Ebook: The Chaldean Oracles: Text, Translation and Commentary

The Chaldean Oracles are a collection of abstruse, hexameter verses purported to have been "handed down by the gods" to a certain Julian the Chaldean and/or his son, Julian the Theurgist, who flourished during the late second century C.E. Although the term "Chaldean" is generally understood in a metaphoric sense to designate Julian's "spiritual" affinity with the wisdom of the East, it has also been argued that Chaldea was the actual homeland of Julian pater, who may have migrated to Rome following Trajan's military campaigns in the East. Another possibility recently suggested by H.-D. Saffrey is that the 'Juliani' may have been of Syrian origin. This suggestion is supported in part by the occurrence of the names "Ad" and "Adad" (the latter a corruption of the Syrian Hadad) in Chaldean material preserved by Proclus. In addition, the striking parallels between several of the fragments of the Oracles and fragments of Numenius (who was both a contemporary of Julian 'fils' as well as a native of Apamea in Syria) point in the same direction.