose nearly for~otten works: that

were n eith e r A ris to tle nor C h r~ s d a n- .a :n d ., at m axisnu m , a. key sdmi l l l .~usor

the rise Oit both modern s c ience and . m o dem occulnsm, of ,ev,erythinlg [mm

the experimental side of sc i ence to Fre:e :ma8onry . ] (1

Hermes in Arabic

It ispainfnlly dear that Islamic scholars were thoroughly confused bythe

info,rmatruon they h ad a.lb ou .t He rm e s Tr l smeg i sms , 11 That h e W!, lS impo r -

b . f · h i l L f i l L k . · · b . drohi~mt was 0_VI,QU8""ort.ere were a numeer 0 boos atrnnuteato mm on

alchemy, astr:o.~.ogy~and ethks.u On the oth.e i ' hand, the historical ae-

counts 0 . 1 Hermes were conrradictory '(and even for US; . r u t is not clearwhe r e s om e ( l , f th e ~n fo rm .a tIo n . a .c e u aHy c am e from ) ..Th e nam e "He rm e s"

and t h edc l e " 'T r l smeg i s : t u s ! \ ! were also puzzling, A s a resul t , severalq illite

d iffe re nt ac cou nts . o f Hermes c oex is t u ne as ily jnth e A rab ic sou rc e s ..

Hermes is usually eendered in Arab~c a.s~'Hi[mis)~' although other

forms e'xist-"'Harmls," '"'b:-mi;s" and, o f course, other v OC : . 1 I . ~ i z a . · t i o r . D ! s . a i t t ' ~

possib~e. Hermes T fls m e g~ s tu s Is s om e tim e s r ende r ed b y a. d i re ct transla-r.ion.-Hi"f1"1"tis al-muthal,la.th bn~Jj.ikma., "Hermes~lI:hreerold in wisdom , ~ ~

or bi~/-n:i 'am:, "in blessings," f o i t t ' · examp],e-hut is more eeenmooly r e : n -

dered as Hirmis tll~.Hariimisa, "Hermes of the Hermai .." This last retnlder-

ing led Muslim scholars to conclude that "Hermes" was a title, like

~Caesar."]3 This W . 8 .l S p laus ib l e eneugh , since Muslims id entifie d M d s ,. a .

propbet mentioned twice .~nhe Qu:r'@ju,.with Enochand Hermes ,.The as-

sumptioIil. that Hermes W < 1 I .S a title.plus the associatioa ()it the number



t h r e e with Herm e s, Je d M u s l im scholars to th e w elc om e c onc lu s ion th at

there were acrually three important sages named Hermes" who lived in

difGeren~times and places. Once this assumption was made, i i i : was notd~fHcu1tw associate most of the avallable information with one or an-

other of these three Hermai. The notion of three Hermai did not neces-

s arl ly o dg ~n ate w ith th e M u s:Hm s ; ps eu d o-M ane tb o r,ekiIL8·orwo Hermais

th e firs t w h o liv ,e d ~e:fore the Flood , Th oth w h o in sc rib e d stelae w~th

hrueJioglypmcs; and rh e secondthe son o f A g r u tn a d a e m o 1 i J J . and fa th e r of Tat

who trans late d th e se h ie ro gly ph ic s in to Gmek atl11J,dc omp i l e d th em . into

b ooks th at w ere d espos~ t'e d .in th e Egyprian. t ensples . " The Arab i c version

is obviously not derived dlirecdy from thisversion, since it is the ili'st

Hermes who is th e son of Ag ath ad aem , an aV l !d fath e r of Tat there, but i i i :

c ou ld pe rfe c tly w e ll c om e frem som e : other Graeco-Egypt i an attempt to

p.rQ!v.~de.plausible historical setting for ehe Hermetiea ..

Th e m os t in fl u e nria l ac c ou nt of He rm e s w as th a t o f the e ar ly I S ~ ; < 1 I .m i c

a s t ro~oge r Abu M a 'sh ar al-B a lkh i (7 87 -!886} , w ho d is c u s s e s th e th re eHermai in his .Book of Thousands. ' tS This book~;s 105t" bm t ' h e sectica on

Hermes is given .~nmost of the biographical sources : on He rm e s and pro-

vides the d08~81i: early parallel to Suhrawardfs general account o c m e ori-

gins and history o f p hilo sc ph y ; Abu M a 's h a.i IL )we a re ~oM~reported th atthere bad belen many Hermai, but th ree were especially impertant, The

fint Hermes lived before Noah's Flood. He was the grandson of Gay-

om ae r ac c ord ing to th e Pers i ans" and! was know n as Enoc h to th e He -brews and Edr is to ~ h e A.ilLa.bs..e was rt:hefirst®o practice astrology

(whose history ]. S Abil1Ma'shar's subject], thefirst to build temples, to

p.m.cticemedi,dne:~andto write poetry. He lived in Upper Bgypt and buih

the Pyramids and . th e Egypd.an t emp l e s , Fear ing that a JI k now le d ge

would be l o s t in the coming f l ood" h e bu i l t the t emp l e o . f Akhmfm, the

G re e k Panopolis , and ins c rib e d on its w alls th e s e c re ts of a ll th e s c ie nc e sand arts and their tools ..The second Hermes is known as He rm e s of

Ba.b y.~ on,)w he re he l ive d w he n it was th e h om e of th e s age s " He w asskiUedl in.medidne.~ph.H.{)sophy,. and mathematics ...He revived the sci-

e nc es th at h ad b e e n 108't in d u : Flood and was th e He rm es w h o h ad b e e nthe teacher of .Pythago.r:aJ:S. This Hennes, represented both th e Babylonian

and Zeruasrrian traditions of wisdom a. A reference eo this second Her-

m e s ) w h o is s a~ d to h ave b e en c a lle d ~!Da.waIlliilY'" .~ nCha lda , ean , ~ : sfound

in th e in trod u c tion to an . astrolegieal manu se r i p r .attributed to He rm e s

entitled .Risala/t Dala' 'U aJ-Iq#ranii t [Ess.ay on th e s ig n ific a no e or OO I J J J J . -

junctions] ..]6 The third Hermes also lived after the Flood and was tb .e

author of The Boo k. o f Poi:S 'o no tls A .-n im ',d s.,He was a, tr.arve.Hng philoso-

ph er' and ph ys ic ian and w as . the te ac h er of A s dep .~ us . He w as th eHe rm e swh.o' wrote on a,~.cihem.y.He ' buHt the srna.n temples ne,aJ,1I!h e Pyram~.,dill.



S hah razu rl g ive s ano th er ve rs ion of [h e He rm e s S'[of1" th is one re la t-

ing to Hirmisal-Haramisa Hermes Trismegiseus ..He was bern in Mem-

phis, Egypt, which was where the "House of W]:sd!om;~Wr; !JS until it was,mcvedte A lexand rie , He live d b e fore th e flood and w as k n o w f l J a . s ,

Enoch in Hebrew : 8 J . n d . mad s in Arabic, His nsme in Greek was properly

"Innis, ~,the ]]!amefOf theplan!et M.e t ( : u ry" but h e w~.$al~() kn!own $ii.S

"Tara8cm~n, ," ' ; o : O v r n o l l l : S ~ . y "Teismeg is tus . ' He was nh e s tu d enr of th e

prophee Agath;adaemon and was h~m$e,~fa prophet to the Greeks, the

founder O[ m ;hel Ja111freHgl on . He W9I .S c ane d "th re efold ililw~8dom'" b e -cause h e wasaprcphetc king, and sage . , His role in , e s : t'3 , iM r u s h i n g the sci-

ences and ares ,~8much as d e sc rib e d ~ n Abu. Mash"ar ' s versiea .. Th i s

accoum of Hermes, i s : perhaps releredeo one of those from which AbllMash'ar constructed his account of the ehree Hermes ..

Seve ra l o th e r He rm e tic c h ae ac te s s appe ar in th e se c c nne e tioas , A g ath -

adaemon, as we menrioned, was the teacher of Hennes and is . ~ d e l l l t i £ i . e d

w ith S eth ~ t_h e son of A d am , Th e nam e , a .oc o .rd ing to S h ah ra zttrf ~m e an s

"fortu nate o te Ho,[ 't) .~ .sa"rd a l"- tadcl, a . r e asonab le inrerpeetatioa of th e :

Gr-eek n am e . He was th e "firs t (.or se{ :ot[d ) urly'tl~)' and. H erm e s T ris m e gis -

tus was the th~rd.uriya..The meaning of thisterm is not clear to O me, bu t .ilt

i s 'p ro bab ly re la ted to th e "f~rst and s ( lC O J I D d i A r a n l i '/ ~ who were prophets ofthe Sabians ()fHa.r!!. 'an.17 A O O ( ! l .r d jn g t !o"Abd al-Razzaq a l~Ki i : sh~ l~ a CQm~

mentator on Ibn " .Arab i " the Illuminarionises claim to b e his f u U o w e l L ' $ ! . ] 8

T a , t , Tbmh~~s identifiedas S a b h . Ideis, who is a prophet fOil th e S ab ia ns or

.banifs..~9' Fou r k lf1!gsare s u ppos e d to h ave s e rve d Herme- s : nawu~s ,h is s onLawus , Asdepius, and Ami ! r n , wffiloW '< 1 : S ~ Ab~s i h . l k h u s . ~2 !OOf th em only

A sd e ph ls is impurtant. II] th e Hermerica h e is Hermes' s rudenr ; burn:~n t h e

Arabic S()UIIces he isalsctheIounder ofrheart of medicine among 'rh.eG ,lle e k s, s o. in fo rm a tio n about h im i s . also cited from I l 1 I ! 1 i ) I 1 ' C or rhodox

sources like Galen, E E. Peters points out tha t thisaccount of m e h~ s c : o r yof knowledgeemerges ~nthe COl]!rt of Hi.!Ilun. aI-Rashid and pre date s th e

translation movement, It th us ow es norb ing to A : r :i .s l r o d e and. adler such re-

s pe ctab le G re ek au th ors , It alsog ive s no . c re d ir fo r th e d eve lopm e nt o f sd .-ence to Greece but rather places the origins of sden~if].c know.~,edgein

E . '1)0 IL .].. ., d ' I r · · . 21gypt, . D @ llo y .o m 3 ., a n u . an..

An Islamic vers ion of th e Hermes Story oc cu r s under the n sm e

"Idris" in the biographicel Iiterauere 0 1 1 the prophets. In the Q l ' l e , a . 1 1 I . it

w as w rittem "M ention E d r I s in th e Book . He w a r s r i gh teou s and . a p ro ph e t

£nabi]., and We raised him. up ['0<1. ~:of typ.~a!ce.~·nThe Shi'ite exegeteal-

T ab ars l e xp la ine d ;,~

His nam e in th e Torah w as Enoc h lA.khnuk:hl~ O'l')]te was ca l l ed"Idrls" due 'to his constant s t i l l . d ! y {da'f~j of boob" which is m s a y ,



Hermes o f !Egypt 13

the Books and proverbs of God a. He was the first to writewith

the pen. He was a taHol1, the first to sew clothing. ~it is saidthat

God Exalredtaught him asuoh)gy,8irhhmetk~a!nd astw.nomyf~. iLm al- :n .u ,· 'i lm taa ~l-hisabwa ~,~ibn ,a l -ha? l 'aJ, ".That 'was his mira-, ,,~ ,J ""

,d.e.""A]o.ttyp~ace' mean s with ,81,high 8m,don in the scriptures or,

it: is said, that be was raised up to the sixth heaven,.;; l3

A~'J;lza'lri, ]n whose S toriee of the P 'rop hets Tabarsi is c i te d " goe s on to

te ll variou s oc he r s torie s, e ith er a tte m pES ro e xpla in th e Q ur'an ic c i t -a l lons

Qradapra:tions of the biblical story of Enoch. A ,$a~rf(;.t ldri$~"Leaf of

Idris," is preservedin Mub.amm,aJ .d-B, iaJ .q i r Ma.jili8rs, great collection(),f

Shi'jte hadirh, the B~:~ara l -Anwar .24 He is credited with th[fty "leafs,"

wh ic h h e inh e rite d from Se th , w ho h ad f H r y . TlIDeworkis ofan e th i ca l

c harac re e and } i s supposedlyarranslation, b u t the identity of the s uppe s ed

translator, Ahmad. i h . Hillsa.Y!l1b,MiI i1~ .aJmrnad Ibn Marawayh , is not dear.

As might be expected, Idds appears asan .81uthor i ty in the alchemcial l it-

erature ..25 The tradltional derivation of "Idns" is scarcely conviacing,"

bm the tradition is unaaimousin identifyblg I d r t s with E F 1 J J o c h ~which

seems justified b y a comparison to Genesis ,5 •.24: "Enoch walked w~.th.

God ; and h e w as no t, fo i l"G od rook h im ." Th e variou s B ooks of EFDJoc h .and relatedliteramreare b eyond our scope, but the Enoch who discov-

ered writing and to whom GOodrevealed a;S1l:ro]ogy~arithmetic, andas-

t ronomy is easy to link w id lJ He rm e s Trim e gis tu s, Qutb al-D in Sh irazi, a

commenraeer on Suhrawardl, does so. expl ic i t lys "Hermes Trismegisnis{Hirmis aFHariimisal the Egyprian, who is known as Idrts the frophet. ))21

Suhrawa.iI 'di does nor eire aU this Iore, but it is there in the bsck-

grou nd , Th e re ai1eenough spe c ific c ita tions to re as su se u s that he was fa~

rnil iar with th e Hermes sm . r y in m ore or le ss th e form that I have told it.2.8

Of the O rie nta l s ag es w h o appear ~nS u h raward f's wo rk s, Hermes is themost pil ' e ;s trug~OU8.-more important than Zoroaster or the Persian kings,

who mainlyap pea . r eeaeresr to their mythical renderings of th e philo-soph ic a l d oc trin e s o f m e taph y s ic a l l igh r and . th e Platonic Fo rms , more

impoetant than tlle Babylm1iiaus .<1Indhe Indians, who appear on~y occa-sjm.laUy in Iists . o f ancient l latioll:s .,a.iIldi more .~mportantth;Oli .n the Buddha,

who :ap:p,ea.rsonly in thecoatext of reincarnation. Hermes' Jmportaace

s e em s to He :fin! ~ . n .h is arrtiq~ity~"the fath e r of sage s ," b u t h e isa~s;(.'!atthe

basjs . o f aU ehetraditions imp.ortant to Suh raward l , In his fio~eas~'fa.the!l:'. .of sage s ," h e is th e commonaacesror Q i fth e G re e k; Egyptia,n~ and P ers ian

phi losophies] traditions th at are reunited in SuhE"aw.aJ . rdI .Throngh Asde~pins ~e is theencestor of the medicel tradhion, and through otheru nnam ed Hnks h e isat th e b as ru sof m e a Jd lem l c ala irld !. a stre le g ic al tra d i-tions of ].e~lIl"nrung. A s : an Oriental sage he is especiallyassociated with



26

and rheteric, None of these sources were available to Muslims, The trans-

.~atofswere not interested in. l i t e ra tuee , which they k new re sis te d . transla ~

tion, so even Homer appearsin Arabic sources as a sage:~one of a . numberof au th ors of w ise say~ngs..For [ is li te ra !!: 'ysources are fle sh e d ou t by ar-

chaeological materials, btu archaeology was also not understood in the

Middle Ages. Thus, the Greek gods appeared eoeven the best informed

medieval Muslims as l~tde more than names, and c:erta.~nlynothing to

ro lite alarm at.

Even the names of the gods were barely known. Th e most remark-

able feature of the treatment of Greekreiigio[l in Islamic sourcesis how

seldom the names of the gods even appear. Franz: Rosenthal's antbo.~ogy

of b orrow ings from G !lLe ek :n Islamic sou r ce s contains a . f ew references toZeus but virtually no mention of the other Olympian;s.30 Only Heemes

has .any p 'rom r nn enc e , h u t he is th e s .ag .e o f Egypt, nor th e m es se nge r of

Olympus. The Mu : r u sm i r n : . s did not receive a. representative sample ef Greek

literature; for the most pan only sdendfic~phno'Sophlcal" and. occult

works were translated ..Without the Geeek languageand Greek poetry,

there was no need for manuals of Greek m ydl0 ~.ogy. 1111he works that

were translated, Necplaronic quasi-monerheism dominated ...spedfic ref-

erences to the gods tended ~o be bowdlerized b y the Christian trenslatoes,Geds became "God" 0.1' "angels, ~ asin rille farnam example ofthe Arabictranslarion ofthe Hippocratic oath. Deif i ed heroes l~k.eAsde'Pi~s.were re-~

storedeo manhood, or occasionally prophethocd ..

All interest ing example-is foundin ewo eranslations of commentaries

on d~e Golde» llers'€.s of Py~hago ra :s :, . one a ttr ib u t e d to Proc lu sand th e

other to Iamblichus ..J~The begrnnfli~g of the Go ld en 'Ilerses readsas fol-

low sin trans latic n from the G:l!"eeK:

Honor the immoetal gods first, in the order appointedby custom,and revere yOU!! 'Oath. Pay reverence: next to the neble heroes.

and th e sp iri ts of th e d e ad ffilfperformwng th e prescribed r imes .jj:

n)JIDal~Tayy.~.b~sve.rsion.enders this as "God . fAlli lhl~s the first ofehe im-

morta l s ])0 be h on o!'e d ."3 3 SOQn , hQWeVe'~1'the Arob~c text d rcps .any pre-

e en s e of monotheism asrd unselfconseiously refers to '"the god! ' (a/Etlah,

i.e.,.Ze~s}, daimons ( :sakinf i t) , . heroes ( i ro iUJ 'Us) , d~.v .~ l l I izat ion, ( ta/al . luh), an-

irnal sacrifice, libations, and orherpagan themes. ~HThe text, even in Ara-

hie, remains thoI101lJgh ly pagan. The i l l amh~ . i d l u ; s commentary su,;lvely

hides its pagan. origins under hs monotheistic renderings of religious

te rm s .. T he s am e -pas s age .fro.m th e Golden Verses reads, ~ 'Vero .e : ra te those

who w m no t beeonched b y death a. They are 'the ange~ s of God (Allahtab.ir(ika wa~ta'falii) and His saints, '~.lSillnfive l r u n e s of Arabic thereare at



Hermes of Egypt 27

least nine disrincri vely Islamic religiousrterms, It is true that the

Iambtichus tmf.lsl<llt~on is more natural Arabic, but in r,mm!,rna[~onit has

ceased to be a pagan te x i [: and h.as b e c om e ld 8Jm ic ..

Nonetheless, as fo.r Christians like Augustine, so toofoe Muslims

who wished eoapproprfate dIe herirage of ancient ph i [O! sophy~ the mtel-

lectualproblem remained of the relation between Greek polytheism and

G re e k w isd om . Was. not phdosophy tainted b y its paganpolytheistk orl-

g ins? If not, h ow could so ' lofty and d iv ine an en te rpris e arise ou t s i de the

syseem of revelatienj Such questions point to various areas of Investiga-

d on : th e relation. . o f phwlo sopby to J rd~gruon"a] ] Jd of re as on to revelation;

the rehgiousviews of the phi~osophers; and how the Greek gods who ap-peared som e rim e s in th e ph ilosoph ie s of t beunc i ene s m igh t b e rephl.ced by

th e one God of IS]aJoo.He re I w is h I!;O exam ine th e w .a .y s.~11wh i c h Maslim

scholars committedto the appropriarion o r the ancient heritage and non-

M u slim sc ho~ ars w(H'~ing in A rab ic in rh e I s l am ic wo rld re in re rp re re d t i l i le

G [e e ~ god s so as to m a ke th em in~ e ]le ctu .aH yin no cu ou s , fo r this i s an im ~portant part of the background to Suhra.wardPs treatment of Hermes and

relatedfigares. I win d leaJ .wi th three ms j e r ap[I)roa .ches - theaathcpclogi-

cal comparative .mytho.~.ogyof B~rnni~ the interpretation ()~Gl!'tJekreligion

a s "Sa.rn ,~anl l!star-worship, and the discovery of the ee igins of Geeekphi-Iosophy in Judaism.

Bl runm : Comparative Mytho~ogy

Th e m e d ieval M~g]~mwrher b e s t informed a bou t the G re e k god s. was

p ,ro oa b ly .a J,~ ~B Itu n i a fact b e s t s e en , od dlly e nough , i m 1 h is Jr td ia , .B i run. i

refers to various mythological c harac te rs , c as uaH y citing "the mytholo-

gises" (a~l;db al-amthal).~'~~lhe well-known. hiseeries" (a.l-taw.arfkh 0 1 1 -

mash}ni.,aJ~ and "the historians" (al-mu'arr.ikbun) as his sources of

in fo rm e rion ," He quote s ; v e rb a tim and by n am e from th e P h a e n O ~ 1 1 . : e n a ofA1!''acus<,an epic poem. describing th e constellarionsend the m.ytllils. associ-

ated with them. 37Whatev,er his sources we:l!'~pedlap!;; Chrisria11li.-,they

were not widely known, for the ourlmes o~ GI1'~ekmythology are almost

unknown ro adler aurhors,

His detailed knowledge of Greek mythology imposed on Biriin"] the

obUgat~on~o make some sense of if. His method is anrhropological-e-c o re pa ra tiv e .m .y d :1 J.Q ,lo gy -a nd .~ sgoverned b y three principles, (1) that the

r l idigiou;s beliefs and practices of different natiens tend to fellow similar

patttt~s,; {2.)that a d~ sd~cd .Q< l l~S ;o be drawn between populae be~ i e£ s and

the bdids of theelect; and { . 3 ) that pol yrheism is 'to be explained histori-

cal ly and I.aijQlJj!aJ.ny~ These methods give h is ana ly s is a curiously mod e r n

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The wisdom of the mystic East- Suhrawardī and platonic orientalism By John Walbridge

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