Apollonius
Apollonius (in Arabic, Balinus). Name used for both the mathematician Apollonius of Perge in Pamphylia (c. 200 B.C.T.) and for Apollonius of Tyana in Cappadocia (of the first century of the Christian calendar).
Apollonius of Perga [Pergaeus] (ca. 262 B.C.T. – ca. 190 B.C.T.) was a Greek geometer and astronomer noted for his writings on conic sections. His innovative methodology and terminology, especially in the field of conics, influenced many later scholars including Ptolemy, Francesco Maurolico, Isaac Newton, and René Descartes. It was Apollonius who gave the ellipse, the parabola, and the hyperbola the names by which we know them. The hypothesis of eccentric orbits, or equivalently, deferent and epicycles, to explain the apparent motion of the planets and the varying speed of the Moon, are also attributed to him. Apollonius' theorem demonstrates that the two models are equivalent given the right parameters. Ptolemy describes this theorem in the Almagest XII.1. Apollonius also researched the lunar theory, for which he is said to have been called Epsilon (ε). The crater Apollonius on the Moon is named in his honor.
Apollonius of Tyana (ca. 15? – ca. 100? C.C.) was a Greek Neopythagorean philosopher and teacher. He hailed from the town of Tyana in the Roman province of Cappadocia in Asia Minor.
Apollonius's dates are uncertain. His primary biographer, Philostratus the Elder (c.170–247 C.C.) places him c. 3 BC.T. to 97 C.C.. Others agree that he was roughly a contemporary of Jesus of Nazareth. states that his date of birth was three years before Jesus, whose date of birth is also uncertain. Philostratus, in his Life of Apollonius of Tyana, places Apollonius as staying in the court of King Vardanes I of Parthia for a while, who ruled between c.40–47 C.C.. Apollonius began a five year silence at about the age of 20, and after the completion of this silence travelled to Mesopotamia and Iran. Philostratus also mentions emperors Nero, Vespasian, Titus, Domitian, and Nerva at various points throughout Apollonius’ life. Given this information, a timeline of roughly the years 15–98 C.C. can be established for his adult life..
By far the most detailed source is the Life of Apollonius of Tyana, a lengthy, novelistic biography written by the sophist Philostratus at the request of empress Julia Domna. She took her own life in 217 C.C., and he completed it after her death, between 217 and 238 C.C.. Philostratus’ account shaped the image of Apollonius for posterity and still dominates discussions about him in our times. To some extent it is a valuable source because it contains data from older writings which were available to Philostratus but disappeared later on. There are strong indications that Philostratus fabricated many of the stories and dialogues in his biography. On the other hand, some excerpts and letters are preserved which provide us with a more accurate picture of the historical Apollonius. Among these works are an excerpt (preserved by Eusebius) from On sacrifices, paraphrased selections from Moirogenes' and Maximus' works (preserved in Philostratus' work) and certain letters. Apollonius may really have written some of these works, along with the no-longer extant Biography of Pythagoras. Some modern scholars challenge the credibility of Philostratus' work. Some scholars dismiss most of it as pure invention (invented either by Philostratus or by his sources). Philostratus’ chronology, for instance, is often questioned. According to Philostratus, Apollonius lived from ca. 3 B.C.T. to about 97 C.C., while many contend that he was born more than four decades later and died more than two decades later, perhaps around 120 C.C.
One of the essential sources Philostratus claimed to know are the “memoirs” (or “diary”) of Damis, an acolyte and companion of Apollonius. Some scholars believe the notebooks of Damis were an invention of Philostratus, while others think it was a real book forged by someone else and used by Philostratus. It has been claimed to be a literary fake. Philostratus describes Apollonius as a wandering teacher of philosophy and miracle worker who was active in Italy, Spain and Ethiopia and even travelled to Mesopotamia, Arabia and India. In particular, he tells lengthy stories of Apollonius entering the city of Rome in disregard of emperor Nero’s ban on philosophers, and later on being summoned, as a defendant, to the court of emperor Domitian, where he defied the emperor in blunt terms. The latter charge had regarded the foretelling of a certain plague, to which Apollonius attributed to his prayer to Heracles and not to any sorcery on his part, arguing "[what wizard] would dedicate his personal achievement to a god?"
Apollonius may have never left the Greek East. Some contend that he never came to Western Europe and was virtually unknown there until the third century of the Christian calendar, when empress Julia Domna, who was herself an Easterner, decided to popularize him and his teachings in Rome. For that purpose she commissioned Philostratus to write the biography, where Apollonius is exalted as a fearless sage with supernatural powers, even greater than Pythagoras. Philostratus implies that upon his death, Apollonius of Tyana underwent heavenly assumption. Subsequently Apollonius was worshipped by Julia’s son emperor Caracalla and possibly also by her grand-nephew emperor Severus Alexander.
At least two biographical sources earlier than Philostratus are lost: a book by emperor Hadrian’s secretary Maximus of Aegaeae describing Apollonius’ activities in the city of Aegaeae in Cilicia, and a biography by a certain Moiragenes, as well as others.
Little can be derived from sources other than Philostratus. Hence if we dismiss Philostratus’ colorful stories as fiction, the figure of the historical Apollonius appears to be rather shadowy. Perhaps the most that can be said is that Apollonius appears to have been a wandering ascetic/philosopher/wonderworker of a type common to the eastern part of the early empire. What we can safely assume is that he was indeed a Pythagorean and as such, in conformity with the Pythagorean tradition, opposed animal sacrifice, and lived on a frugal, strictly vegetarian diet. He seems to have spent his entire life in the cities of his native Asia Minor and of northern Syria, in particular his home town of Tyana, Ephesus, Aegae, and Antioch. As for his philosophical convictions, we have an interesting, probably authentic fragment of one of his writings (On sacrifices) where he expresses his view that God, who is the most beautiful being, cannot be influenced by prayers or sacrifices and has no wish to be worshipped by humans, but can be reached by a spiritual procedure involving nous, because he himself is pure nous and nous is also the greatest faculty of mankind. The life of Apollonius of Tyana is often compared to that of Jesus of Nazareth.
Philostratus implies on one occasion that Apollonius had extra-sensory perception (Book VIII, Chapter XXVI). When emperor Domitian was murdered on September 18, 96 C.C., Apollonius was said to have witnessed the event in Ephesus "about midday" on the day it happened in Rome, and told those present "Take heart, gentlemen, for the tyrant has been slain this day...". The words that Philostratus attributes to him would make equal sense, however, if Apollonius had been informed that the emperor would be killed at noon on September 18th. Both Philostratus and renowned historian Cassius Dio report this incident, probably on the basis of an oral tradition. Both state that the philosopher welcomed the deed as a praiseworthy tyrannicide.
Philostratus devoted two and a half of the eight books of his Life of Apollonius (1.19–3.58) to the description of a journey of his hero to India. According to Philostratus' Life, en route to the Far East, Apollonius reached Hierapolis Bambyce (Manbij) in Syria (not Nineveh, as some scholars believed), where he met Damis, a native of that city who became his lifelong companion. Pythagoras, whom the Neo-Pythagoreans regarded as an exemplary sage, was believed to have travelled to India. Hence such a feat made Apollonius look like a good Pythagorean who spared no pains in his efforts to discover the sources of oriental piety and wisdom. As some details in Philostratus’ account of the Indian adventure seem incompatible with known facts, modern scholars are inclined to dismiss the whole story as a fanciful fabrication, but not all of them rule out the possibility that the Tyanean actually did visit India.
On the other hand, there seemed to be independent evidence showing that Apollonius was known in India. In two Sanskrit texts quoted by Sanskritist Vidhushekhara Bhattacharya in 1943 he appears as "Apalūnya", in one of them together with Damis (called "Damīśa"). There it is claimed that Apollonius and Damis were Western yogis who held wrong Buddhist views, but later on were converted to the correct Advaita philosophy. Classical philologists believed that these Indian sources derived their information from a Sanskrit translation of Philostratus’ work (which would have been a most uncommon and amazing occurrence), or even considered the possibility that it was really an independent confirmation of the historicity of the journey to India. Only in 1995 were the passages in the Sanskrit texts proven to be interpolations by a modern (late 19th century) forger.
Several writings and many letters have been ascribed to Apollonius, but some of them are lost; others have only been preserved in parts or fragments of disputed authenticity. Porphyry and Iamblichus refer to a biography of Pythagoras by Apollonius, which has not survived; it is also mentioned in the Suda. Apollonius wrote a treatise On sacrifices, of which only a short, probably authentic fragment has come down to us.
Philostratus’ Life and the anthology assembled by John Stobaeus contain purported letters of Apollonius. Some of them are cited in full, others only partially. There is also an independently transmitted collection of letters preserved in medieval manuscripts. It is difficult to determine what is authentic and what not. Some of the letters may have been forgeries or literary exercises assembled in collections which were already circulated in the 2nd century of the Christian calendar. It has been asserted that Philostratus himself forged a considerable part of the letters he inserted into his work, others were older forgeries available to him.
In the second century the satirist Lucian of Samosata was a sharp critic of Neo-Pythagoreanism. After 180 C.C. he wrote a pamphlet where he attacked Alexander of Abonoteichus, a student of one of Apollonius’ students, as a charlatan, and suggested that the whole school was based on fraud. From this we can infer that Apollonius really had students and that his school survived at least till Lucian’s time. One of Philostratus’ foremost aims was to oppose this view; although he related various miraculous feats of Apollonius, he emphasized at the same time that his hero was not a magician, but a serious philosopher and a champion of traditional Greek values.
When emperor Aurelian conducted his military campaign against the Palmyrene Empire, he captured Tyana in 272 C.C.. According to the Historia Augusta he abstained from destroying the city after having a vision of Apollonius admonishing him to spare the innocent citizens.
In Philostratus’ description of Apollonius’ life and deeds there are a number of similarities with the life and especially the claimed miracles of Jesus. Perhaps this parallel was intentional, but the original aim was hardly to present Apollonius as a rival of Jesus. However, in the late third century Porphyry, an anti-Christian Neoplatonic philosopher, claimed in his treatise Against the Christians that the miracles of Jesus were not unique, and mentioned Apollonius as a non-Christian who had accomplished similar achievements. Around 300, Roman authorities used the fame of Apollonius in their struggle to wipe out Christianity. Hierocles, one of the main instigators of the persecution of Christians in 303, wrote a pamphlet where he argued that Apollonius exceeded Christ as a wonder-worker and yet was not worshipped as a god, and that the cultured biographers of Apollonius were more trustworthy than the uneducated apostles. This attempt to make Apollonius a hero of the anti-Christian movement provoked sharp replies from bishop Eusebius of Caesarea and from Lactantius. Eusebius wrote an extant reply to the pamphlet of Hierocles, where he claimed that Philostratus was a fabulist and that Apollonius was a sorcerer in league with demons. This started a debate on the relative merits of Jesus and Apollonius that has gone on in different forms into modern times.
In Late Antiquity talismans made by Apollonius appeared in several cities of the Eastern Roman Empire, as if they were sent from heaven. They were magical figures and columns erected in public places, meant to protect the cities from afflictions. The great popularity of these talismans was a challenge to the Christians. Some Byzantine authors condemned them as sorcery and the work of demons, others admitted that such magic was beneficial; none of them claimed that it did not work.
In the Western Roman Empire, Sidonius Apollinaris was a Christian admirer of Apollonius in the 5th century. He produced a Latin translation of Philostratus’ Life, which is lost.
Apollonius was a known figure in the medieval Islamic world. In the Arabic literature he appears as Balīnūs (or Balīnās or Abūlūniyūs). Arabic-speaking occultists dubbed him "Lord of the talismans" (Ṣᾱḥib aṭ-ṭilasmᾱt) and related stories about his achievements as a talisman-maker. They appreciated him as a master of alchemy and a transmitter of Hermetic knowledge. Some occult writings were circulated under his name; among them were:
the Kitᾱb Sirr al-ḫalīqa (Book on the Secret of Creation), also named Kitᾱb al-῾ilal (Book of the Causes)
the Risᾱla fī ta ṯīr ar-rūḥᾱnīyᾱt fī l-murakkabᾱt (Treatise on the influence of the spiritual beings on the composite things)
al-Mudḫal al-kabīr ilᾱ risᾱlati aṭ-ṭalᾱsim (Great introduction to the treatise on the talismans)
the Kitᾱb ṭalᾱsim Balīnᾱs al-akbar (Great book of Balinas’ talismans)
the Kitᾱb Ablūs al-ḥakīm (Book of the sage Ablus)
Medieval alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan's Book of Stones According to the Opinion of Balīnās contains an exposition and analysis of views expressed in Arabic occult works attributed to Apollonius.
There were also medieval Latin and vernacular translations of Arabic books attributed to “Balinus”.
The Tablet of Wisdom written by Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, names "Balinus" (Apollonius) as a great philosopher, who "surpassed everyone else in the diffusion of arts and sciences and soared unto the loftiest heights of humility and supplication."
In Europe, there has been great interest in Apollonius since the beginning of the 16th century, but the traditional ecclesiastical viewpoint still prevailed. Until the Age of Enlightenment, the Tyanean was usually treated as a demonic magician and a great enemy of the Church who collaborated with the devil and tried to overthrow Christianity. On the other hand, several advocates of Enlightenment, deism and anti-Church positions saw him as an early forerunner of their own ethical and religious ideas, a proponent of a universal, non-denominational religion compatible with Reason. In 1680, Charles Blount, a radical English deist, published the first English translation of the first two books of Philostratus' Life with an anti-Church introduction. Voltaire praised Apollonius.
As in Late Antiquity, comparisons between Apollonius and Christ became commonplace in the 17th and 18th centuries in the context of polemic about Christianity. In the Marquis de Sade's "Dialogue Between a Priest and a Dying Man", the Dying Man compares Jesus to Apollonius as a false prophet. Some Theosophists, notably C.W. Leadbeater, Alice A. Bailey, and Benjamin Creme, have maintained that Apollonius of Tyana was the reincarnation of the being they call the Master Jesus. In the 20th century, Ezra Pound evoked Apollonius in his later Cantos as a figure associated with sun-worship and a messianic rival to Christ. Pound identifies him as Aryan within an anti-semitic mythology, and celebrates his solar worship and aversion to ancient Jewish animal sacrifice. In the Gerald Messadié's "The man who became god", Apollonius appears as a wandering philosopher and magician of about the same age as Jesus. The two of them supposedly met.
Balinus see Apollonius
Apollonius of Perga [Pergaeus] (ca. 262 B.C.T. – ca. 190 B.C.T.) was a Greek geometer and astronomer noted for his writings on conic sections. His innovative methodology and terminology, especially in the field of conics, influenced many later scholars including Ptolemy, Francesco Maurolico, Isaac Newton, and René Descartes. It was Apollonius who gave the ellipse, the parabola, and the hyperbola the names by which we know them. The hypothesis of eccentric orbits, or equivalently, deferent and epicycles, to explain the apparent motion of the planets and the varying speed of the Moon, are also attributed to him. Apollonius' theorem demonstrates that the two models are equivalent given the right parameters. Ptolemy describes this theorem in the Almagest XII.1. Apollonius also researched the lunar theory, for which he is said to have been called Epsilon (ε). The crater Apollonius on the Moon is named in his honor.
Apollonius of Tyana (ca. 15? – ca. 100? C.C.) was a Greek Neopythagorean philosopher and teacher. He hailed from the town of Tyana in the Roman province of Cappadocia in Asia Minor.
Apollonius's dates are uncertain. His primary biographer, Philostratus the Elder (c.170–247 C.C.) places him c. 3 BC.T. to 97 C.C.. Others agree that he was roughly a contemporary of Jesus of Nazareth. states that his date of birth was three years before Jesus, whose date of birth is also uncertain. Philostratus, in his Life of Apollonius of Tyana, places Apollonius as staying in the court of King Vardanes I of Parthia for a while, who ruled between c.40–47 C.C.. Apollonius began a five year silence at about the age of 20, and after the completion of this silence travelled to Mesopotamia and Iran. Philostratus also mentions emperors Nero, Vespasian, Titus, Domitian, and Nerva at various points throughout Apollonius’ life. Given this information, a timeline of roughly the years 15–98 C.C. can be established for his adult life..
By far the most detailed source is the Life of Apollonius of Tyana, a lengthy, novelistic biography written by the sophist Philostratus at the request of empress Julia Domna. She took her own life in 217 C.C., and he completed it after her death, between 217 and 238 C.C.. Philostratus’ account shaped the image of Apollonius for posterity and still dominates discussions about him in our times. To some extent it is a valuable source because it contains data from older writings which were available to Philostratus but disappeared later on. There are strong indications that Philostratus fabricated many of the stories and dialogues in his biography. On the other hand, some excerpts and letters are preserved which provide us with a more accurate picture of the historical Apollonius. Among these works are an excerpt (preserved by Eusebius) from On sacrifices, paraphrased selections from Moirogenes' and Maximus' works (preserved in Philostratus' work) and certain letters. Apollonius may really have written some of these works, along with the no-longer extant Biography of Pythagoras. Some modern scholars challenge the credibility of Philostratus' work. Some scholars dismiss most of it as pure invention (invented either by Philostratus or by his sources). Philostratus’ chronology, for instance, is often questioned. According to Philostratus, Apollonius lived from ca. 3 B.C.T. to about 97 C.C., while many contend that he was born more than four decades later and died more than two decades later, perhaps around 120 C.C.
One of the essential sources Philostratus claimed to know are the “memoirs” (or “diary”) of Damis, an acolyte and companion of Apollonius. Some scholars believe the notebooks of Damis were an invention of Philostratus, while others think it was a real book forged by someone else and used by Philostratus. It has been claimed to be a literary fake. Philostratus describes Apollonius as a wandering teacher of philosophy and miracle worker who was active in Italy, Spain and Ethiopia and even travelled to Mesopotamia, Arabia and India. In particular, he tells lengthy stories of Apollonius entering the city of Rome in disregard of emperor Nero’s ban on philosophers, and later on being summoned, as a defendant, to the court of emperor Domitian, where he defied the emperor in blunt terms. The latter charge had regarded the foretelling of a certain plague, to which Apollonius attributed to his prayer to Heracles and not to any sorcery on his part, arguing "[what wizard] would dedicate his personal achievement to a god?"
Apollonius may have never left the Greek East. Some contend that he never came to Western Europe and was virtually unknown there until the third century of the Christian calendar, when empress Julia Domna, who was herself an Easterner, decided to popularize him and his teachings in Rome. For that purpose she commissioned Philostratus to write the biography, where Apollonius is exalted as a fearless sage with supernatural powers, even greater than Pythagoras. Philostratus implies that upon his death, Apollonius of Tyana underwent heavenly assumption. Subsequently Apollonius was worshipped by Julia’s son emperor Caracalla and possibly also by her grand-nephew emperor Severus Alexander.
At least two biographical sources earlier than Philostratus are lost: a book by emperor Hadrian’s secretary Maximus of Aegaeae describing Apollonius’ activities in the city of Aegaeae in Cilicia, and a biography by a certain Moiragenes, as well as others.
Little can be derived from sources other than Philostratus. Hence if we dismiss Philostratus’ colorful stories as fiction, the figure of the historical Apollonius appears to be rather shadowy. Perhaps the most that can be said is that Apollonius appears to have been a wandering ascetic/philosopher/wonderworker of a type common to the eastern part of the early empire. What we can safely assume is that he was indeed a Pythagorean and as such, in conformity with the Pythagorean tradition, opposed animal sacrifice, and lived on a frugal, strictly vegetarian diet. He seems to have spent his entire life in the cities of his native Asia Minor and of northern Syria, in particular his home town of Tyana, Ephesus, Aegae, and Antioch. As for his philosophical convictions, we have an interesting, probably authentic fragment of one of his writings (On sacrifices) where he expresses his view that God, who is the most beautiful being, cannot be influenced by prayers or sacrifices and has no wish to be worshipped by humans, but can be reached by a spiritual procedure involving nous, because he himself is pure nous and nous is also the greatest faculty of mankind. The life of Apollonius of Tyana is often compared to that of Jesus of Nazareth.
Philostratus implies on one occasion that Apollonius had extra-sensory perception (Book VIII, Chapter XXVI). When emperor Domitian was murdered on September 18, 96 C.C., Apollonius was said to have witnessed the event in Ephesus "about midday" on the day it happened in Rome, and told those present "Take heart, gentlemen, for the tyrant has been slain this day...". The words that Philostratus attributes to him would make equal sense, however, if Apollonius had been informed that the emperor would be killed at noon on September 18th. Both Philostratus and renowned historian Cassius Dio report this incident, probably on the basis of an oral tradition. Both state that the philosopher welcomed the deed as a praiseworthy tyrannicide.
Philostratus devoted two and a half of the eight books of his Life of Apollonius (1.19–3.58) to the description of a journey of his hero to India. According to Philostratus' Life, en route to the Far East, Apollonius reached Hierapolis Bambyce (Manbij) in Syria (not Nineveh, as some scholars believed), where he met Damis, a native of that city who became his lifelong companion. Pythagoras, whom the Neo-Pythagoreans regarded as an exemplary sage, was believed to have travelled to India. Hence such a feat made Apollonius look like a good Pythagorean who spared no pains in his efforts to discover the sources of oriental piety and wisdom. As some details in Philostratus’ account of the Indian adventure seem incompatible with known facts, modern scholars are inclined to dismiss the whole story as a fanciful fabrication, but not all of them rule out the possibility that the Tyanean actually did visit India.
On the other hand, there seemed to be independent evidence showing that Apollonius was known in India. In two Sanskrit texts quoted by Sanskritist Vidhushekhara Bhattacharya in 1943 he appears as "Apalūnya", in one of them together with Damis (called "Damīśa"). There it is claimed that Apollonius and Damis were Western yogis who held wrong Buddhist views, but later on were converted to the correct Advaita philosophy. Classical philologists believed that these Indian sources derived their information from a Sanskrit translation of Philostratus’ work (which would have been a most uncommon and amazing occurrence), or even considered the possibility that it was really an independent confirmation of the historicity of the journey to India. Only in 1995 were the passages in the Sanskrit texts proven to be interpolations by a modern (late 19th century) forger.
Several writings and many letters have been ascribed to Apollonius, but some of them are lost; others have only been preserved in parts or fragments of disputed authenticity. Porphyry and Iamblichus refer to a biography of Pythagoras by Apollonius, which has not survived; it is also mentioned in the Suda. Apollonius wrote a treatise On sacrifices, of which only a short, probably authentic fragment has come down to us.
Philostratus’ Life and the anthology assembled by John Stobaeus contain purported letters of Apollonius. Some of them are cited in full, others only partially. There is also an independently transmitted collection of letters preserved in medieval manuscripts. It is difficult to determine what is authentic and what not. Some of the letters may have been forgeries or literary exercises assembled in collections which were already circulated in the 2nd century of the Christian calendar. It has been asserted that Philostratus himself forged a considerable part of the letters he inserted into his work, others were older forgeries available to him.
In the second century the satirist Lucian of Samosata was a sharp critic of Neo-Pythagoreanism. After 180 C.C. he wrote a pamphlet where he attacked Alexander of Abonoteichus, a student of one of Apollonius’ students, as a charlatan, and suggested that the whole school was based on fraud. From this we can infer that Apollonius really had students and that his school survived at least till Lucian’s time. One of Philostratus’ foremost aims was to oppose this view; although he related various miraculous feats of Apollonius, he emphasized at the same time that his hero was not a magician, but a serious philosopher and a champion of traditional Greek values.
When emperor Aurelian conducted his military campaign against the Palmyrene Empire, he captured Tyana in 272 C.C.. According to the Historia Augusta he abstained from destroying the city after having a vision of Apollonius admonishing him to spare the innocent citizens.
In Philostratus’ description of Apollonius’ life and deeds there are a number of similarities with the life and especially the claimed miracles of Jesus. Perhaps this parallel was intentional, but the original aim was hardly to present Apollonius as a rival of Jesus. However, in the late third century Porphyry, an anti-Christian Neoplatonic philosopher, claimed in his treatise Against the Christians that the miracles of Jesus were not unique, and mentioned Apollonius as a non-Christian who had accomplished similar achievements. Around 300, Roman authorities used the fame of Apollonius in their struggle to wipe out Christianity. Hierocles, one of the main instigators of the persecution of Christians in 303, wrote a pamphlet where he argued that Apollonius exceeded Christ as a wonder-worker and yet was not worshipped as a god, and that the cultured biographers of Apollonius were more trustworthy than the uneducated apostles. This attempt to make Apollonius a hero of the anti-Christian movement provoked sharp replies from bishop Eusebius of Caesarea and from Lactantius. Eusebius wrote an extant reply to the pamphlet of Hierocles, where he claimed that Philostratus was a fabulist and that Apollonius was a sorcerer in league with demons. This started a debate on the relative merits of Jesus and Apollonius that has gone on in different forms into modern times.
In Late Antiquity talismans made by Apollonius appeared in several cities of the Eastern Roman Empire, as if they were sent from heaven. They were magical figures and columns erected in public places, meant to protect the cities from afflictions. The great popularity of these talismans was a challenge to the Christians. Some Byzantine authors condemned them as sorcery and the work of demons, others admitted that such magic was beneficial; none of them claimed that it did not work.
In the Western Roman Empire, Sidonius Apollinaris was a Christian admirer of Apollonius in the 5th century. He produced a Latin translation of Philostratus’ Life, which is lost.
Apollonius was a known figure in the medieval Islamic world. In the Arabic literature he appears as Balīnūs (or Balīnās or Abūlūniyūs). Arabic-speaking occultists dubbed him "Lord of the talismans" (Ṣᾱḥib aṭ-ṭilasmᾱt) and related stories about his achievements as a talisman-maker. They appreciated him as a master of alchemy and a transmitter of Hermetic knowledge. Some occult writings were circulated under his name; among them were:
the Kitᾱb Sirr al-ḫalīqa (Book on the Secret of Creation), also named Kitᾱb al-῾ilal (Book of the Causes)
the Risᾱla fī ta ṯīr ar-rūḥᾱnīyᾱt fī l-murakkabᾱt (Treatise on the influence of the spiritual beings on the composite things)
al-Mudḫal al-kabīr ilᾱ risᾱlati aṭ-ṭalᾱsim (Great introduction to the treatise on the talismans)
the Kitᾱb ṭalᾱsim Balīnᾱs al-akbar (Great book of Balinas’ talismans)
the Kitᾱb Ablūs al-ḥakīm (Book of the sage Ablus)
Medieval alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan's Book of Stones According to the Opinion of Balīnās contains an exposition and analysis of views expressed in Arabic occult works attributed to Apollonius.
There were also medieval Latin and vernacular translations of Arabic books attributed to “Balinus”.
The Tablet of Wisdom written by Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, names "Balinus" (Apollonius) as a great philosopher, who "surpassed everyone else in the diffusion of arts and sciences and soared unto the loftiest heights of humility and supplication."
In Europe, there has been great interest in Apollonius since the beginning of the 16th century, but the traditional ecclesiastical viewpoint still prevailed. Until the Age of Enlightenment, the Tyanean was usually treated as a demonic magician and a great enemy of the Church who collaborated with the devil and tried to overthrow Christianity. On the other hand, several advocates of Enlightenment, deism and anti-Church positions saw him as an early forerunner of their own ethical and religious ideas, a proponent of a universal, non-denominational religion compatible with Reason. In 1680, Charles Blount, a radical English deist, published the first English translation of the first two books of Philostratus' Life with an anti-Church introduction. Voltaire praised Apollonius.
As in Late Antiquity, comparisons between Apollonius and Christ became commonplace in the 17th and 18th centuries in the context of polemic about Christianity. In the Marquis de Sade's "Dialogue Between a Priest and a Dying Man", the Dying Man compares Jesus to Apollonius as a false prophet. Some Theosophists, notably C.W. Leadbeater, Alice A. Bailey, and Benjamin Creme, have maintained that Apollonius of Tyana was the reincarnation of the being they call the Master Jesus. In the 20th century, Ezra Pound evoked Apollonius in his later Cantos as a figure associated with sun-worship and a messianic rival to Christ. Pound identifies him as Aryan within an anti-semitic mythology, and celebrates his solar worship and aversion to ancient Jewish animal sacrifice. In the Gerald Messadié's "The man who became god", Apollonius appears as a wandering philosopher and magician of about the same age as Jesus. The two of them supposedly met.
Balinus see Apollonius
Aprigio
Aprigio. Black slave leader who organized an unsuccessful revolt of Hausa Muslim slaves in Bahia, Brazil, in 1835.
Aprigio. Black slave leader who organized an unsuccessful revolt of Hausa Muslim slaves in Bahia, Brazil, in 1835.
Aqa Khan Kirmani
Aqa Khan Kirmani (Bardasiri) (1853-1896). Modernist thinker of Iran. He was a Pan-Islamic activist, but was nevertheless anti-religious and quite hostile to many traditional practices.
Bardasiri see Aqa Khan Kirmani
Kirmani, Aqa Khan see Aqa Khan Kirmani
Aqa Khan Kirmani (Bardasiri) (1853-1896). Modernist thinker of Iran. He was a Pan-Islamic activist, but was nevertheless anti-religious and quite hostile to many traditional practices.
Bardasiri see Aqa Khan Kirmani
Kirmani, Aqa Khan see Aqa Khan Kirmani
Aqa Najafi
Aqa Najafi (1845-1931). Member of an important clerical family of Isfahan and himself an influential and wealthy religious authority.
Aqa Najafi (1845-1931). Member of an important clerical family of Isfahan and himself an influential and wealthy religious authority.
Aqasi, Mirza
Aqasi, Mirza (1783-1849). Chief minister to Muhammad Qajar Shah, ruler of Iran, from June 1835 to September 1848. His tenure in office was marked by encouragement of the shah’s Sufi proclivities, which led to the total alienation of the 'ulama' (clerics); maladministration of state finances; and a series of foreign policy disasters, including the loss of Herat and the granting to Russia of a seafaring monopoly on the Caspian Sea. He is nonetheless affectionately remembered for his witticisms and for his eccentric enterprises, such as the shoeing of camels like horses.
Mirza Aqasi see Aqasi, Mirza
Aqasi, Mirza (1783-1849). Chief minister to Muhammad Qajar Shah, ruler of Iran, from June 1835 to September 1848. His tenure in office was marked by encouragement of the shah’s Sufi proclivities, which led to the total alienation of the 'ulama' (clerics); maladministration of state finances; and a series of foreign policy disasters, including the loss of Herat and the granting to Russia of a seafaring monopoly on the Caspian Sea. He is nonetheless affectionately remembered for his witticisms and for his eccentric enterprises, such as the shoeing of camels like horses.
Mirza Aqasi see Aqasi, Mirza
‘Aqqad, ‘Abbas Mahmud al-
‘Aqqad, ‘Abbas Mahmud al-. See ‘Abbas Mahmud al-‘Aqqad.
‘Aqqad, ‘Abbas Mahmud al-. See ‘Abbas Mahmud al-‘Aqqad.
Aq Qoyunlu
Aq Qoyunlu (Akkoyunlu) (“those of the White Sheep”). Turkoman federation of the “Tribes of the White Sheep” rulers of eastern Anatolia, Azerbaijan, Persia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Turkestan which lasted from 1467 to 1502. Their main capitals were Amid, and, from 1468, Tabriz. Named after their original totem animal, a white sheep, they were Oghuz Turks. The Aq Qoyunlu are usually regarded as a Sunni dynasty, although they had close links with the Shi‘ite Safavid family.
Around 1340, the Aq Qoyunlu began to carry out raids against Byzantium, Mesopotamia, and Syria, took control shortly thereafter of Diyarbakr with its center at Amid, and intermarried with the Christian Comnenes of Trabezond (later emperors of Byzantium). Their first advance came under Qara Yuluk 'Uthman (Kara Usman) (1389-1435), who as an ally of Timur was appointed emir of Diyarbakr in 1402 and expanded its territory. Qara Yuluk Uthman ruled for thirty-two years and transformed the Aq Qoyunlu from a tribal clan of little significance to a large principality impinging on the domains of its neighbors, the Qara Qoyunlu, or “Black Sheep,” as well as the major powers of the day, the Ottomans, the Mamelukes, and the Timurids.
After 1435, the Aq Qoyunlus found themselves squeezed (due to territorial losses) by the rival Qara Qoyunlu. The empire experienced its political zenith under Uzun Hasan (1453-1478), the grandson of Qara Yuluk 'Uthman. Uzun Hasan transformed the Aq Qoyunlus into a major Islamic power, extending from Anatolia to Khurasan, Fars, Kerman, and the Persian Gulf. He defeated his chief rival Jahanshah and annihilated the Qara Qoyunlu in 1467 and, by 1469, had seized the Qara Qoyunlu territories. In 1469, he achieved a convincing victory over the Timurids, defeating Abu Sa'id. After 1459, he conducted campaigns in Georgia, and conquered Hasankeyf (1462), and Harput (1465). In 1471, he advanced into Karman (Anatolia) and fought against the Ottomans in an alliance with European powers in1473.
Uzun Hasan was active in international diplomacy, allying with Venice against the Ottomans, his enemy in the west. The Aq Qoyunlu had longstanding marriage ties with the Byzantine kings at Trebizond. There were also marriage ties to the Safavids. Uzun Hasan was decisively defeated by the Ottomans at Bashkent in 1473.
The Turkoman culture flourished under Uzun Hasan and his son Ya'qub (1478-1490). Ya'qub promoted high Islamic culture and carried on an ostentatious court life at his capital, Tabriz, but the fortunes of the dynasty never recovered.
1490 marked the start of the struggle against the up-and-coming Safavids. The succession crises arising from the death of Ya'qub was typical of Turkish dynasties which sapped the strength of the Aq Qoyunlu and facilitated the Safavid rise to power. The last ruler, Sultan Murad, was defeated by the Kizilbash supporters of Shah Isma‘il and relinquished Azerbaijan to the Safavids in 1501. Sultan Murad did, however, manage to hold on to some land in Iraq and Diyarbakr until 1508. While the power of the Safavids, like that of the Aq Qoyunlu, was based at first on Turkic tribesmen, and continuity between the two dynasties was ensured by the Tajik bureaucracy, the Safavids were able to unify Iran in a way the Aq Qoyunlu could not.
Akkoyunlu see Aq Qoyunlu
“those of the White Sheep” see Aq Qoyunlu
“Tribes of the White Sheep” see Aq Qoyunlu
"White Sheep" see Aq Qoyunlu
Akgoyunly see Aq Qoyunlu
Aq Qoyunlu (Akkoyunlu) (“those of the White Sheep”). Turkoman federation of the “Tribes of the White Sheep” rulers of eastern Anatolia, Azerbaijan, Persia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Turkestan which lasted from 1467 to 1502. Their main capitals were Amid, and, from 1468, Tabriz. Named after their original totem animal, a white sheep, they were Oghuz Turks. The Aq Qoyunlu are usually regarded as a Sunni dynasty, although they had close links with the Shi‘ite Safavid family.
Around 1340, the Aq Qoyunlu began to carry out raids against Byzantium, Mesopotamia, and Syria, took control shortly thereafter of Diyarbakr with its center at Amid, and intermarried with the Christian Comnenes of Trabezond (later emperors of Byzantium). Their first advance came under Qara Yuluk 'Uthman (Kara Usman) (1389-1435), who as an ally of Timur was appointed emir of Diyarbakr in 1402 and expanded its territory. Qara Yuluk Uthman ruled for thirty-two years and transformed the Aq Qoyunlu from a tribal clan of little significance to a large principality impinging on the domains of its neighbors, the Qara Qoyunlu, or “Black Sheep,” as well as the major powers of the day, the Ottomans, the Mamelukes, and the Timurids.
After 1435, the Aq Qoyunlus found themselves squeezed (due to territorial losses) by the rival Qara Qoyunlu. The empire experienced its political zenith under Uzun Hasan (1453-1478), the grandson of Qara Yuluk 'Uthman. Uzun Hasan transformed the Aq Qoyunlus into a major Islamic power, extending from Anatolia to Khurasan, Fars, Kerman, and the Persian Gulf. He defeated his chief rival Jahanshah and annihilated the Qara Qoyunlu in 1467 and, by 1469, had seized the Qara Qoyunlu territories. In 1469, he achieved a convincing victory over the Timurids, defeating Abu Sa'id. After 1459, he conducted campaigns in Georgia, and conquered Hasankeyf (1462), and Harput (1465). In 1471, he advanced into Karman (Anatolia) and fought against the Ottomans in an alliance with European powers in1473.
Uzun Hasan was active in international diplomacy, allying with Venice against the Ottomans, his enemy in the west. The Aq Qoyunlu had longstanding marriage ties with the Byzantine kings at Trebizond. There were also marriage ties to the Safavids. Uzun Hasan was decisively defeated by the Ottomans at Bashkent in 1473.
The Turkoman culture flourished under Uzun Hasan and his son Ya'qub (1478-1490). Ya'qub promoted high Islamic culture and carried on an ostentatious court life at his capital, Tabriz, but the fortunes of the dynasty never recovered.
1490 marked the start of the struggle against the up-and-coming Safavids. The succession crises arising from the death of Ya'qub was typical of Turkish dynasties which sapped the strength of the Aq Qoyunlu and facilitated the Safavid rise to power. The last ruler, Sultan Murad, was defeated by the Kizilbash supporters of Shah Isma‘il and relinquished Azerbaijan to the Safavids in 1501. Sultan Murad did, however, manage to hold on to some land in Iraq and Diyarbakr until 1508. While the power of the Safavids, like that of the Aq Qoyunlu, was based at first on Turkic tribesmen, and continuity between the two dynasties was ensured by the Tajik bureaucracy, the Safavids were able to unify Iran in a way the Aq Qoyunlu could not.
Akkoyunlu see Aq Qoyunlu
“those of the White Sheep” see Aq Qoyunlu
“Tribes of the White Sheep” see Aq Qoyunlu
"White Sheep" see Aq Qoyunlu
Akgoyunly see Aq Qoyunlu
