(Timaeus, Parmenides, Phaedrus and, possibly, Alcibiades I, Phaedo, Philebus and Sophist) and
A (Categories, Prior Analytics). He is credited with the titles, Pythagorean Way of Life,
Protrepticus, On the General Principles of Mathematics, Introduction to the Arithmetic of N
G, On Mysteries (the title comes from Ficino), a response to Porphurios on the use
of mysteries and religion in general, but also containing the core of his metaphysics, On the
Soul, which draws not only on Plato but Aristotle as well.
Influenced by Pythagorean doctrines, Iamblikhos’ philosophy is a complex version of
the teaching of P and Porphurios. He introduced triadic schemata into each level
of being below the first One, completely unspeakable, and the second One, not related to
the triadic structure of the intelligible realm. Below the second One are the Limit and the
Unlimited making up the One Existent (D, De Principiis 2, pp. 25.15–26.8 W.-C.).
Then come seven triads constituting the intelligible and intellective realms, of which the first
member is the One Existent, and the last, called Zeus, plays the role of the Demiurge
(P, In Tim. 1, p. 308.17–23). Other members of the triads were also identified as
gods, which shows the attempt to integrate traditional religion into Neo-Platonic meta-
physics. The realm of the soul also has a threefold structure, with a transcendent soul
differing both from the world-soul and from individual souls. In contrast to Plo ̄tinos,
Iamblikhos denies that any part of the individual human soul does not descend into body:
when connected, the whole human soul pervades the body. One consequence is the need for
theurgy to set the soul free of the pollution coming from bodies, the other is that the rational
element shows itself in each psychic activity of men, and even in the arrangement of the
human body (S, In De Anima: CAG 11 [1882] 187.35–188.3). He is also credited
with establishing the curriculum followed later in the Neo-Platonic schools at Athens and
Alexandria. For generations of later Neo-Platonists he was the authoritative philosopher
after Plato and Aristotle.
Ed.: (cited in works below)
B.D. Larsen, Jamblique de Chalcis (1972); J. Dillon, “Iamblichus of Chalcis (c. 240 – 325 A.D.),” ANRW
2.36.2 (1987) 862–909; RAC 16 (1994) 1244–1259, G. O’Daly; NP 5 (1998) 848–852, L. Brisson;
BNP 6 (2005) 666–670, M. Fusillo and L. Gallo.
Peter Lautner
Ianuarinus (ca 250 – 400 CE)
M B 23.24 (CML 5, p. 398) records his spleen-poultice, composed
of ben-nut oil (C 6.2.2), cardamom, mustard-seed, nettle-seed, pepper and purethron,
ground into vinegar, and placed over the spleen after washing the skin with natron-water.
For the name, cf. PLRE 1 (1971) 452–453.
Fabricius (1726) 252.
PTK
Iaso ̄n of Nusa (ca 80 – 10 BCE)
He succeeded P as head of the Stoic school in Rhodes; son of Menekrate ̄s and
of Poseido ̄nios’ daughter, Iaso ̄n was his grandfather’s student. He wrote two biographical
works, Lives of Famous Men and Successions of Philosophers, but no fragments of these or any
other works have been preserved.
RE 9.1 (1914) 780–781 (#1), F. Jacoby; GGP 4.2 (1994) 709, P. Steinmetz.
Jørgen Mejer
IASO ̄N OF NUSA