Hello /lit/, this is my first time ever posting here so please

Start with..Plato!

Read this thread from the archive
>>9864494

Read Plato and Stanford's wiki's pages desu.

>>9888457
just like you I've come to develop a genuine interest for this (maybe more than an interest) for neoplatonism, medieval theology and particularly Plotinus.
i'm a phil. student so I already had some background when I had to read about this; and honestly I think you should, too, get some understanding of the basic aspects about greek philosophy (even though that was made to be a meme on here; in this case, I think it'd be completely accurate to say you need to have at least a partial understanding of Plato/Aristotle + stoicism/epicureanism before trying to read Plotinus).
As you might know, all this stuff is very.. well.. complex? so there's really no "short-cut" to reading the most important works from the authors themselves, i don't think reading short descriptions from wikipedia or whatever counts if you want to really get into it. However, there's a very good manual out there that sums most of this pretty well, so if you want to get a general grasp of everything while still mantaining depth you should read "A History of Philosophy" by Frederick Copleston.
That's what they gave us to read before getting into Plotinus.
I think this book is overall pretty great in describing the most important aspects of ancient greek philosophy, before and after christianism; it also is organized in chronological order, so that should help you in not losing grasp of what it says.
There’s an important historical component of all of this, so I think that, when reading about these philosophical/religious themes it’s not an exaggeration to say you need to read the essentials first, it’s not like “optional” because everything is deeply connected and if you lose track of some old schools of thought you’ll not be able to connect the past to the posterior ones.
So, even though I highly recommend Copleston’s book I think you should still read about the authors that are mentioned from the authors themselves. Particularly: Parmenides, Heraclitus (read about the controversy) and Plato + the critics of Plato obviously. Consider that neo-platonism is, at the end of the day, somewhat of a reply to the critics of Plato that reinforces some of his philosophy, while adding new things.

Gl with that if you still mantain the interest. And if you do, you might also want to check about a school of thought that emerged later partially influenced by the thoughts of Plotinus: negative/apophantic theology

>>9888737
>>9888810
>>9888814
>>9888855
Thanks guys. Looks like I'll be getting into some Plato.

i think there needs to be a plato->plotinus, etc. hermeticism/mysticism chart. or is there one

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Great guide!!!111!!!1111


The First Philosophers is a nice meme book on Presocratics.

I used Barnes textbook of Readings in Ancient Greek Philosophy as a textbook in undergrad.

I am also partial to Parmenides and Empedocles in Lombardo's translation.

Heidegger has interesting things to say about Heraclitus. The Art and Thought is a good book as well.

I quite like Pier Hadot's What is Ancient Philosophy? and Philosophy as a Way of Life for general Socratic philosophy information.

Enchiridion and Seneca for Stoicism.

Read Xenophon for shits and giggles.

Plato is worth reading if you didn't start with him. So is Aristotle. Cooper's Complete Works is the academic standard for Plato. Bollingen for Aristotle.

Btw: Thomas Taylor also has a good English series with Neoplatonic commentaries of Plato and Aristotle. Just fyi!

For the Neoplatonists you might need help tackling their main work. Especially if that is all you read by them:

Return to the One is a good supplementary text for Plotinus.

For Iamblichus, I would suggest Theurgy and the Soul to accompany.

For Proclus, I would suggest The Final Phase in Ancient Thought to accompany.

Uzdavinys is also helpful. All his books in English so far are good.

And don't forget the Orphic Hymns and Chaldean Oracles!

Re: Hermeticism

Kybalion is New Thought but pretty nice for newbs.

Salaman's Way of Hermes is a good layman text version. Copenhaver for academic standards. GRS Mead if you are a theosophist.

For hermetic magic, the Betz Greek Magical Papyri.

To decode read Stephen Skinner on Techniques of Graeco-Egyptian and Solomonic Magic.

On the subject of goetia, Jake Stratton-Kent is interesting in Geosophia.

You should also be going back in time to the Egyptians too. Pyramid and Coffin texts bro. Plus maybe Lubicz's Opening the Way? Idk.

>>9890024
This is a good post.

I used Barnes' Early Greek Philosophy for undergrad too

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>>9890099
I also like this.

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>>9890145
And this.