Apollonius of Tyana
Local traditions
Apollonius' Letters
Apollonius' books
Maximus of Aegae
Moeragenes
Damis of Nineveh
Evaluation of the sources
Contemporaries
'Divine men'
Magic in what sense?
Literature
Philostratus' Life of Apollonius
The longest and most important source on the life of Apollonius is a vie romancée by the Athenian author Philostratus (c.170-c.245 CE). It describes the sage of Tyana as a superhuman, neo-Pythagorean philosopher who tried to reform cultic practices in modern Greece, Turkey and Syria. We learn that he had several disciples, traveled extensively, met important Roman officials (a.o. the emperors Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian), and discussed with several other philosophers. The author of the Life of Apollonius (LoA) takes a special stand against the accusation that the man from Tyana had been a magician and stresses that the miracles that Apollonius performed were the result of his superior knowledge, not of wizardry (summary).
The plain of Tyana
The LoA is not a biography in our sense. It is written by a professional orator who wanted to show that the divine Apollonius was above all a champion of the Greek culture and a wise philosopher. Unfortunately, Philostratus had little affinity with philosophy; when the sage of Tyana speaks his words of wisdom, they are very hackneyed (e.g., an emperor must act as emperor as far as his imperial duties require, but as a private citizen as far as his own person is concerned) or even silly (e.g., although the soul wants to ascend to heaven, mountaineering does not bring it closer to God). Philostratus' lack of interest in philosophy and his own preoccupation with rhetoric, make the LoA a very unreliable source, as was already recognized by the Byzantine scholar Photius (more...).
However, it is possible -but difficult- to study the sources of Philostratus' book and try to see a little bit more of the true Apollonius. Philostratus mentions several sources:
- local traditions from towns like Ephesus, Tyana, Aegae, and Antioch;
- Apollonius' own letters and books;
- a book about Apollonius' infancy by Maximus of Aegae;
- the memoirs of his disciple Damis of Nineveh.
In this article, we will try to analyze the pre-Philostratean traditions and try to find out which parts of the LoA antedate Philostratus. When these older accounts are independent from each other and in agreement, we may assume that they contain some element of historical truth. The result will be a portrait of Apollonius rather different from the one offered by Philostratus.