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First a biography by J J O'Connor and E F
Robertson:
Porphyry's father was called Malkhos or Malchus,
which means 'king'. Both Porphyry's parents
were Syrian and he would only get the nickname
Porphyry later in his life as we shall explain
below. Porphyry was named after his father
so for many years he was known as Malchus.
As a young man Porphyry tried to gain as
broad a knowledge as he possibly could by
studying many languages and religions. At
that time Athens was the main centre for
learning, so it was natural that someone
with a thirst for knowledge as Porphyry had
should travel there to continue his studies.
In Athens Porphyry became a student of Longinus
who [8]:-
... was a 'living library and walking museum'
and the academic's critical attention to
detail, clarity of style and erudition left
their permanent mark on the keen student.
It was Longinus who gave Porphyry that nickname.
In fact it was a clever pun since 'Porphyry'
means 'purple' in Greek and he was given
this name since he came from Tyre which was
famous for the production of the royal purple
dye and his name 'Malchus' meant 'king' =
'royal' = 'purple'.
In about 263 Porphyry left Athens and went
to Rome where he worked with Plotinus, the
founder of Neoplatonism. Plotinus taught
that there is an ultimate reality which is
beyond the reach of thought or language.
The object of life was to aim at this ultimate
reality which could never be precisely described.
Plotinus stressed that people did not have
the mental capacity to fully understand both
the ultimate reality itself or the consequences
of its existence.
Porphyry had mixed feelings when he heard
the teachings of Plotinus. On the one hand
he came to appreciate the point of view that
Plotinus was putting forward, although it
was somewhat different from the views of
Longinus. However Porphyry was very disappointed
in the way that Plotinus expressed himself
and he found Plotinus's lectures poorly structured
and his arguments rather woolly.
Porphyry spent five years in Rome with Plotinus
and during this time he [2]:-
... tried to rouse in the master the ambition
to organise his doctrines.
It is not entirely clear why Porphyry left
Rome but there does seem to have been disputes
over doctrine between the philosophers who
formed Plotinus's circle. Porphyry went to
Sicily where he wrote a text bringing the
philosophies of Aristotle and Plato together.
Porphyry had a strong respect for the views
of Aristotle and further work by Porphyry
at this time led to a revival in studies
of the works of Aristotle. In particular
his commentary on Aristotle's Categories
led to the later developments of logic. It
would appear that Porphyry's views on Aristotle
had something to do with the disputes in
Plotinus's school which had led to the break-up.
Also while Porphyry was in Sicily, he wrote
a work on vegetarianism and a critical work
against Christian doctrines. Porphyry did
not break his links with Plotinus, however,
and he continued to correspond with him on
presenting his views in the most coherent
fashion.
According to Heath [5] Porphyry was:-
The disciple of Plotinus and the reviser
and editor of his works.
Despite the fact that Porphyry's views were
not completely at one with those of Plotinus,
this description by Heath is a fair one.
Porphyry certainly did go on to edit the
works of Plotinus, for he returned to Rome
in about 282 (which was about 12 years after
Plotinus died). There he continued to write
commentaries on Plato and other philosophers
but mainly he continued the major work of
his life which was to edit and publish Enneads
on the teachings of Plotinus which he had
completed about 301.
Also while in Rome Porphyry taught Iamblichus
who was another important developer of Neoplatonism.
However, Iamblichus developed his views away
from those of Plotinus and soon found himself
disagreeing with Porphyry.
We should make some comments as to the importance
of Porphyry in the history of mathematics.
He wrote a commentary on Euclid's Elements
which was used by Pappus when he wrote his
own commentary. Proclus appears to have Porphyry's
original comments to hand when he wrote his
own commentary. This is a point on which
it is impossible to be certain for there
is a slight possibility that all Proclus
knew about Porphyry's commentary was what
Pappus had written.
Another important contribution made by Porphyry
was in writing his Life of Pythagoras. Certain
important fragments of other mathematician's
writings have also been preserved in the
works of Porphyry including Nicomachus and
Eudemus.
On Images
By Porphyry
Fragment 1
I speak to those who lawfully may hear:
Depart all ye profane, and close the doors.
The thoughts of a wise theology, wherein
men indicated God and God's powers by images
akin to sense, and sketched invisible things
in visible forms, I will show to those who
have learned to read from the statues as
from books the things there written concerning
the gods. Nor is it any wonder that the utterly
unlearned regard the statues as wood and
stone, just as also those who do not understand
the written letters look upon the monuments
as mere stones, and on the tablets as bits
of wood, and on books as woven papyrus.
Fragment 2
As the deity is of the nature of light, and
dwells in an atmosphere of ethereal fire,
and is invisible to sense that is busy about
mortal life, He through translucent matter,
as crystal or Parian marble or even ivory,
led men on to the conception of his light,
and through material gold to the discernment
of the fire, and to his undefiled purity,
because gold cannot be defiled.
On the other hand, black marble was used
by many to show his invisibility; and they
moulded their gods in human form because
the deity is rational, and made these beautiful,
because in those is pure and perfect beauty;
and in varieties of shape and age, of sitting
and standing, and drapery; and some of them
male, and some female, virgins, and youths,
or married, to represent their diversity.
Hence they assigned everything white to the
gods of heaven, and the sphere and all things
spherical to the cosmos and to the sun and
moon in particular, but sometimes also to
fortune and to hope: and the circle and things
circular to eternity, and to the motion of
the heaven, and to the zones and cycles therein;
and the segments of circles to the phases
of the moon; pyramids and obelisks to the
element of fire, and therefore to the gods
of Olympus; so again the cone to the sun,
and cylinder to the earth, and figures representing
parts of the human body to sowing and generation.
Fragment 3
'Now look at the wisdom of the Greeks, and
examine it as follows. The authors of the
Orphic hymns supposed Zeus to be the mind
of the world, and that he created all things
therein, containing the world in himself.
Therefore in their theological systems they
have handed down their opinions concerning
him thus:'
Zeus was the first, Zeus last, the lightning's
lord, Zeus head, Zeus centre, all things
are from Zeus. Zeus born a male, Zeus virgin
undefiled; Zeus the firm base of earth and
starry heaven; Zeus sovereign, Zeus alone
first cause of all: One power divine, great
ruler of the world, One kingly form, encircling
all things here, Fire, water, earth, and
ether, night and day; Wisdom, first parent,
and delightful Love: For in Zeus' mighty
body these all lie. His head and beauteous
face the radiant heaven Reveals and round
him float in shining waves The golden tresses
of the twinkling stars. On either side bulls'
horns of gold are seen, Sunrise and sunset,
footpaths of the gods. His eyes the Sun,
the Moon's responsive light; His mind immortal
ether, sovereign truth, Hears and considers
all; nor any speech, Nor cry, nor noise,
nor ominous voice escapes The ear of Zeus,
great Kronos' mightier son: Such his immortal
head, and such his thought. His radiant body,
boundless, undisturbed In strength of mighty
limbs was formed thus: The god's broad-spreading
shoulders, breast and back Air's wide expanse
displays; on either side Grow wings, wherewith
throughout all space he flies. Earth the
all
-mother, with her lofty hills, His sacred
belly forms; the swelling flood Of hoarse
resounding Ocean girds his waist. His feet
the deeply rooted ground upholds, And dismal
Tartarus, and earth's utmost bounds. All
things he hides, then from his heart again
In godlike action brings to gladsome light.
Zeus, therefore, is the whole world, animal
of animals, and god of gods; but Zeus, that
is, inasmuch as he is the mind from which
he brings forth all things, and by his thoughts
creates them. When the theologians had explained
the nature of god in this manner, to make
an image such as their description indicated
was neither possible, nor, if any one thought
of it, could he show the look of life, and
intelligence, and forethought by the figure
of a sphere.
But they have made the representation of
Zeus in human form, because mind was that
according to which he wrought, and by generative
laws brought all things to completion; and
he is seated, as indicating the steadfastness
of his power: and his upper parts are bare,
because he is manifested in the intellectual
and the heavenly parts of the world; but
his feet are clothed, because he is invisible
in the things that lie hidden below. And
he holds his sceptre in his left hand, because
most close to that side of the body dwells
the heart, the most commanding and intelligent
organ: for the creative mind is the sovereign
of the world. And in his right hand he holds
forth either an eagle, because he is master
of the gods who traverse the air, as the
eagle is master of the birds that fly aloft
- or a victory, because he is himself victorious
over all things.
Fragment 4
They have made Hera the wife of Zeus, because
they called the ethereal and aerial power
Hera. For the ether is a very subtle air.
Fragment 5
And the power of the whole air is Hera, called
by a name derived from the air: but the symbol
of the sublunar air which is affected by
light and darkness is Leto; for she is oblivion
caused by the insensibility in sleep, and
because souls begotten below the moon are
accompanied by forgetfulness of the Divine;
and on this account she is also the mother
of Apollo and Artemis, who are the sources
of light for the night.
Fragment 6
The ruling principle of the power of earth
is called Hestia, of whom a statue representing
her as a virgin is usually set up on the
hearth; but inasmuch as the power is productive,
they symbolize her by the form of a woman
with prominent breasts. The name Rhea they
gave to the power of rocky and mountainous
land, and Demeter to that of level and productive
land. Demeter in other respects is the same
as Rhea, but differs in the fact that she
gives birth to Kore by Zeus, that is, she
produces the shoot from the seeds of plants.
And on this account her statue is crowned
with ears of corn, and poppies are set round
her as a symbol of productiveness.
Fragment 7
But since there was in the seeds cast into
the earth a certain power, which the sun
in passing round to the lower hemisphere
drags down at the time of the winter solstice,
Kore is the seminal power, and Pluto the
sun passing under the earth, and traversing
the unseen world at the time of the winter
solstice; and he is said to carry off Kore,
who, while hidden beneath the earth, is lamented
by her mother Demeter.
The power which produces hard-shelled fruits,
and the fruits of plants in general, is named
Dionysus. But observe the images of these
also. For Kore bears symbols of the production
of the plants which grow above the earth
in the crops: and Dionysus has horns in common
with Kore, and is of female form, indicating
the union of male and female forces in the
generation of the hard shelled fruits.
But Pluto, the ravisher of Kore, has a helmet
as a symbol of the unseen pole, and his shortened
sceptre as an emblem of his kingdom of the
nether world; and his dog indicates the generation
of the fruits in its threefold division -
the sowing of the seed, its reception by
the earth, its growing up. For he is called
a dog, not because souls are his food, but
because of the earth's fertility, for which
Pluto provides when he carries off Kore.
Attis, too, and Adonis are related to the
analogy of fruits. Attis is the symbol of
the blossoms which appear early in the spring,
and fall off before the complete fertilization;
whence they further attributed castration
to him, from the fruits not having attained
to seminal perfection: but Adonis was the
symbol of the cutting of the perfect fruits.
Silenus was the symbol of the wind's motion,
which contributes no few benefits to the
world. And the flowery and brilliant wreath
upon his head is symbolic of the revolution
of the heaven, and the hair with which his
lower limbs are surrounded is an indication
of the density of the air near the earth.
Since there was also a power partaking of
the prophetic faculty, the power is called
Themis, because of its telling what is appointed
and fixed for each person.
In all these ways, then, the power of the
earth finds an interpretation and is worshipped:
as a virgin and Hestia, she holds the centre;
as a mother she nourishes; as Rhea she makes
rocks and dwells on mountains; as Demeter,
she produces herbage; and as Themis, she
utters oracles: while the seminal law which
descends into her bosom is figured as Priapus,
the influence of which on dry crops is called
Kore, and on soft fruits and shellfruits
is called Dionysus. For Kore was carried
off by Pluto, that is, the sun going; down
beneath the earth at seed-time; but Dionysus
begins to sprout according to the conditions
of the power which, while young, is hidden
beneath the earth, yet produces fine fruits,
and is an ally of the power in the blossom
symbolized by Attis, and of the cutting of
the ripened corn symbolized by Adonis.
Also the power of the wind which pervades
all things is formed into a figure of Silenus,
and the perversion to frenzy into a figure
of a Bacchante, as also the impulse which
excites to lust is represented by the Satyrs.
These, then, are the symbols by which the
power of the earth is revealed.
Fragment 8
The whole power productive of water they
called Oceanus, and named its symbolic figure
Tethys. But of the whole, the drinking-water
produced is called Achelous; and the sea-water
Poseidon; while again that which makes the
sea, inasmuch as it is productive, is Amphitrite.
Of the sweet waters the particular powers
are called Nymphs, and those of the sea-waters
Nereids.
Again, the power of fire they called Hephaestus,
and have made his image in the form of a
man, but put on it a blue cap as a symbol
of the revolution of the heavens, because
the archetypal and purest form of fire is
there. But the fire brought down from heaven
to earth is less intense, and wants the strengthening
and support which is found in matter: wherefore
he is lame, as needing matter to support
him.
Also they supposed a power of this kind to
belong to the sun and called it Apollo, from
the pulsation of his beams. There are also
nine Muses singing to his lyre, which are
the sublunar sphere, and seven spheres of
the planets, and one of the fixed stars.
And they crowned him with laurel, partly
because the plant is full of fire, and therefore
hated by daemons; and partly because it crackles
in burning, to represent the god's prophetic
art.
But inasmuch as the sun wards off the evils
of the earth, they called him Heracles (from
his clashing against the air) in passing
from east to west. And they invented fables
of his performing twelve labours, as the
symbol of the division of the signs of the
zodiac in heaven; and they arrayed him with
a club and a lion's skin, the one as an indication
of his uneven motion, and the other representative
of his strength in "Leo" the sign
of the zodiac.
Of the sun's healing power Asclepius is the
symbol, and to him they have given the staff
as a sign of the support and rest of the
sick, and the serpent is wound round it,
as significant of his preservation of body
and soul: for the animal is most full of
spirit, and shuffles off the weakness of
the body. It seems also to have a great faculty
for healing: for it found the remedy for
giving clear sight, and is said in a legend
to know a certain plant which restores life.
But the fiery power of his revolving and
circling motion, whereby he ripens the crops,
is called Dionysus, not in the same sense
as the power which produces the juicy fruits,
but either from the sun's rotation, or from
his completing his orbit in the heaven. And
whereas he revolves round the cosmical seasons
and is the maker of "times and tides,"
the sun is on this account called Horus.
Of his power over agriculture, whereon depend
the gifts of wealth, the symbol is Pluto.
He has, however, equally the power of destroying,
on which account they make Sarapis share
the temple of Pluto: and the purple tunic
they make the symbol of the light that has
sunk beneath the earth, and the sceptre broken
at the top that of his power below, and the
posture of the hand the symbol of his departure
into the unseen world.
Cerberus is represented with three heads,
because the positions of the sun above the
earth are three-rising, midday, and setting.
The moon, conceived according to her brightness,
they called Artemis, as it were, "cutting
the air." And Artemis, though herself
a virgin, presides over childbirth, because
the power of the new moon is helpful to parturition.
What Apollo is to the sun, that Athena is
to the moon: for the moon is a symbol of
wisdom, and so a kind of Athena.
But, again, the moon is Hecate, the symbol
of her varying phases and of her power dependent
on the phases. Wherefore her power appears
in three forms, having as symbol of the new
moon the figure in the white robe and golden
sandals, and torches lighted: the basket,
which she bears when she has mounted high,
is the symbol of the cultivation of the crops,
which she makes to grow up according to the
increase of her light: and again the symbol
of the full moon is the goddess of the brazen
sandals.
Or even from the branch of olive one might
infer her fiery nature, and from the poppy
her productiveness, and the multitude of
the souls who find an abode in her as in
a city, for the poppy is an emblem of a city.
She bears a bow, like Artemis, because of
the sharpness of the pangs of labour.
And, again, the Fates are referred to her
powers, Clotho to the generative, and Lachesis
to the nutritive, and Atropos to the inexorable
will of the deity.
Also, the power productive of corn-crops,
which is Demeter, they associate with her,
as producing power in her. The moon is also
a supporter of Kore. They set Dionysus also
beside her, both on account of their growth
of horns, and because of the region of clouds
lying beneath the lower world.
The power of Kronos they perceived to be
sluggish and slow and cold, and therefore
attributed to him the power of time: and
they figure him standing, and grey-headed,
to indicate that time is growing old.
The Curetes, attending on Chronos, are symbols
of the seasons, because time journeys on
through seasons.
Of the Hours, some are the Olympian, belonging
to the sun, which also open the gates in
the air: and others are earthly, belonging
to Demeter, and hold a basket, one symbolic
of the flowers of spring, and the other of
the wheat-ears of summer.
The power of Ares they perceived to be fiery,
and represented it as causing war and bloodshed,
and capable both of harm and benefit.
The star of Aphrodite they observed as tending
to fecundity, being the cause of desire and
offspring, and represented it as a woman
because of generation, and as beautiful,
because it is also the evening star -
"Hesper, the fairest star that shines
in heaven." [Homer, Iliad 22:318]
And Eros they set by her because of desire.
She veils her breasts and other parts, because
their power is the source of generation and
nourishment. She comes from the sea, a watery
element, and warm, and in constant movement,
and foaming because of its commotion, whereby
they intimate the seminal power.
Hermes is the representative of reason and
speech, which both accomplish and interpret
all things. The phallic Hermes represents
vigour, but also indicates the generative
law that pervades all things.
Further, reason is composite: in the sun
it is called Hermes; in the moon Hecate;
and that which is in the All Hermopan, for
the generative and creative reason extends
over all things. Hermanubis also is composite,
and as it were half Greek, being found among
the Egyptians also. Since speech is also
connected with the power of love, Eros represents
this power: wherefore Eros is represented
as the son of Hermes, but as an infant, because
of his sudden impulses of desire.
They made Pan the symbol of the universe,
and gave him his horns as symbols of sun
and moon, and the fawn skin as emblem of
the stars in heaven, or of the variety of
the universe.
Fragment 10
The Demiurge, whom the Egyptians call Cneph,
is of human form, but with a skin of dark
blue, holding a girdle and a sceptre, and
crowned with a royal wing on his head, because
reason is hard to discover, and wrapt up
in secret, and not conspicuous, and because
it is life-giving, and because it is a king,
and because it has an intelligent motion:
wherefore the characteristic wing is put
upon his head.
This god, they say, puts forth from his mouth
an egg, from which is born a god who is called
by themselves Phtha, but by the Greeks Hephaestus;
and the egg they interpret as the world.
To this god the sheep is consecrated, because
the ancients used to drink milk.
The representation of the world itself they
figured thus: the statue is like a man having
feet joined together, and clothed from head
to foot with a robe of many colours, and
has on the head a golden sphere, the first
to represent its immobility, the second the
many-coloured nature of the stars, and the
third because the world is spherical.
The sun they indicate sometimes by a man
embarked on a ship, the ship set on a crocodile.
And the ship indicates the sun's motion in
a liquid element: the crocodile potable water
in which the sun travels. The figure of the
sun thus signified that his revolution takes
place through air that is liquid and sweet.
The power of the earth, both the celestial
and terrestrial earth, they called Isis,
because of the equality, which is the source
of justice: but they call the moon the celestial
earth, and the vegetative earth, on which
we live, they call the terrestrial.
Demeter has the same meaning among the Greeks
as Isis amongs the Egyptians: and, again,
Kore and Dionysus among the Greeks the same
as Isis and Osiris among the Egyptians. Isis
is that which nourishes and raises up the
fruits of the earth; and Osiris among the
Egyptians is that which supplies the fructifying
power, which they propitiate with lamentations
as it disappears into the earth in the sowing,
and as it is consumed by us for food.
Osiris is also taken for the river-power
of the Nile: when, however, they signify
the terrestrial earth, Osiris is taken as
the fructifying power; but when the celestial,
Osiris is the Nile, which they suppose to
come down from heaven: this also they bewail,
in order to propitiate the power when failing
and becoming exhausted. And the Isis who,
in the legends, is wedded to Osiris is the
land of Egypt, and therefore she is made
equal to him, and conceives, and produces
the fruits; and on this account Osiris has
been described by tradition as the husband
of Isis, and her brother, and her son.
At the city Elephantine there is an image
worshipped, which in other respects is fashioned
in the likeness of a man and sitting; it
is of a blue colour, and has a ram's head,
and a diadem bearing the horns of a goat,
above which is a quoit-shaped circle. He
sits with a vessel of clay beside him, on
which he is moulding the figure of a man.
And from having the face of a ram and the
horns of a goat he indicates the conjunction
of sun and moon in the sign of the Ram, while
the colour of blue indicates that the moon
in that conjunction brings rain.
The second appearance of the moon is held
sacred in the city of Apollo: and its symbol
is a man with a hawk-like face, subduing
with a hunting-spear Typhon in the likeness
of a hippopotamus. The image is white in
colour, the whiteness representing the illumination
of the moon, and the hawk-like face the fact
that it derives light and breath from the
sun. For the hawk they consecrate to the
sun, and make it their symbol of light and
breath, because of its swift motion, and
its soaring up on high, where the light is.
And the hippopotamus represents, the Western
sky, because of its swallowing up into itself
the stars which traverse it.
In this city Horus is worshipped as a god.
But the city of Eileithyia worships the third
appearance of the moon: and her statue is
fashioned into a flying vulture, whose plumage
consists of precious stones. And its likeness
to a vulture signifies that the moon is what
produces the winds: for they think that the
vulture conceives from the wind, and declares
that they are all hen birds.
In the mysteries at Eleusis the hierophant
is dressed up to represent the demiurge,
and the torch-bearer the sun, the priest
at the altar the moon, and the sacred herald
Hermes.
Moreover a man is admitted by the Egyptians
among their objects of worship. For there
is a village in Egypt called Anabis, in which
a man is worshipped, and sacrifice offered
to him, and the victims burned upon his altars:
and after a little while he would eat the
things that had been prepared for him as
for a man.
They did not, however, believe the animals
to be gods, but regarded them as likenesses
and symbols of gods; and this is shown by
the fact that in many places oxen dedicated
to the gods are sacrificed at their monthly
festivals and in their religious services.
For they consecrated oxen to the sun and
moon.
The ox called Mnevis which is dedicated to
the sun in Heliopolis, is the largest of
oxen, very black, chiefly because much sunshine
blackens men's bodies. And its tail and all
its body are covered with hair that bristles
backwards unlike other cattle, just as the
sun makes its course in the opposite direction
to the heaven. Its testicles are very large,
since desire is produced by heat, and the
sun is said to fertilize nature.
To the moon they dedicated a bull which they
call Apis, which also is more black than
others, and bears symbols of sun and moon,
because the light of the moon is from the
sun. The blackness of his body is an emblem
of the sun, and so is the beetle-like mark
under his tongue; and the symbol of the moon
is the semicircle, and the gibbous figure.
THE END
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Evans Experientialism 
