The Late Antique synthesis
The Chaldean Oracles
A theurgical revelation in hexameter verse, surviving only in fragments quoted by later Neoplatonists.
- Dates
- late second century CE
- Dating
- tradition or corpus
The life
Traditionally associated with Julian the Theurgist and Julian the Chaldean.
Place in the tradition
Iamblichus, Proclus and later Neoplatonists treated the Oracles as scripture. Their arguments preserve the fragments that survive.
a note on the record
History and later legend
The Oracles survive only in fragments quoted by others. Their attribution to the two Julians is traditional, and every continuous reconstruction is an editor's arrangement of those citations.
the written record
Principal works
-
late second century CE
The Chaldean Oracles
Fragmentary theurgical revelation on the soul's ascent, the paternal intellect, and the rites by which the two are joined.