Apollonius of Tyana

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Apollonius of Tyana (c. 1-c., Tyana - 97 AD, Ephesus) was a Greek Neo-Pythagorean philosopher and teacher. His teaching influenced both scientific thought and occultism for centuries after his death.

James Francis prefaced a discussion of elements of fiction and reality that confront one another in Philostratus' vita of Apollonius, "The most that can be said further both with certainty and without fear of 'contamination' from posthumous representations is that Apollonius appears to have been a wandering ascetic/philosopher/wonderworker of a type common to the eastern part of the early empire."[1] Apollonius is virtually only known through the medium of Philostratus,[2] whose biography's peripatetic narrative structure is built upon a series of instructive dialogues and the sage's responses to places and events (see Life of Apollonius of Tyana). Apollonius was a vegetarian, and a disciple of Pythagoras. He is quoted as having said "For I discerned a certain sublimity in the discipline of Pythagoras, and how a certain secret wisdom enabled him to know, not only who he was himself, but also who he had been; and I saw that he approached the altars in purity, and suffered not his belly to be polluted by partaking of the flesh of animals; and that he kept his body pure of all garments woven of dead animal refuse; and that he was the first of mankind to restrain his tongue, inventing a discipline of silence described in the proverbial phrase, "An ox sits upon it." I also saw that his philosophical system was in other respects oracular and true. So I ran to embrace his teachings..."

This is The Prayer of Apollonius of Tyana, circa 23: "Oh, Thou Sun, send me as far around the world as is my pleasure and thine; and may I make the acquaintance of good men but never hear anything of bad ones, nor they of me."

Contents

Biography

Early life

He was born in the city of Tyana, in the Roman Empire province of Cappadocia in Asia Minor. He was educated in the nearby city of Tarsus in Cilicia, where he devoted himself to the doctrines of Pythagoras and adopted the ascetic habit of life in its fullest sense. He first became a religious teacher as a youth in the temple of Asclepius at Aegae, also in Cilicia (not to be confused with Aegae in Macedonia). After Aegae, Apollonius began his travels in Cilicia and in the neighboring province of Pamphylia.

Travels through the East

Having kept a vow of silence for five years, he decided to travel to India, and to learn the wisdom of the Persian magi and the Indian gymnosophists ("Naked Philosophers") and Brahmans. On his way through Asia and before reaching the Euphrates, he visited a sacred city of Syria called Hierapolis ("Ninos" in Philostratus), where he attracted a disciple, Damis, who kept a diary of Apollonius's deeds and sayings. These notes described a number of incidents and adventures in the life of Apollonius, including events relating to Roman emperors from Nero (54-68) to Nerva (96-98). Eventually Damis's notes are said to have come into the possession of the Empress Julia Domna, wife of the emperor Septimius Severus (194-211), who commissioned Philostratus to use them to assemble a biography of the sage.

The narrative of Apollonius's travels, as they are reported by Philostratus on the basis of Damis, is so full of the miraculous that, in the words of Edward Gibbon, "we are at a loss to discover whether he was a sage, an imposter, or a fanatic." If we can believe Philostratus, he continued to travel widely after his return from Europe, going far up the river Nile as far as Ethiopia, and in Spain as far as Gades (modern Cádiz). Though he had many followers and admirers, Philostratus maintains that he also had many enemies, notably the Stoic philosopher Euphrates of Tyre. Both his friendships and his quarrels are also reflected in his extant Letters. He himself claimed only the power of foreseeing the future; yet, again according to Philostratus, he either raised from death or revived from a death-like state the daughter of a Roman senator. In the biographer's account, he is accused of treason both by Nero and by Domitian, but miraculously escapes, and after further travels in Greece finally settles in Ephesus. Philostratus keeps up the mystery of his hero's life by saying, "Concerning the manner of his death, if he did die, the accounts are various," though he seems to prefer a version in which Apollonius disappears mysteriously in the temple of the goddess Dictynna in Crete.

Historical impact

Around 300, a certain Hierocles endeavored to prove that the doctrines and the life of Apollonius were more valuable than those of Christ. Hierocles was soon refuted by the Christian bishop, Eusebius of Caesarea, in his extant Reply to Hierocles. In modern times, Voltaire and Charles Blount (1654-1693), the English freethinker, have adopted a similar standpoint. Apart from this extravagant eulogy, it is absurd to regard Apollonius merely as a vulgar charlatan and miracle-monger. If we cut away the mass of mere fiction which Philostratus accumulated, we have left a highly imaginative, earnest reformer who attempted to promote a spirit of practical morality.

He wrote many books and treatises on a wide variety of subjects during his life, including science, medicine, and philosophy. A few decades after his death, the Emperor Hadrian made a collection of his Letters, though it was Philostratus's biography that made him into a major figure of religious history.

Apollonius' fame was still evident in 272, when the Emperor Aurelian besieged Tyana, which had rebelled against Roman rule. In a dream or vision, Aurelian claimed to have seen Apollonius speak to him, beseeching him to spare the city of his birth. In part, Aurelian said Apollonius told him "Aurelian, if you desire to rule, abstain from the blood of the innocent! Aurelian, if you will conquer, be merciful!" Aurelian, who admired Apollonius, spared Tyana.

Medieval Islamic alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan's Book of Stones is a lengthy analysis of alchemical works attributed to Apollonius (called "Balinas") (see e.g. Haq, which provides an English translation of much of the Book of Stones).

In some of the teachings of Theosophy, Apollonius of Tyana has been regarded as an Ascended Master and an embodiment of the Master Jesus.

Apollonius in modern culture

  • Apollonius is mentioned in Penn and Teller: Bullshit! during an episode focusing on the Bible.
  • Apollonius of Tyana appears as a fictional character in the 1935 novel The Circus of Dr. Lao, as well as the 1964 film adaptation 7 Faces of Dr. Lao.
  • Apollonius of Tyana appears as a fictional character in the 1977 television series The Fantastic Journey in the seventh episode named Funhouse. In this episode, Apollonius attempts to take possession of the scientist Willaway in a funhouse but is thwarted by Varian, "a man from the future possessing awesome powers".
  • In the novel That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis, Merlin, when describing a travesty that has occurred, says, "... no less sorrow shall come than came of the stroke that Balinus struck."

See also

Notes

  1. ^ James A. Francis, "Truthful Fiction: New Questions To Old Answers On Philostratus' Life Of Apollonius" American Journal of Philology 119.3 (1998 pp 419-441) p 419.
  2. ^ There is an uncomplimentary picture in Lucian's satirical exposé of wonder-workers (Alexander 5), a collection of purported letters, a "testament" of Apollonius, and a book by Maximus of Aegeae.

References

  • F. C. Conybeare edited Philostratus' Life of Apollonius of Tyana, together with the Letters and the Treatise of Eusebius, in two volumes in the Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA, 1912).
  • Robert J. Penella published Apollonius' letters in The Letters of Apollonius of Tyana: A Critical Text (1979 Leiden).
  • C.P. Jones [1] has now produced a new edition and translation of the Life of Apollonius, Books I-IV [2], Books V-VIII [3], with a third volume devoted to the Letters of Apollonius, ancient references to him, and Eusebius's Reply to Hierocles.[4].
  • Apollonius of Tyana: The Philosopher Explorer and Social Reformer of the First Century AD, by G.R.S. Mead (1901)). Text on-line.
  • E. L. Bowie, Apollonius of Tyana: Tradition and Reality (ANRW) II.16.2 pp 1652-99.
  • Maria Dzielska, Apollonius of Tyana in Legend and HistoryTranslated by P. Pienkowski, tr. (Problemi e Ricerche di Storia Antica 10) Rome 1986.
  • Graham Anderson, Philostratus: Biography and Belles Lettres in the Third Century A.D. (London) 1986.
  • James A. Francis, Subversive Virtue: Asceticism and Authority in the Second-Century Pagan World. (Pennsylvania State University Press) 1995.
  • "The Secret Bible: Rivals of Jesus", National Geographic video documentary

External links

References

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