The six books of Proclus, the Platonic successor, on the theology of Plato…

Granada in Flammen by Ludwig Huna is a novel written in the early 20th century. It likely presents a historical drama set in Granada during violent upheaval, following people caught between clashing powers and creeds. Readers can expect city-wide peril, cultural tension, and characters wrestling with loyalty, belief, and survival. The opening of the provided text is actually Thomas Taylor’s extended introduction to his English translation of Proclus’ Platonic Theology, not a scene from a historical novel. It argues for a hierarchical, Neoplatonic cosmos that flows from an ineffable One through ranks of divine unities to intellect, soul, nature, and body, defending a learned form of polytheism and the idea that stars and the world are ensouled. The author cites Greek philosophers, late antique theologians, and even biblical passages to claim that a plurality of divine powers is compatible with ancient wisdom, contrasts this view with later Christian practice (especially Catholic veneration of saints and relics), and defends statues and rites as symbolic aids rather than idols. He contrasts a vital, harmonious cosmos with mechanistic astronomy, then explains that Proclus’ work is rigorous, demanding, and best grasped by readers trained in Platonic studies. The section closes by praising the clarity and grandeur of Proclus’ style and by framing the translation as a careful, scientific exposition of Platonic theology. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Read or download for free

For an overview of the different reading options, see our Reading Guide

Reading Options Url Size
Read now! https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77393.html.images 1.2 MB
EPUB3 (E-readers incl. Send-to-Kindle) https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77393.epub3.images 745 kB
EPUB (older E-readers) https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77393.epub.images 753 kB
EPUB (no images, older E-readers) https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77393.epub.noimages 657 kB
Kindle https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77393.kf8.images 1.2 MB
older Kindles https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77393.kindle.images 1.1 MB
Plain Text UTF-8 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77393.txt.utf-8 1.1 MB
Download HTML (zip) https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/77393/pg77393-h.zip 553 kB
There may be more files related to this item.

About this eBook

Author Proclus, 412-485
Translator Taylor, Thomas, 1758-1835
Title The six books of Proclus, the Platonic successor, on the theology of Plato (vol. 1 of 2) : translated from the Greek, to which a seventh book is added, in order to supply the deficiency of another book on this subject, which was written by Proclus, but since lost, also, a translation from the Greek of Proclus' Elements of theology, to which are added a translation of the treatise of Proclus, On providence and fate, a translation of extracts from his treatise, entitled, Ten doubts concerning providence, and a translation of extracts from his treatise on the subsistence of evil; as preserved in the Bibliotheca Gr. of Fabricus
Original Publication London: Law and Co., 1816.
Contents On the theology of Plato (Books 1-5).
Credits Karin Spence and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.)
Language English
LoC Class B: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion
Subject Theology -- Early works to 1800
Subject Neoplatonism -- Early works to 1800
Subject Plato -- Early works to 1800
Category Text
EBook-No. 77393
Release Date
Most Recently Updated Dec 4, 2025
Copyright Status Public domain in the USA.
Downloads 1147 downloads in the last 30 days.
Project Gutenberg eBooks are always free!