Select Works of Porphyry (Thomas Taylor Series volume II)

Volume II of the Thomas Taylor Series.

This volume contains three works by Porphyry, the successor of Plotinus:

• Abstinence from Animal Foods, in which aspiring philosophers are shown how to apply philosophical ideas and concepts in a practical way in their daily lives. A learned and wide ranging individual, Porphyry presents us with an insight in to many cultural traditions which had their expressions in the Classical world.
• Auxiliaries to the perception of Intelligible Natures, which clearly reveals Porphyry's position in the succession of later Platonists: He stands between Plotinus (whose Enneads he collected and arranged), and Proclus. The careful way in which this work explores its subject is perfected in Proclus' Elements of Theology.
• Concerning Homer's Cave of the Nymphs, in which Porphyry unfolds the allegories hidden in a small section of the Odyssey: a beautiful blend of myth and philosophy.

Thomas Taylor's own Allegory on the Wanderings and Trials of Ulysses is written in the same spirit, and completes this volume.

248 pages. Hardcover.