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Tilattavissa olevat kirjat: Theon of Smyrna
Kirjan nimi: Theon of Smyrna
Alaotsikko: Matematics Useful For Understanding Plato.
Tekijä: Lawlor Robert and Deborah (translated)
Sivumäärä: 200
Sarja: Secret doctrine reference series
Kieli:  Englanti
Ilmestymisvuosi: 1979
ISBN: 0-913510-24-6
Hinta: 50.00 €
Sidosasu: Sidottu
Sisällön kuvaus:
Pythagoren aritmetic (I), Music (II), Astronomy(III)Theon of Smyrna, translated by Robert and Deborah Lawlor from the 1892 Greek/French edition of J. Dupuis (Secret Doctrine Reference Series, Wizards Bookshelf); the notes by J. Dupuis are invaluable, as also the translators' introduction and the publisher's glossary and note. The index and end-papers are of assistance, the latter showing a) a map of the ancient sites in Greece and Magna Graecia, and b) a table of five of the chief foreign alphabets.]Among the books dealing with such aspects of mathematics, philosophy, and spiritual knowledge is Theon of Smyrna's study for understanding Plato. This work, dismissed by Sir Thomas Heath as lacking in intrinsic value but contributing something to the history of mathematics, should rather be regarded as a classic text in its own right. Its recent translation into English provides us with a valuable tool to unlock the meaning not only of Plato's mathematics but also of his concepts about the cosmos and, as a bonus, gives us insight into the objective of the Mystery Schools of Greece. This key appears in one paragraph in Theon's introduction, where he compares philosophy to the initiation into things truly holy, and to the revelation of the authentic mysteries. There are five parts in initiation: the first is the preliminary purification, because participation in the mysteries must not be given indiscriminately to all who desire it, but there are some aspirants whom the harbinger of the path separates out, such as those of impure hands, or whose speech lacks prudence; but even those who are not rejected must be subjected to certain purifications. (Ibid., pp. 8-9). Four further stages are described. After the purification, the tradition of sacred things ("which is initiation proper") is presented. The third is the opening up of "the full vision (the highest degree of the initiation)." This stage has also been called the epopteia or reception. The fourth part which "is the end and design of the revelation," is [the investiture] the binding of the head and fixing of the crowns. The initiated person is, by this means, authorized to communicate to others the sacred rites in which he has been instructed; whether after this he becomes a torch-bearer, or an hierophant of the Mysteries, or sustains some other part of the sacerdotal office. But the fifth, which is produced from all these, is friendship and interior communion with God, and the enjoyment of that felicity which arises from intimate converse with divine beings. -- Cf. Thomas Taylor's translation in Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries, 4th ed., 1891, p. 85; the reference to "crowns" is symbolic, see also H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 2:101-2 (By I. M. Oderberg)
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