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Storytime: A cavern pleasant, though involv’d in night. Reading Porphyry’s On the Cave of the Nymphs, Part II
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We conclude the pleasant, though involv’d in night, task of reading through Porphyry’s On the Cave of the Nymphs in Homer’s Odyssey. Delights abound.
Works Cited in this Episode:
- Odysseus as image of the humans soul’s return to its true homeland: cf. Plot. Enn. I.6[1]8.16, quoting Homer Il. 2.140, then moving on to reminiscences of Od. 2.29 ff. and 10.483-4.
- Pherecydes of Syros on the recesses, caves, hollows, and so forth : B 6 D-K.
- Plato on the two ‘openings’ (pace Porphyry, these are actually four in the Myth of Er, each set of openings having an ‘in’ and an ‘out’ opening): Republic 614c1-3; d4-5; 615d4-e4. The soul as wine-jar: Gorg. 493d6-494a5.
- Proclus on the solstitial gates: In R . 2.128.26-129.21 Kroll = Numenius F 35 des Places = Test. 42 Leemans.
Recommended Reading:
See the previous episode for generally-relevant bibliography. For a detailed discussion of the solstitial gates in relation to the ecliptic and the torchbearers, see R. L. Beck. The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2006, 209–14.
Stephen Rego
December 5, 2021
Regarding the physical “celestial gates” for the soul in the “heavens” (in various guises from Plato to the Chaldæan Oracles) George Latura’s work is both useful and interesting, e.g.,
– ‘Plato’s Cosmic X: Heavenly Gates at the Celestial Crossroads’ (2013)
– ‘Plato’s X & Hekate’s Crossroads: Astronomical Links to the Mysteries of Eleusis’ (2014)
– ‘Plato’s Lost Cosmos’ (2020).
These papers and others are available on his academia.edu page.
Fotis Panagoulias
December 15, 2021
The comment on internal and behavioral purifying processes as a prerequisite to one’s spiritual ascent, with regard to comparative theology is spot on!