Apollonius of Tyana

[Awani]

This is a Phoenix-thread from the old site.

Apollonius of Tyana, or Balinas (Balínús) as the Arabs called him and also what I prefer, is an important hermetic figure and should not be ignored. I hope we can in this thread look into his teachings, and perhaps even discuss if he was - as it has been speculated - the true Jesus Christ.

The myth, to get it down in a very short passage, is as follows:

Thoth --> Hermes --> Balinas

Balinas is thus viewed as the third incarnation!

Bahá'u'lláh writes in his Lawh Basít al-Haqíqat (Tablet on the Uncompounded Reality):

After him [Hermes] Balínús derived his knowledge and sciences from the Hermetic Tablets and most of the philosophers who followed him made their philosophical and scientific discoveries from his words and statements.

In the Emerald Tablet of Jabir ibn Hayyan he pops up at the beginning because the legend goes that he possesed the original tablet (having found it in a cave):

Balinas mentions the engraving on the table in the hand of Hermes, which says:
Truth! Certainty! That in which there is no doubt!
That which is above is from that which is below, and that which is below is from that which is above, working the miracles of one.

The best account on Balinas is the following book (the site that hosts the book also contains a large bulk of information and writings on this elusive character):

The Life of Apollonius by Flavius Philostratus (this book escaped the burning of the Alexandrian Library)

Thoughts on this guy?

I use to believe he was a real person, but after digging a little deeper I think of him as the creation of Philostratus. If ever anything from the diary of Damis were to resurface, then I'd probably retract my opinion. But the Monkey Christ as he was called, is still very interesting, especially the lengths many early Christians went to- to suppress any and all comparisons with their newly forming religion. It's not to say it didn't all fall solely upon Philostratus's shoulders seeing as how there was record of Apollonius before hand...but he definitely brought it to a mythical proportion. If I were to guess, I'd suggest that the origin of Apollonius would have proliferated from the Pythagorean school itself and though the school vanished the myth carried on. However I have nothing that backs this other then a gut feeling, and since almost everything from the Pythagorean school has been lost through time I suppose we'll never know. Regardless he's still very interesting, though I don't think he was Jesus Christ anymore then I think Jesus was ever a flesh and blood real person.

[Frater IA]

I would have to read more, as well, I believe I will soon be working on archetypes. And frankly, when it comes down to archetypes........."if the shoe fits." The "quote" by carabric, I will have to humbly disagree with. While I am not Christian so I feel no overwhelming need to defend Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus is a prophet to many major religions, not just one, and they each have stories of his teachings and doings, as well as him having disciples in them all. The story of Reiki speaks of him as well, and that he retired to what is now modern day India where he passed in old age/ascended or whatnot. His final resting place is in India, and to this day is a very sacred site. I will study more on this Apollonius, whether he is the true Jesus or not is of no coincidence to what his teachings may unfold.

[HappyPotter]

From a runic Hyperborean Vedic teacher (Volkvs) I used to learn from about Jesus...

Jesus Christ is a biblical version of: Egyptian Horus, Vedic Krishna, Slavic Kresnik, Svarozich + cult of Svetovid, MythRa ("washing out"; shining out or Scepter in Treta Yuga; "3rd Era"(pre 5008 BCE; pre Kali Yuga(Kill; "penetration"; "Kala"(muddy, dirty); Vek (Viyek; Vyuga) - Yuga. ) - preMitrenye, Prometheus...
If they crucified a man; he became Living god which was re-SURrected " ("Sura"; "Morning dawn"; from NaZareth; "Falling star"; "Lucifer"; Venus...Osiris - Bacchus (center of the Vatican; Babylonian-Greek version of the Asuras; A'Sura; "Against Surya"; "Against Sun"; a parasitical version (and continuity) of Osiris-Horus.
__________________________________________

Note: Since what follows is no longer about 'Appolonius of Tyana', the new spin-off thread/topic is: Hyperborean Runic Vedic Spirituality

[zoas23]

This is a Phoenix-thread from the old site.

Apollonius of Tyana, or Balinas (Balínús) as the Arabs called him and also what I prefer, is an important hermetic figure and should not be ignored. I hope we can in this thread look into his teachings, and perhaps even discuss if he was - as it has been speculated - the true Jesus Christ.

The myth, to get it down in a very short passage, is as follows:

Thoth --> Hermes --> Balinas

Balinas is thus viewed as the third incarnation!

Bahá'u'lláh writes in his Lawh Basít al-Haqíqat (Tablet on the Uncompounded Reality):

In the Emerald Tablet of Jabir ibn Hayyan he pops up at the beginning because the legend goes that he possesed the original tablet (having found it in a cave):

The best account on Balinas is the following book (the site that hosts the book also contains a large bulk of information and writings on this elusive character):

The Life of Apollonius by Flavius Philostratus (this book escaped the burning of the Alexandrian Library)

Thoughts on this guy?

I go back to the first post of the thread... that's why I am quoting it.

The post finished with a quote by carabric (was he a person of the "old site"?) stating that Philostratus maybe invented Apollonius.

I disagree with that idea. I also disagree with the other idea, that Apollonius is "the real Jesus".

Some historical facts to have in mind:

The book was written as a commissioned book. The one who payed for the book was Julia Domna, one of the "four Julias" [Julia Domna, her sister Julia Maesa, and the two daughters of Julia Maesa: Julia Soemias and Julia Avita] who mostly controlled the whole of the Roman Empire by the beginning of the III century.



(BTW: if some of you haven't read the book "Heliogabalus, the Crowned Anarchist" by Antonin Artaud, you are missing one of the most fantastic and remarkable historical books that focus on Alchemy to explain history).

The Family of the "four Julias" had the "royal blood" that made their male sons become "Priest Kings" (or "main priests") of the religion of Elagabal ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elagabalus_%28deity%29).

The "Julias", had the strategy of using Religion to promote their sons as Emperors and give them more power.
Carcalla, the son of Julia Domna, who commissined the book, was a follower of a tiny "cult" based on Apollonius of Tyana. The "four Julias" held a lot of respect for Apollonius.

The book was written to give Apollonius a "mythical fame"... and he was not a character invented by Philostratus (i.e, he was asked to write a book about a person that the Roman Emperor Carcalla admired in a "religious" way). It is likely that Julia Domna perceived Apollonius as some sort of "Messiah" or "Prophet" linked to the Sun... and she had the "royal blood" that gave her own son the most important place in the Syrian sun-religion of Elagabal.

The book, however, was finished when both Julia Domna and Carcalla were dead.

When Carcalla was killed, he was followed by Macrinus (who probably planned and financed Carcalla's assasination), who was not related to the Family of the "Julias".

So Julia Soeaemias planned a coup d'etat and placed his son as the Emperor... and helped him to import to Rome the Religion of Elagabal. Soeaemias' son, however, started to act as Elagabal himself... and people started to call him just like his God... thus he became "Elagabalus" (though he never used this name in any official way).

The Empire of Elagabalus was mostly pure anarchy, because he was too young... and the Roman Empire became his playground... absolutely out of control (and probably the most surreal Emperor possible... please, read Artaud's book!!!).

... But, probably, Elagabalus kingdom as an Emperor, made the chances of establishing Apollonius as a "prophet" very weak. After his Kingdom, the Romans didn't want anyone playing with their Religion (very much like what happened after Akhenaten in Egypt... "once bitten,twice shy"... after a big Religious scandal with a God-Emperor, the population becomes more conservative).

But... no, Philostratus didn't invent Apollonius... even if it is true that he embellished his story.

Other versions were written after Philostratus' version. None of them with a clear author... and none of them having a wiki page in English!
i.e, Gesta Apolonii, Historia Apolonii Regis Tyrii, the Medieval book of Apolonius ( http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libro_de_Apolonio ).
I only had the chance to read this third book (The Medieval book of Apolonius), besides from Philostratus book, of course.

As for Apollonius being Jesus... I think it is an absurd idea.

My opinion is that:

-I have no idea if the historical Jesus existed or not.

-If he existed, then anyway his story was written by people who got very influenced by previous stories which have already been mentioned (Mithra, Osiris, the Greek-Roman Mystery Religions, Orpheus, etc)... and also very influenced by some philosophers (specially Philo of Alexandria... I have no doubts that John was mostly "plagiarizing" ideas of Philo of Alexandria when he wrote his Gospel).

So, what we received is a cocktail of influences... it doesn't really matter if a "historical person" was part of that cocktail or not (at least for me it doesn't matter at all).

The idea that Apollonius was Jesus, in my opinion, comes from the Medieval Book of Apollonius (XIII century).... the book was written by Christian priests, who had no access to Philostratus version and used the other two I've mentioned... And mostly were trying to write the story of Apollonius in a "Christian friendly" way, removing the Pagan Gods and making Apollonius become very close to the ideal of "imitation of Christ"... So they also embellished the story.

The problem was that these monks did a very good job and made Apollonius become too close to a perfect "imitation of Christ". So their book became a scandal... instead of being a "moral story" as it was meant to be, the book became very confusing: their Apollonius was so Christ-like that they almost looked like the same character!

I think that the Medieval Book brought the idea that Apollonius and Jesus were one and the same.