Iamblichus was a Syrian philosopher, Neoplatonist, and student of
Porphyry who applied Platonism to the “Mysteries.” He was deeply impressed by the doctrines of
Plotinus and combined with
Plato’s ideas many of those of
Pythagoras and much that was mystical and even magical, derived from Asia. His following was large and enthusiastic in his own time, as well as in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries among certain thinkers. He wrote
On the Egyptian Mysteries in addition to several writings on mathematical and philosophical subjects.