Beyond the Two Hymns Already Catalogued

This entry addresses Neoplatonism as a broader philosophical and ritual tradition beyond the two specific surviving hymns of Proclus catalogued individually elsewhere in this atlas, since Neoplatonism as a school of late antique philosophy, developed from Plotinus through Porphyry, Iamblichus and Proclus, incorporated an extensive practice called theurgy, ritual action understood as assisting the soul's ascent toward and reunion with the divine source of reality, involving invocation and ritual technique considerably more extensive than the two surviving hymns alone can represent, material largely known today only through philosophical discussion and description in surviving Neoplatonist texts rather than through preserved liturgical scripts of the specific rituals themselves. Iamblichus in particular developed extensive theoretical justification for theurgic ritual practice within Neoplatonist philosophy, arguing against Porphyry's more purely contemplative approach that ritual action, properly understood, plays a necessary role in the soul's return to the divine, a genuine internal philosophical debate within ancient Neoplatonism this entry notes without attempting to adjudicate.