Introduction

If the tenacity with which Neoplatonism establishes itself as a leading school in the complex philosophical environment of late antiquity seems inner-disciplinary and, in this sense, more narrow, its relation with the burgeoning religious trends of its time involves both outspoken refutation, in the case of Gnosticism and Christianity, and impassioned a liation, in the case of the Chaldaean Oracles and other sacred texts. e expanse of this area of Neoplatonic studies and its substantial overlap with topics in metaphysics, psychology and legacy compelled us to highlight only the two sub-areas of Gnosticism and Indian thought, the notable advances of which have forced us to re-evaluate our previous understanding and have opened major areas of research. “Plotinus and the Gnostics: opposed heirs of Plato” (Chapter 5) shows that behind the open animosity between Plotinus and the Gnostics, there are subtle threads of conceptual cooperation that deserve a second look (the latest instalment is Narbonne 2011a). Similarly, our attempts to look farther east, past the birthplace of the Chaldaean Oracles, to the ever-elusive “Orient” have been persistent but also marginalized by our preconceptions of rationality, philosophy and spirituality. Our inclination to compartmentalize di erent modes of thought has already required from us, in the many faces of Neoplatonism, a great deal of adaptation. But, as presented in “Plotinus and the Orient: aoristos dyas” (Chapter 6), we still have a much longer road to travel.1 By editorial decision, the length of the last two chapters is expanded in order to increase the visibility and accessibility of otherwise less known material to the general readership of the volume.