The Concept of Evil in the Chaldean Oracles

[Vetus Ordo]

The Concept of Evil in the Chaldean Oracles

By Nicola Spanu.

The Chaldean Oracles constitute a collection of 227 fragments in Greek hexameter verse written in the late 2nd century and which have reached us through quotations by mainly Neo-Platonic philosophers (in particular Proclus and Damascius); the more recent edition of the Oracles was published by Édouard des Places in 1971. The Chaldean Oracles were believed by Neo-Platonists to be revealed by the gods to their earthly representatives, Chaldean initiates called 'theurgists', or 'those who are capable of operating on the gods'. Although the complete text of the Oracles is lost as well as the treatises that Neo-Platonist philosophers like Porphyry, Iamblichus and Proclus wrote to elucidate their sometimes-obscure content, some fragments have been preserved which deal specifically with the problem of evil, both in general terms and with particular attention to the obstacles this poses to the theurgist's objective of becoming 'like God' (Thaetetus, 176 B). This paper will analyze existing Chaldean fragments, trying to reconstruct the way in which evil was conceived of by the Oracles and how they believed man could avoid its negative and destructive influence.

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