Iamblichus on the Mysteries of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians (Classic Reprint) Paperback – April 18, 2018

Looks like book had been photocopied but at least 10 pages missing half of print ! I doubt if I will ever buy from this seller again ! Iamblichus On the Mysteries of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians

This is an interesting book that you buy with the caveat that some pages may be missing or damage as it’s a scan of an original out of copyright work. I could excuse missing text due to damage in the original but the “missing text” is a result of scanner issues where half of a page wasn’t scanned. This occurred multiple times and just seems sloppy. Get a different edition.

After order was placed, read reviews. Unsuccessfully tried to cancel based on the reviews.Received order today. Scanning book multiple times because of previous negative reviews, can't find any issues as noted. It is a complete legible copy. Beautifully typeset.Either the issues have been corrected or reviews were falsely reported. If anything reflects otherwise as I delve in, will note accordingly.

This copy was missing half of the print of many pages! I am terribly upset to have valuable information missing from my copy!

The 1 star is a reflection of the quality of the Kindle version. The text is riddled with confusing spaces and bizarre organization. Annotations and primary text are mixed together with no indication as to which is which --- at times, one text will stop in midsentence and be interrupted with the other. The result is a confounding, frustrating version of the text that is highly disappointing, especially since the entire version can be found for free online in a much clearer presentation.

First of all, this is an OCR document. My copy has a bit of text fade at the end of the volume, which makes for some annoying lacunae. The "Classic Reprints" series does exactly what it says it does: OCR's the books, back page advertisements and all, and then puts them out on demand. So, don't expect modern notes or a new translation. This particular volume hails from 1895, and what they got is what you get.The translator is Thomas Taylor. He died in 1835, so the translation is even older than the volume this edition reprints. I would say the translation is good, by 19th century standards, bearing in mind that Taylor probably had a lot less editorial, critical, and source material to work with than any modern scholar. Here and there, his copious footnotes (some of them pages long) do tend to distract from the text (he spends half of them quoting from works of Proclus, which Taylor also translated).As for the work itself, Iamblichus responds to a somewhat mocking letter from Porphyry which questions the utility of prayers to the gods, as accompanied by elaborate "theurgical" rituals. Students of Neoplatonism will remember that, while Plotinus and Porphyry certainly believed in the traditional Hellenic deities, they weren't so keen on "god bothering", per se. Plotinus even refused to go to the trouble of invoking demons or lesser deities, as he felt "it was for them to come to him, not he to they".Iamblichus basically wrote the work as a response to Porphyry in which he laid out the need for theurgical rites. If you are reading this review, you should already have a working understanding of basic Neoplatonist ideals. I can't imagine this obscure volume being of any help to a layman who is completely unfamiliar with this tradition. That being said, if you are interested in actually learning what some of these theurgical rites were, you will be sadly disappointed. There are no descriptions whatsoever of any of these rites. Iamblichus wrote the volume as a defense of theurgy, without feeling the need to include or even reference any of his presumed personal favorite rites.At any rate, if you are looking for a cheap way to introduce yourself to a text which is otherwise seldom reprinted, or available only in hard to find (and expensive) University press editions, this may be an acceptable first purchase. I definitely don't recommend this as a study edition, but it works tolerably well for a casual reader who wants to learn a bit more about some of the later figures in Neoplatonic philosophy.The translation is somewhat antiquated (though generally readable), the OCR fade in the latter pages is a bit annoying, and Iamblichus' great justification of theurgy neglects to tell us anything about how to conduct theurgy. However, in the end, you are certainly bound to learn a good deal about Neoplatonist philosophy in the period after Plotinus, as well as the philosophical arguments made in justification of taking that philosophy in a far more overtly religious direction. In essence, if you'd ever wondered what were the premises for Platonism to compete with Christianity as the unifying faith of the later Roman Empire, you just might find a few clues in this dusty old tome.

I've been looking for this book for years. Thanks to the Amazonian merchants. Seriously though, great book, quite cheap (gotta watch those taxes though) and the book arrived before it said it would.Many Goodness.

Poor scan was poor quality. Nobody bothered to page check the file they printed from. About twenty page contain blank areas. Reject this copy and look for a better scan.

This edition has serious errors as part of the text is missing at 16 pages, from page 295 onwards.It should not be on sale.

Iamblichus is clarifying mysteries which I appreciate beyond measure. I am enjoying my search for clarity.