Apollonius of Tyana, the Philosopher-Reformer of the First Century A.D.Mead, G. R. S. (George Robert Stow)
Religion
Apollonius of Tyana, the Philosopher-Reformer of the First Century A.D.
Mead, G. R. S. (George Robert Stow)
Apollonius, of Tyana; Philosophers -- Greece -- Biography; Philosophy, Ancient -- Oriental influences
[108] He spent, we are told, no less than a year and eight
months with Vardan, King of Babylon, and was the honoured guest
of the Indian Rājāh “Phraotes.”
[109] See i. 22 (cf. 40), 34; iv. 4, 6, 18 (cf. v. 19), 24, 43;
v. 7, 11, 13, 30, 37; vi. 32; viii. 26.
[110] This expression is, however, perhaps only to be taken as
rhetorical, for in viii. 8, the incident is referred to in the
simple words “when he departed (ἀπῆλθε) from the tribunal.”
[111] That is to say not in a “form,” but in his own nature.
[112] See in this connection L. v. Schroeder, Pythagoras und
die Inder, eine Untersuchung über Herkunft und Abstammung der
pythagoreischen Lehren (Leipzig; 1884).
[113] This has reference to the preserved hunting parks, or
“paradises,” of the Babylonian monarchs.
[114] Reading φιλοσόφῳ for φιλοσοφῶν.
[115] Rathgeber (G.) in his Grossgriechenland und Pythagoras
(Gotha; 1866), a work of marvellous bibliographical industry,
refers to three supposed portraits of Apollonius (p. 621). (i)
In the Campidoglio Museum of the Vatican, Indicazione delle
Sculture (Roma; 1840), p. 68, nos. 75, 76, 77; (ii) in the
Musée Royal Bourbon, described by Michel B. (Naples; 1837), p.
79, no. 363; (iii) a contorniate reproduced by Visconti. I
cannot trace his first reference, but in a Guide pour le Musée
Royal Bourbon, traduit par C. J. J. (Naples; 1831), I find on
p. 152 that no. 363 is a bust of Apollonius, 2¾ feet high,
carefully executed, with a Zeus-like head, having a beard and
long hair descending onto the shoulders, bound with a deep
fillet. The bust seems to be ancient. I have, however, not been
able to find a reproduction of it. Visconti (E. Q.) in the
atlas of his Iconographie Grecque (Paris; 1808), vol. i. plate
17, facing p. 68, gives the reproduction of a contorniate, or
medal with a circular border, on one side of which is a head of
Apollonius and the Latin legend APOLLONIVS TEANEVS. This also
represents our philosopher with a beard and long hair; the head
is crowned, and the upper part of the body covered with a tunic
and the philosopher’s cloak. The medal, however, is of very
inferior workmanship, and the portrait is by no means pleasing.
Visconti in his letterpress devotes an angry and contemptuous
paragraph to Apollonius, “ce trop célèbre imposteur,” as he
calls him, based on De Tillemont.
[116] See Chassang, op. cit., p. 458, for a criticism on this
statement.
[117] This was before Vespasian became emperor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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