On this page, you will find a list of recommended reading. To see the Library, click the links below to organise the available documents alphabetically or by topic.
Recommended Reading
On this Site
- Porphyry - A Letter to His Wife, (PDF, 92 KB): A beautify exhortation to philosophy.
- Maximus of Tyre - What Divinity is According to Plato, (PDF, 75 KB)
- Plotinus - On Beauty (Ennead I.6), (PDF, 77 KB): A discription of the mystic path of using beauty as a means towards the vision of the Divine.
- Marinus - On the Life of Proclus, (PDF, 138 KB): A biography of one of the most important Platonists by his own student giving an insight to how the ancients looked upon what it is to be a Philosopher.
- Pythagoras and the Pythorgeans - Various Sayings, (PDF, 156 KB): A collection of sayings and aphorisms attributed to the Pythagoreans, the first Platonists.
Links elsewhere
- John Opsopaus' Summary of Pythagorean Theology: So far the best exposition of Pythagorean theology and theory that I've seen on the net.
- Mortley's "From Word to Silence". An excellent on-line e-book that explores how the way the Greeks studied ultimate Reality changed from the logical rationality of the early philosophers towards the more mystical contemplation of the Neoplatonists and the Christian mystics.
A Short List of Good Books
- The Complete Works of Plato, edited by John M. Cooper
- The Enneads of Plotinus
- Return to the One, by Brian Hines
- Beyond the Shadows and The Unfolding Wings, by Tim Addey
- The Golden Chain, an anthology edited by Algis Uzdavinys
- Theurgy and the Soul: the Neoplatonism of Iamblichus, by Gregory Shaw
- The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius
- Meditations on the Soul: Selected Letters of Marsilio Ficino
- Commentary on the Golden Verses of Pythagoras of Hierocles
- The Philosophy of the Commentators, edited by Richard Sorabji, in 3 volumes
For a more ambitious list of books by Platonists, here is my Booklist covering Platonism and subjects which a Platonist, even if he or she disagrees with, should ponder.