General Index

aetiology of disease 3, 71–2, 81, 96–7

alchemy 13, 17, 23–5, 29–30, 32–4, 39–42

Anaxagoras

cosmic intelligence (nous) and natural explanation 117

experiment 119–20

meteorological phenomena, natural explanation 118

portents and omens, natural explanation 119–20

targeting, Homer 118

Anaximander 166

apeiron, exhaustive ontology 48–9

Caddis fly life cycle 49–50

continuous generation of cosmos 50

doxographic tradition 46–8

eclipses, natural phenomena 54–5

meteorology 43–6

natural explanation, invariance and parsimony 44, 55–7

necessity 49

no extended world 48–9

numerology 53

pantheism 50–2

quality of theory 55–6

rejection of non-natural 55–7

Spartan earthquake 53–4

steering of cosmos 51–2

targeting of Homer’s and Hesiod’s non-natural explanation 45–6, 55–6

zoogony, natural explanation 49–50

Anaximenes

air as divine 60

analogy 58

cosmic soul 59–60

meteorological phenomena, natural explanation 58–9

natural explanation, invariance 60

naturalism 57–8

no extended world 57

steering principle 59–60

Archytas

Delian problem 145

metempsychosis, rejection of 144–5

music theory 146–7

no extended world 145

superparticular ratios 145–6

Pythagoreanism 144

Aristophanes

satire of meteorology, traditional gods and natural explanation 121–2

Aristotle

dreams and divination 32–4

effect of heavens on terrestrial realm 28–9

elemental transmutation 29–30

elements, contraries 30

elements, natural motions 25–6

horoscopic astrology 28–9

inclined circle 26–7

kata phusin, para phusin 24–5

macrocosm/microcosm analogy 31–2

natural alchemy 29–30

natural astrology 25–9

naturalism 24–5

Pythagoras 136–7

William Harvey 34–5

astrology 13, 16–17, 23–9, 32–5, 37–9, 41–2, 80–1, 127, 143–4, 148, 149, 155, 199

irrational doctrine 24

atomism 4, 162, 171, 185, 188–9, 190, 192, 196, 197

biological analogy 4, 10, 25, 96, 132, 185, 189–91, 198, 199, 201

cosmic intelligence 12–14, 51, 60–1, 66, 114, 117

cosmogony 10, 32, 50, 57, 60, 63–4, 67, 75, 85, 87–8, 98–9, 102, 108, 110, 114, 139, 142, 169–71, 176, 183, 185, 192, 198, 200

cosmology 3, 13, 19, 21, 24, 26, 28, 34, 37, 39, 53, 57, 58, 63–4, 85, 87–8, 99, 102–3, 114, 115, 128–30, 139, 141–2, 144, 145–7, 153, 156–8, 160–1, 162–4, 171, 173, 198

cosmos, as good 15, 21, 151, 162

creation accounts 63–4

Derveni papyrus

attack of religious and magic practices 116

cosmos, regularity 115–16

dream divination 115

Heraclitus 115–16

Hippocratic corpus 116

targeting, naturalistic interpretation of theogeny 116

targeting, Orphic riddles 114

Diogenes of Apollonia

steering principle 61

divine/divinity 1–4, 6, 13–14, 16, 20, 32–3, 36, 43, 50–2, 56, 59–60, 64–6, 70, 72–82, 89–93, 95, 97–9, 104, 110, 113, 117, 119, 123, 125, 128, 164, 167, 171, 178–9, 181, 186, 187, 192–3, 197–9, 204

dreams and divination 16, 32–6, 41, 53–4, 70, 85, 90–2, 94–8, 111, 113, 115, 125, 185, 187, 194–7, 203–4

Empedocles

cosmic cycle 170–1

cosmic cycle, mythology 174–5

cosmogony, naturalistic 169–71

divination 178–9

gods, long-lasting 174

hexameter verse 168

immortality 177–8

Love and Strife, associative and dissociative principles 172–3

magic, natural 175–7

metempsychosis, non-natural 179–80

meteorology, natural explanation 169

naturalism and non-naturalism 182–3

ontology, naturalistic 168–9

Pythagoreanism 182

shamanism 177

soul 180

Strasbourg papyrus 167

targeting, Hesiod and Homer, limits of human power 181–2

teleology 173

unity of On Nature and On Purifications 137

zoogony 171–2

Euripides

belief in gods, natural explanation 123–4

prayer and Greek religion 124

Sisyphus fragment 122–3

experiment 53, 96, 119–20, 125

extended world 18–21, 48, 57, 62, 67, 145, 147, 188

broad-spectrum views thesis 19

historiography of magic 18–19

gods 1–4, 7–8, 10–11, 13–15, 17, 19–20, 44–7, 49, 52, 55, 58, 60, 63–7, 69–72, 74–8, 81–2, 86, 89–97, 101–2, 104–10, 112–14, 119, 121–5, 143, 161–2, 168–9, 174, 178–83, 185–7, 189, 192–7, 199, 201–3,

Greek enlightenment, miracle 6

harmonics 32, 128–31, 139, 144, 146, 159, 162

Heraclitus

cosmos, natural explanation 110–11

critique of religion 112–13

Derveni papyrus 115–16

dreams and divination 111

eschatology 113

invariance 111

meteorological phenomena, natural explanation 111–12

pantheism, civil law 112–13

Pythagoras, critique of 133

steering principle 111–12

targeting, Hesiod 111–12

Hippocratic corpus

Derveni papyrus 116

divinity 70

heterogeneity 98

meteorological phenomena, natural explanation 82–3

Milesians 70

On Regimen

biological analogies and mechanistic explanation 96

dreams, macrocosm/microcosm explanation, dreams and the body 94–6

dreams, natural provenance of divine dream 90–1

Heraclitus 86–7, 88

macrocosm/microcosm analogy, structure of body and cosmos 85–6

macrocosm/microcosm explanation, dreams and the body 94–6

magic, natural 89, 97

nature, capable of healing 89–90

nature, divine 99

nature, natural order and uniformity 87–8

prayer, pantheistic, non-intercessory 92–4

prophecy (mantikê), natural 88–9

prophecy (mantikê), proper art (technê) 91–2

quality of theories 96–7

steering principle, fire 86–8, 95

targeting 88, 89, 90

On the Sacred Disease

attack on magic as non-natural 73–4

nature and piety, cosmos as aesthetically and morally good 76

natural explanation, all phenomena 78–9

natural explanation, disease 72–3

natural and non-natural, a gulf 74

non-natural 80–1

pantheism, nature and the divine 75–6, 78

polemical context, human and the divine 77–8

rationalism and supernaturalism 69–70

‘religiosities’ 76–7

steering principle 75

targeting, Homer and Hesiod 81–2

intervention 7, 19–20, 30, 44–5, 49, 55, 58, 71, 75, 81–2, 93, 96, 109–10, 116, 120, 171, 187

invariance 10, 14, 55–6, 66, 95, 111–12

Leucippus and Democritus

atomist ontology 188–9

belief in gods 186

biological analogies, natural explanation 189–91

divine 197

forces 191–2

images (eidôla), explaining belief in dreams and divination 194–6

images (eidôla), explaining belief in gods 194–5

like-to-like, sorting principle 190–2

mechanical philosophy 189–90

meteorological phenomena, natural explanation 186–8

Metrodorus 188

no extended world 188

prayer, hope to meet good images (eidôla) 196

targeting, Derveni papyrus 186

targeting, Hesiod and Homer 185–6, 188, 189, 195

theology 192–4

macrocosm/microcosm analogy 13, 17, 23–5, 31–2, 34–5, 37–9, 39–41, 60, 85–6, 94–5, 97, 200

Aristotle, heavens and weather cycle 31–2

Giordano Bruno, circulation of blood 39–40

Plato, humans and the cosmos 37–9

William Harvey, circulation of blood 34–5

magic 1, 4–7, 11–13, 15, 17, 18–19, 20–1, 24, 31, 69, 73–4, 98–9, 116, 137–8, 147, 149, 173, 175–8, 181–3, 200–2, 204

mechanical philosophy 4, 19, 96, 189–91

metempsychosis 3, 106, 127, 129, 131–2, 135, 137–42, 144, 146–8, 166, 176, 179–80, 182

meteorology 3, 4, 11, 13, 21, 25–7, 43–6, 58–9, 82–3, 104–5, 111–12, 118, 121–2, 135–6, 169, 181, 186–8

Metrodorus 188

modern magic 5

music theory 21, 129–31, 138, 141, 144–8, 151, 156–7, 161

naturalism 1, 4, 5, 11, 24, 55, 57–8, 101, 124–5, 200–2

natural magic and natural theology 4, 11–16

Aristotelianism 13

invariance 14

law-like explanation 12

pantheism 14–15

religion and science 15

Renaissance 11–12, 34–5

sympathetic interaction 12–13

nature

divine nature 13–14, 199–200

kata phusin, para phusin, huper phusin 9–11, 24–5, 36, 86, 87–8

natural laws 7–9

non-natural 10–11

order 9–11

Phusis 2

supernatural 7–9

non-natural 10–11

numerology 1, 19, 21, 53, 127, 128, 133, 142, 144–8, 149–66, 199–200, 204–5

bi-polar approach 21

Burkert on Pythagorean numerology 150–1

definitions 155–6

isopsephy 151, 156

Mendelev’s periodic table 153

modern numerology 151–2

number and mathematical science 150

number and properties 154–5

numerology and mathematics 152–3

‘primitive’ 150–1

Pythagorean 156–60

tetraktys 151

unverifiable, unfalsifiable 152–3

Orphism 14, 64–5, 101–2, 113–14, 124–5, 132, 135, 193–4, 200, 203

pantheism 14–15, 21, 43, 51–2, 55–6, 66–7, 70, 75, 77, 88, 98, 108, 193, 203–4

explanatory vacuity of, 75, 88, 204

Philolaus

astrological practice 143

astrology, natural 144

limited and unlimited 143

metempsychosis, rejection of 139–41

naturalism, cosmos 139

naturalism, epistemology 139

Pythagoreanism 140

piety 3, 15, 70, 72, 76, 77, 83, 99, 107, 109, 119, 199, 200, 203

Plato

alchemy 40–1

divination 36

elemental transmutation 40–1

geometric atomism 35

Kepler, mathematisation of universe and comprehensibility of universe 161–3

macrocosm/microcosm analogy, human soul and world soul, heavens and human body 37–8

material explanation and Forms 36–7

meteorological phenomena 35–6

natural astrological interpretation of cosmology 37–9

natural explanation 35–7

number, geometric cosmos 160

number, musical harmony 160–1

Pythagoreanism 160–1

Renaissance and neoplatonism 39–40

polemic context 2–3, 18, 21, 45, 70, 77–8, 83, 116, 202–3

portents and omens 36, 54–5, 104, 119, 120–1, 125

prayer 3, 15, 20–1, 55, 76, 78, 91–5, 97, 101, 109, 124, 196–201, 203

presocratics

classification 6–7

elision 16–17

prophecy (mantikê) 88, 91–2, 111, 115, 179, 200, 204

Pythagoras

akousmatikoi and mathêmatikoi 138

Aristotle, nothing non-natural 136–7

golden thigh 137

harmonics, musical theory 131

Heraclitus’ critique of Pythagoras 133

historicity, problems 128

metempsychosis 131–3

meteorology, non-natural explanation 135–6

number as constituents of world 129–30

Orphism 135

Pythagoras’ theorem 129

rational scientists and religious figure 128–9

shamanism 133–5

soul, material 132

tetraktys 130–1

Pythagoreanism

‘Cleansing Pythagoreanism’ 147

Empedocles 182

non-naturalism 182

number, cosmic harmony 163–4

numerology 204–5

Burkert on Pythagorean numerology 150

cosmic numerology, harmony in the heavens 157–60

numerological music theory 156–7

philosophical (epistemological) motivations 164

periphusis tradition 166

Plato 160–1

rationalism 5, 52, 69, 95, 99

religion 3–5, 14–15, 17–19, 76, 82–3, 96, 107, 112, 124–5, 138, 167, 176, 196, 203–5, 207–9, 211–12, 217, 226, 228

shamanism 3, 127–8, 131, 133–5, 138, 145, 147, 177

steering principle 51–2, 59–60, 61, 66, 75, 85–8, 111, 114, 185, 119–200, 204

supernatural

explanation of meteorological phenomena 3

Hellenocentricism 1

irrational beliefs 1, 7

metempsychosis 3

natural 7–9

non-natural 10–11

prayer and divination 3

presocratic rejection, critique of 1–4

religious and magical belief 1–3

targeting thesis 17–18, 21, 45–6, 65, 67, 70–2, 81–2, 88, 89, 90, 98–9, 103, 105, 113–16, 118, 124–5, 181–2, 189, 195, 202–3

non-natural explanation 200

rejection of Homer and Hesiod, interventionism 55–6

teleology 37, 75, 171, 173

Thales

cosmic intelligence 66

cosmology and cosmogony 63–4

gods 65–7

invariance 66

natural explanation 62

no extended world 61–2

on-going process of creation 63

sources 64–5

steering principle, self-motion 66

theology 4–5, 13–15, 75–6, 78, 94, 101–2, 104, 106–7, 124, 127, 174, 185, 192

Thucydides

non-natural intervention, rejection of 120

plague of Athens 120–1

portents and omens, rejection of 121

Xenophanes

cosmogony, cyclical theory 102–3

divination 106

metempsychosis, rejection of 106

meteorological phenomena, natural explanation 104–5

prayer, achieving what is right 109

quality of theories 109–10

rainbows, rejection of portent 104–5

St. Elmo’s fire, natural explanation 103–4

targeting, Homer and Hesiod 102, 104–5

theology, monotheism 107

theology, negative 101–2

theology, non-interventionism 108

theology, pantheism 108

zoogony 10, 49–50, 57, 67, 117, 170–2, 176–7, 183, 200