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Ancient Philosophy, Mystery, and Magic: Empedocles and Pythagorean Tradition

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This is the first book to analyze systematically crucial aspects of ancient Greek philosophy in their original context of mystery, religion, and magic. The author brings to light recently uncovered evidence about ancient Pythagoreanism and its influence on Plato, and reconstructs the fascinating esoteric transmission of Pythagorean ideas from the Greek West down to the alchemists and magicians of Egypt, and from there into the world of Islam.

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

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About the author

Peter Kingsley

11 books273 followers
Classical scholar and spiritual teacher Peter Kingsley was born in the UK. He received his BA from the University of Lancaster, his Master of Letters from King's College, Cambridge University, and his PhD from the University of London. He is a former Fellow of the Warburg Institute in London and has held honorary professorships or fellowships at universities in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Kingsley's early writings are traditionally academic, and culminate in the 1995 Ancient Philosophy, Mystery, and Magic: Empedocles and Pythagorean Tradition. His more recent works emphasize the lived experience and daily application of the ancient mystical tradition that helped give rise to the western world.

He continues to write and teach, working to make the spirituality and meditative disciplines of Empedocles, Parmenides, and those like them available to people today. His most recent book, Catafalque: Carl Jung and the End of Humanity, is due to be published in November 2018 and for the first time it shifts the focus of his work directly onto our modern world.

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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
Profile Image for Mark Milne.
Author 2 books1 follower
September 27, 2012
Were the ancient Greek philosophers really just bumbling along in their attempts to create some sense out of their world? Did their crude attempts at thought evolve into what we now know and revere as "the scientific method"? In Ancient Philosophy, Mystery and Magic, Peter Kingsley shows us that the general understanding of these ancient thinkers is flat wrong. The Meaning of Life, and not our modern notions of science and logic, lies at the very heart of the efforts of the most well-known of these thinkers. In my book, A Game, I argue that even Plato was dedicated to the pursuit of these great questions, and not simply to trying to define basic concepts, design the perfect form of government or concoct logical puzzles. APMM is a book that redefines philosophy and its history.
4 reviews4 followers
April 28, 2008
Kingsley looks at recent archaeological discoveries in the Mediterranean and examines their implications on the body of academic philosophy that has built up over the last couple of millenia.

This book, while fascinating, is written for an academic audience. Kingsley dots every "i" and crosses every "t" in the way that PhDs must do when trying convince each other of the validity of a thesis.
Profile Image for Jacob van Berkel.
157 reviews16 followers
December 22, 2017
Basically a polemic against modern scholarship's inclination to view the so-called 'pre-Socratics' through the eyes of Aristotle—whose take on the 'pre-Socratics' seems to be very similar to Sam Harris's take on religions today: too literal-minded and fundamentally too disinterested to be willing to understand them on their own terms. And I bet the book would be more fun to read for someone who is more acquainted with said modern scholarship, but nevertheless contains enough interesting bits to keep (well, me at least) reading.

That the Christian idea of a fiery hell below the surface of the earth originated with the Pythagoreans and derived, ultimately, from the volcanic activity below the surface of their home area of Sicily and Southern-Italy, for instance, is one of those things even a lowly layman like myself can appreciate.

And, oh, they don't feature in this book, but how are the Cathars not (clearly) intellectually descended from Pythagoreans? As far as I remember correctly what we think we know of their beliefs, they basically believed all the same stuff the Pythagoreans did: the world of matter is a sort of a prison or place of banishment for souls, reincarnation, secret knowledge (dispensed through a 'helper' of souls: Empedocles in one case, Christ in the other), inner and outer circles of believers, ascesis, vegetarianism, and (some measure of at least apparent) gender equality. This surely can't be all coincidental.

Kingsley mentions the Pythagorean-Empedoclean tradition being preserved - through Graeco-Egypt, Hermetism, Manicheism, & Alchemy - in Sufism, and certainly showing up in 10th century Spain in the figure of Ibn Masarra. These beliefs could have slipped across the Pyrenees to (re)converge, a century later, with similar (Gnostic) beliefs that seemed to have come to the Languedoc from the Byzantine Empire, couldn't they? Also, Empedocles's poem outlining some of his beliefs surrounding purification of the soul (calling upon his fellow citizens to abstain from meat-eating etc.) was called Katharmoi. I don't know whether that's significant, because I don't even know whether the Cathars even called themselves 'Cathars' or that this was a name applied to them by outsiders. But, you know, still.

Anyway, what I might be trying to say with this, unpremeditatedly, is that this book raised enough interesting questions to keep exploring. Which I think is a good thing. (Because I want to know this world, chico, and everything in it.)

(Still a bit of a slog though.)
109 reviews
June 29, 2020
Soy más un lector casual de libros de Filosofía que otra cosa, pero había leído "En los oscuros lugares del saber" del mismo autor y me pareció que su heterodoxa aproximación a la filosofía presocrática, en aquel caso la de Parménides, podría ser interesante también aquí.

En este caso, el libro se articula alrededor de la obra de Empédocles. Pero ésta no es más que el hilo conductor sobre el que el autor ofrece un amplio recorrido sobre distintos temas, desde la sesgada lectura del poema de Empédocles por parte de Aristóteles, pasando por el pitagorismo, la literatura órfica, la alquimia de raiz griega en Egipto, etc.

Desde un punto de vista puramente filosófico, el libro no me interesa demasiado porque está escrito como una refutación de lo que otros autores habían opinado anteriormente sobre el tema. Como no soy especialista, el debate me queda lejos.

Sin embargo, como evocación de una época, unos personajes, y una cultura es un libro espléndido, original, entretenido, y sugerente. Me ha encantado.
Profile Image for James.
373 reviews22 followers
October 17, 2018
Esoteric and Exoteric

In decades of classroom training, I learned that ancient Greek philosophy and science gave you and me the now predominant tradition of rational inquiry that appeared to supersede irrationality.

Well so much for one prism in the kaleidoscope of my conscious awareness. More adequate are inclusions of the mythical, alchemical, magical texts not on the typical list of recommended reading.

I recognize the early Greek Empedocles as a formative bridge to the Pythagoras and Platonists. Wow! E connected the inner and outer fire of earth as essential in mortal rebirth. The significance is that the mortal recognized the divinity of self. Call it mysticism, alchemy, magical: the author's references to original sources are a joy to read.
Profile Image for Leslie.
30 reviews3 followers
November 1, 2018
A genuine scholar writes about things we know about ancient history .. not so much it is not only ours, but everyone's. Really special...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Kevin.
36 reviews20 followers
June 27, 2019
Ancient Philosophy, Mystery and Magic: Empedocles and Pythagorean Tradition
Peter Kingsley, 1995 (reprint 2009)

This read took me awhile to adapt to, Kingsley hits the ground running by throwing the usual interpretation of Empedocles 4 “roots” on their head and as I’d become accustomed to the typical attributions of Zeus to Fire, Hera to Air, Aidones (Hades) to Earth and Nestis to Water; which meshed well with the later Stoic interpretation of the elements linking Hera and Zeus with the upper atmospheric and divine Aetherial realms, I was initially repulsed by his arguments. But his historical/philological analysis of the words Aer and Aethyr in the time of the Pre-Socratics was compelling enough to bring me around to his way of thinking. I was put off again, when he found his justifications for the attribution of Aidones=Fire in the fiery nether regions of Sicilian geography, and the Pythagorean theory of the “counter-earth”, against what I knew of the ancient conceptions of Hades in the poetic tradition. I still struggle a bit with this over-all analysis as applied to the Homeric and archaic periods, but think Kingsley is clearly correct in his argument for the Sicilian and Western-Italian influence on Plato’s Pheado and other myths.

I’ve been diving into the arguments for and against the authenticity of a continuous and structured Pythagorean tradition, dating back to the historical Pythagoras now for the better part of the last year and am very happy to now have added Kingsley’s arguments to my arsenal. I don’t know enough about the subject to wager an opinion on the soundness of his arguments, but the depth of his research and his erudition make it hard to put off anything that he has to say without having good justification for doing so. The way he presents the initiatic, magical and alchemic development throughout the pre- and up into the late classical age across such a wide swath of cultures is impressive, and I’m really looking forward to digging into these arguments more. The way he married the Empedoclean-Pythagorean-Hermetic- and Magical Papyri together into a pastiche of continuous esoteric knowledge throughout Western history is again, very compelling, and I am not at all surprised at the dearth of research I’ve encountered in this arena in the years since he published this work. If we accept his arguments, the whole of Western intellectual history would need to be re-imagined in this light. -Perish the thought!

Another commentator mentioned that the work was at heart, “Basically a polemic against modern scholarship's inclination to view the so-called 'pre-Socratics' through the eyes of Aristotle”. No doubt, this was a principle aim of Kingsley, but the work represents so much more. In the end, the book was incredibly challenging in its revolutionary presentation; it has provided me with dozens of new avenues of research to examine in the coming years and over-all, has given me a whole new appreciation of the immanence of magic, both spiritual and practical throughout the ancient world.
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May 3, 2022
Un libro apasionante y lectura obligada para todo aquel que tenga interés en los orígenes de la civilización occidental. Una obra que muestra cómo el punto de vista de un racionalismo dogmático ha condicionado y falseado nuestro entendimiento del pasado y, por tanto, también del presente.
Los presocráticos no eran filósofos tal como la modernidad ha concebido la filosofía, sino magos e iniciadores en los Misterios, o también podríamos decir exploradores espirituales, hombres de conocimiento. La filosofía no era un ejercicio de abstracciones intelectuales, sino la búsqueda de la verdad en la vida. La magia y los Misterios no son superstición primitiva superada por la racionalidad, sino que es la vivencia y la enseñanza integral de las posibilidades de transformación del ser humano. Estas son, a grandes rasgos, las conclusiones derivadas de la lectura de este estudio, que gira en torno a la figura de Empédocles para, al modo de una investigación detectivesca, desentrañar la verdad escondida tras siglos de malentendidos e interpretaciones desligadas del contexto real en que estos filósofos se movían, que no es otro que el de los Misterios. Tales conclusiones son muy contrarias a la versión que el mundo académico general ha dado por válida, aunque no han faltado voces que se han aproximado a disentir, voces que el autor recupera en el curso de su implacable reordenación de la historia. Capítulo a capítulo, se ocupa minuciosamente en devolver a cada dato descontextualizado su sentido más probable y coherente, valiéndose no solo de la filología y la historia, sino también del sentido común y de una capacidad muy fina de hacer asociaciones correctas desde la base para ir reconstruyendo después el edificio original mediante la lógica y la documentación. O, dicho de otro modo: se limita a desenmarañar malentendidos y prejuicios y a continuación permite que surja la verdad más probable, de manera devastadoramente coherente.

El autor no recurre prácticamente a fuentes externas a la tradición griega para explicar ciertos aspectos oscuros para la mente moderna. Teniendo cierta familiaridad con las tradiciones orientales, por ejemplo, uno se encuentra continuamente en estas páginas con elementos fácilmente comprensibles por comparación y analogía con ellas. Da la impresión de que el autor es muy consciente de tales paralelismos y elige no seguir ese camino, sino delimitar su actividad dentro de los parámetros de la Filología Clásica, jugando con las reglas del mundo académico al que se dirige y en el que se inscribe su obra, y a lo sumo acudiendo a las culturas más próximas al mundo griego, por estricta necesidad, pues la tradición pitagórica y el propio Empédocles beben de esas fuentes, y son a menudo las que confirman ciertos puntos en su fascinante periplo a través de la geografía infernal, las asociaciones entre elementos y dioses o la verdadera transmisión de conocimiento que recorre la historia de la cultura clásica, desde el orfismo hasta los neoplatónicos. Es fascinante comprobar cómo el Hermetismo, la alquimia, el sufismo y la mística cristiana se comunican con esta Filosofía antigua a través de cauces sinuosos pero seguros, y cómo el verdadero conocimiento o la Gnosis se ha transmitido ininterrumpidamente a través de la Antigüedad, adaptándose siempre a formas nuevas y, casi siempre, pasando por pasajes subterráneos que ya en aquellos tiempos pasaron desapercibidos para las figuras que, paradójicamente, han pasado a ser consideradas como guías infalibles y autoridades ineludibles en estos terrenos por los estudiosos modernos: principalmente, Aristóteles y Teofrasto.

Una investigación filológica admirable y un estudio académico de enorme erudición, meticulosamente apoyado en un prolijo aparato de notas, que sin embargo engancha como una novela y revela colores y matices nuevos de un paisaje olvidado tras capas de malentendidos y prejuicios perpetuados en el tiempo. Espero leer pronto su otra obra En los oscuros lugares del saber, también publicada por la editorial Atalanta, que como siempre es una fuente de disfrute, aprendizaje y revelación.
Profile Image for Felipe Fuentealba.
Author 2 books20 followers
October 6, 2022
Lo único que le reprocho al libro es que el título es engañoso, pues en rigor es un libro sobre Empédocles y sus vínculos con la magia, la religión y los misterios órficos, que salpican a Pitágoras y hasta Platón. La tesis de Kingsley (que cualquiera que haya leído a los pre socráticos ya la ha intuido), es que los primeros filósofos eran también magos, personas religiosas, y hasta se creían dioses, como Empédocles. O sea, el pensamiento racional no nació puro. Lo cual hace más sorprenden, me parece, que haya existido un Aristóteles, por ejemplo.
Profile Image for Alex.
197 reviews14 followers
May 31, 2023
Impressive analysis by Kingsley on interpreting our Presocratic sources with a special focus on Empedocles and Pythagorean tradition. I have to confess that I enjoyed the massive amount of references and citations he provides (a big difference with his next book).

Due to the nature of the heavy citations, the reading goes much slower, but I still enjoyed his sleuthing and how he connects distant and heterogeneous sources to make his case. If you missed a bit more academic rigor in his other books, this is a good place to experience the scholarly side of Kingsley. As a side note, maybe he should try writing something "in-between" both extremes ;)

Topic-wise, his unfolding of how to interpret Empedocles and his influence on the Platonic academy and other circles like the Neoplatonics, Orphic followers, or even Sufis is fascinating. He solidly blends the traditional view of philosophers with a much more accurate perspective that merges nature and physics observation (Empedocle's scientific side) with a much deeper mystical and shamanistic side that drinks from the Antiochian myths. Eye-opening if you're into ancient Greek myths and culture.
250 reviews1 follower
July 16, 2020
A wonderful compilation of some of the philosophers.

Empedocles is tragically unspoken of in this twenty-first century. There are so many philosophers whose words are quoted to summon ideas that Empedocles originally proposed.

It is very tragic that Empedocles committed suicide by jumping into a volcano. It has been written that he wore bronze sandals, and after upon jumping into the volcano to prove his immortality (to philosophers watching nearby), the sandal he wore on his right foot flew from the hole, falling onto the ground. His death then became apparent.
Profile Image for Juan del Desierto.
71 reviews10 followers
July 20, 2018
Much more academic and full of references than his book about Parmenides, which is less rigorous but more accessible, Peter Kingsley writes an enjoyable, albeit quite long foray into the undercurrents and background of the Pre-Socratic Empedoclean philosophy, focusing on the meaning of Fire in Empedocles thought.

Once again, particularly of note is the effort put into portraying a different worldview from the past, rather than examining historical clues from an strict contemporary viewpoint.
Profile Image for Philologios.
62 reviews
May 30, 2021
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Anterior a En los Oscuros Lugares del Saber, este volumen anticipa temas y estilo, pero aún se ve a un Kingsley en la necesidad de justificar a nivel académico su -osada- postura contracorriente a la academia. Eso hace que Filosofía Antigua no sea tan ágil de leer como En los Oscuros Lugares.


Profile Image for Seth.
45 reviews
September 22, 2023
Tartarus below Tartaria.

I don’t think the author had any idea groundbreaking this was. Overall, i really didn’t care much for the primary narrative but there was clearly lots of time and effort put into this. Plenty of great little tidbits contained in this book that aren’t necessarily related to the overall text.
200 reviews2 followers
Read
February 24, 2018
This is the first book to analyze systematically crucial aspects of ancient Greek philosophy in their original context of mystery, religion, and magic. The author brings to light recently uncovered evidence about ancient Pythagoreanism and its influence on Plato, and reconstructs the fascinating esoteric transmission of Pythagorean ideas from the Greek West down to the alchemists and magicians of Egypt, and from there into the world of Islam.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews

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