Scholars have generally disagreed about the precise systematization of Aphrodite and her various forms in Plotinus’ Enneads, described most prominently (though not exclusively) in Enneads III.5 [50]. What I believe becomes apparent from reviewing the ways scholars have struggled with this question is a persistent failure to appreciate, among all the Gods discussed by Plotinus,…
Plotinus, Myth and Henadology: Reading between Enneads V.8 and III.5
Plotinus had a persistent interest in myth. His earliest treatise — I.6 “On Beauty” — is littered with quotations from Homer and references to mythic figures (e.g. Narcissus). This interest is particularly apparent in his treatises on Eros and Beauty: the aforementioned I.6 [1], V.8 [31] “On the Intelligible Beauty” and III.5 [50] “On Eros”….
Revisiting Orphic Resonances in Enneads III.5.8
In Enneads III.5.8, in the course of offering a symbolic exegesis of the birth of Eros in Plato’s Symposium, Plotinus makes a curious and obscure allusion: καὶ γὰρ εἰ κατὰ μὲν τὸν νοῦν τοὺς ἄρρενας τάττομεν τῶν θεῶν, κατὰ δὲ τὰς ψυχὰς αὐτῶν τὰς θηλείας λέγομεν, ὡς νῷ ἑκάστῳ ψυχῆς συνούσης, εἴη ἂν καί ταύτῃ…
Introduction
ἀλλ’ ἔρχευ ἐπ’ ἔργον / θεοῖσιν ἐπευξάμενος τελέσαι. (Golden Verses 48-49, attributed to Pythagoras) “But set out on any work by praying that you will complete it.” (Sartrix) वागर्थाविव सम्पृक्तौ वागर्थप्रतिपत्तये ।जगतः पितरौ वन्दे पार्वतीपरमेश्वरौ ॥ (Raghuvamśa 1.1, Kālidāsa) “For mastery of word and meaning I venerate the parents of the world, who are entwined…