Edward Butler

Master thread of my books, newest to oldest. Polytheism in Greek Philosophy amzn.to/44f3w1f (#advertisement)

@true_concinnity There was less access to Plato's actual texts than you might think, both for the Arabs and for Aquinas.

I mean, all these guys were reading Plato

Fascinating syncretism

A number of interesting articles in the latest issue of the open access journal Pallas: Revue d'études antiques (French w/English abstracts) journals.openedition.org/pallas/30661

Even under the Taliban government, prayers continue at Kabul’s historic Asamai Mandir this Chaitra Navratri. Devotees performed puja in honor of Maa Brahmacharini, symbolising purity, austerity and strength. At the foothills of Koh-e Asamai, the sacred Akhand Jyoti, believed to burn for over 4,000 years, stands as a powerful symbol of resilience and unbroken faith.

@PalinodeProd Damn it, forgot to put my shoes away.

The Next Episode of The Ladder: Journeys in Platonic Mysticism is Out! Thinking With the Gods?: Edward Butler on Henads, Peculiarity, and Radical Plurality palinode.substack.com/p/thinking-wit…

“Habermas[‘s]… mask of the careful and rigorous thinker covers over a structure of disavowal at the heart of his practice: he knows very well that his interlocutors are making sophisticated arguments, but all the same treats them as irrationalists.” terenceblake.wordpress.com/2026/03/15/no-…

“The New Year’s Festival encompasses nearly all of the tenets of Babylonian religion…” neptunesdolphins.wordpress.com/2026/03/19/aki…

@true_concinnity Thank you, Steven! That means a lot.

Man, @EPButler is so good at articulating deeply abstract ideas 😄 wonderful discussion. Give it a listen! @palinode/note/p-191547963?r=1v92rq" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">substack.com/@palinode/note…

Over the years, I have encountered an anxiety or discomfort with the religious epistemology behind Pagan traditions. "How do you *know* that Asclepius is even real? Where did that name even come from? When did he appear and reveal himself?" I have many thoughts on the mindset underlying and fueling this concern, such as of taking matters into one's own hands and objectifying what transcends objectification, but here I simply want to point out that it seems to be a mindset of being trapped in one's own head. If I just *look* out at how things have actually gone, I can *see* that a genuine plurality arose (as opposed to a mere aggregate)--thereby requiring a unifying center--which center was declared by its participants to be this God or that God. Whence cometh the pre-disposed skepticism? Or the doubt in Providence, in any case? Shall I suspend judgment about the testimony of red things about what unifies them? This is an atheist outlook manifesting, however subtly or implicitly. Food for self-reflection.

Thinking With the Gods?: Edward Butler on Henads, Peculiarity, and Radical Plurality open.substack.com/pub/palinode/p…

Kayla Toves, who is Kanaka‘ Oiwi and Acoma Pueblo, needed a language credit to graduate from Cornell. She fought to have her Indigenous language of Ōlelo Hawaiʻi count and won! nativenewsonline.net/education/corn…

@frater_dt What a handsome edition!

“This, therefore, is mathematics: she reminds you of the invisible forms of the soul; she gives life to her own discoveries; she awakens the mind and purifies the intellect; she brings light to our intrinsic ideas; she abolishes oblivion and ignorance which are ours by birth.” -Proclus, Commentary on Euclid's Elements

Ancient Philosophy Society at NYU Program ancientphilosophysociety.org/website/ancien…

My local jinja has put this year's straw snake on the torii. mimusubi.com/2026/03/20/202…

@alka9scotus @Outisemoi @StarkConor Much more on this page. henadology.wordpress.com/philosophy/

@alka9scotus @Outisemoi @StarkConor "Polytheism and Individuality in the Henadic Manifold," Dionysius 23 (2005), pp. 83-104. henadology.wordpress.com/wp-content/upl…

What is the reason for translating Proclus’s henadic manifold (theios arithmos) as “divine set” rather than “divine number”? Is there a work on Greek mathematics that makes this case? Fwiw: I like the translation, I’m just trying to better understand the rationale. @EPButler @parhypostates @Outisemoi @philoantonio @jabgreig

@alka9scotus @Outisemoi @StarkConor Participation does not apply to this relationship. The One is unparticipated, and the henads are participated by beings, but do not Themselves participate.

@EPButler @Outisemoi @StarkConor And the one then is purely mediated by these beings, or incidental to them and by their appearance given condition? Would this amount to say the one participates in henads, or that neither the one nor the henads has participation in the other, that neither mediates the other?

This is true. Justinian shut down the ancient Platonic Academy in Athens and gave the pagans and neo-Platonists an ultimatum to embrace Christianity within three months or suffer death. According to Agathias, several neo-Platonist philosophers (e.g. Damascius, Simplicius of Cilicia, and Priscian of Lydia) fled to Persia to escape persecution from the Romans/Byzantines. « Ἐν αὐτῷ δὲ τῷ χρόνῳ διωγμὸς γέγονεν Ἑλλήνων μέγας, καὶ πολλοὶ ἐδημεύθησαν, ἐν οἷς ἐτελεύτησαν Μακεδόνιος, Ἀσκληπιόδοτος, Φωκᾶς ὁ Κρατεροῦ, καὶ Θωμᾶς ὁ Κοιαίστωρ· καὶ ἐκ τούτου πολὺς φόβος γέγονεν. ἐθέσπισε δὲ ὁ αὐτὸς βασιλεὺς ὥστε μὴ πολιτεύεσθαι τοὺς ἑλληνίζοντας, τοὺς δὲ τῶν ἄλλων αἱρέσεων ὄντας ἀφανεῖς γενέσθαι τῆς Ῥωμαϊκῆς πολιτείας, προθεσμίαν τριῶν μηνῶν λαβόντας εἰς τὸ γενέσθαι αὐτοὺς κοινωνοὺς τῆς ὀρθοδόξου πίστεως. ὅστις θεῖος τύπος ἐνεφανίσθη ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ἐξωτικαῖς πόλεσιν... Επί δε της υπατείας του αυτού Δεκίου ο αυτός βασιλεύς [sc. ὁ Ιουστινιανός] θεσπίσας πρόσταξιν ἔπεμψεν ἐν Ἀθήναις, κελεύσας μηδένα διδάσκειν φιλοσοφίαν μήτε νόμιμα [vl. ἀστρονομίαν] ἐξηγεῖσθαι, μήτε κόττον ἐν μιᾷ τῶν πόλεων γίνεσθαι, ἐπειδὴ ἐν Βυζαντίῳ εὑρεθέντες τινὲς τῶν κοττιστῶν καὶ βλασφημίαις δειναῖς ἑαυτοὺς περιβαλόντες, χειροκοπηθέντες περιεμβωβήθησαν ἐν καμήλοις.» "At that time there arose a great persecution of the Graeco-Roman pagans, and many were subjected to confiscation of property; among them perished Macedonius, Asclepiodotus, Phokas son of Krateros, and Thomas the Koiaistor. From this there came about great fear. The same emperor enacted a decree that those who practice Hellenic religion were not to participate in civic life, and that those belonging to other sects should be removed from the Roman polity, granting them a deadline of three months in which to become partakers of the Orthodox faith. This divine ordinance was made manifest in all the cities abroad... ... In the consulship of the same Decius, the same emperor [i.e. Justinian], having issued a decree, sent it to Athens, ordering that no one teach philosophy, nor explain the laws [some read: "astronomy"], nor that any "kottoi" (games of chance, likely involving dice, possibly a Slavic loan, cf. Russian кость, "bone, die") be held in any of the cities, because certain kottoi-players (rendered in Latin as āleātōrēs) were found in Byzantium who, having entangled themselves in terrible blasphemies, were paraded about on camels after having their hands cut off." - Chronographia of John Malalas

Orientation of the deities in the rituals