Members-only podcast episode

Storytime: Reading the Book of Wisdom of Apollonios of Tyana

We explore this curious angel-magic guidebook attributed to Apollonios of Tyana and known as the Book of Wisdom, or Apotelesmata of Apollonios. This work of divinely-revealed knowledge tells the practitioner the proper times at which to take magical actions, and the proper angelic names to evoke at said times. It contains a prophecy of the coming of Jesus delivered by Apollonios. He also has a temple which he built, in which stands a golden pillar. There are links with the paracononical Christian work known as the Testament of Adam.

We also present our first-ever SHWEP translation-project: a facing-page English version of the text based on the edition of Boll (cited below).

Works Cited in this Episode:

Our Oddcast episode with Juan Acevedo can be found here.

Primary:

For once, I don’t have to cite every primary source referred to in the episode here! Please download the document below for substantiation of the claims made in the episode.

Secondary:

Claes Blum. The Meaning of στοιχεῖον and its Derivatives in the Byzantine Age. Eranos: acta philologica Suecana, 44:316–25, 1946.

Franciscus Boll, editor. Codices Germanici, volume VII of Catalogus Codicum Astrologorum Graecorum. Bruxellis, 1908.

F. N. Nau, editor. Patrologia Syriaca. Firmin-Didot, Paris, 1907. On Apollonios’ writings: pp. 1369–70. On 1368 we get the possibly-genuine Apollonian authorship!

David Pingree. Some of the Sources of the Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm. Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 43:1–15, 1980.

S. E. Robinson. The Testament of Adam. In James H. Charlesworth, editor, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Volume One: Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments, pages 989–95. Hendrickson, Peabody, MA, 2021, citing p. 990 on dating.

A Translation of the Text:

The Book of Wisdom of Apollonios of Tyana