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APOLLONIUS OF TYANA

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 188 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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APOLLONIUS OF TYANA , a See also:Greek philosopher of the- Ned-See also:Pythagorean school, See also:born a few years before the See also:Christian era. He studied at See also:Tarsus and in the See also:temple of Asclepius at Aegae, where he devoted himself to the doctrines of See also:Pythagoras and adopted the ascetic See also:habit of See also:life in its fullest sense. He travelled through See also:Asia and visited See also:Nineveh, See also:Babylon and See also:India, imbibing the See also:oriental See also:mysticism of magi, Brahmans and See also:gymnosophists. The narrative of his travels given by his See also:disciple Damis and reproduced by See also:Philostratus is so full of the miraculous that many have regarded him as an imaginary See also:character. On his return to See also:Europe he was saluted as a magician, and received the greatest reverence from priests and See also:people generally. He himself claimed only the See also:power of foreseeing the future; yet in See also:Rome it was said that he raised from See also:death the See also:body of a See also:noble See also:lady. In the See also:halo of his mysterious power he passed through See also:Greece, See also:Italy and See also:Spain. It was said that he was accused of See also:treason both by See also:Nero and by See also:Domitian, but escaped by miraculous means. Finally he set up a school at See also:Ephesus, where he died, apparently at the See also:age of a See also:hundred years. Philostratus keeps up the See also:mystery of his See also:hero's life by saying, " Concerning the manner of his death, if he did See also:die, the accounts are various." The See also:work of Philostratus composed at the instance of Julia, wife of See also:Severus, is generally regarded as a religious work of fiction. It contains a number of obviously fictitious stories, through which, however, it is not impossible to discern the See also:general character of the See also:man. In the 3rd See also:century, See also:Hierocles (q.v.) endeavoured to prove that the doctrines and the life of Apollonius were more valuable than those of See also:Christ, and, in See also:modern times, See also:Voltaire and See also:Charles See also:Blount (1654-1693), the See also:English freethinker, have adopted a similar standpoint.

Apart from this extravagant eulogy, it is absurd to regard Apollonius merely as a vulgar See also:

charlatan and See also:miracle-monger. If we cut away the See also:mass of See also:mere fiction which Philostratus accumulated; we have See also:left a highly imaginative, See also:earnest reformer who labouredto infuse into the flaccid See also:dialectic of paganism a saner spirit of See also:practical morality. See L. See also:Dyer, Studies of the Gods in Greece (New See also:York, 1891) ; A. Chassang, Le Merveilleux daps l'antiquite (1882) D. M. Tredwell, See also:Sketch of the Life of Apollonius of Tyana (New York, 1886) ; F. C. See also:Baur, Apollonius von Tyana and Christus, ed. Ed. See also:Zeller (See also:Leipzig, 1876,–an See also:attempt to show that Philostratus's See also:story is merely a See also:pagan counterblast to the New Testament See also:history); J. Jessen, Apollonius v.

Tyana and sein Biogra.ph Philostratos (See also:

Hamburg, 1885); J. Gottsching, Apollonius von Tyana (See also:Berlin, 1889) ; J. A. See also:Froude, See also:Short Studies, vol. iv. ; G. R. S. See also:Mead, Apollonius of Tyana (See also:London, 1901) ; B. L. See also:Gildersleeve, Essays and Studies (New York, 1890) ; Philostratus's Life of Apollonius (Eng. trans. New York, 1905) ; O. de B. Priaulx, The See also:Indian Travels of Apollonius (1873); F.

W. G. See also:

Camp-See also:bell, Apoll. of Tyana (1908); see also NEO-PYTHAGOREANISM.

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