Marcus Aurelius' "Meditations"

[Antonine]

I am finishing the book now and wholeheartedly recommend it. The Stoic philosophy is also reconcilable with non-Hellenic religions and cultures, which is why it has had a lot of influence along with Platonism in the east.

[Cato]

Excerpts of Diogenes Laertius' Life of Zeno (C.D. Yonge translation, 1854 or thereabouts). Zeno was the founder, or first explainer, of Stoicism; he was either a Hellenized Phoenician or a Greek from the Phoenician city of Kition (Citium).

"God is one, and he is called Mind, and Fate, and Jupiter, and many other names besides..."

"The [the Stoics] also say that God [Jupiter/Zeus] is a living being, immortal, rational, perfect, and intellectual in his happiness, unsusceptable to any kind of evil, having a foreknowledge of the world and of all that is in the world; however, that he has not the figure of a man. He is the creator of the universe, and as it were, the the father of all things in common. A portion of him pervades everything [i.e. pantheism] and is called different names according to its powers.

Athena with reference to the extension of his dominant power over the ether [upper air/heaven]..

Hera on account of his extension through the air...

Hephaistos on account of his pervading fire...

Poseidon, as pervading moisture...

Demeter, as pervading the earth..."

"Diogenes Laertius:
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers:
Book VII: The Stoics:"

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancie...k7-stoics.html

This beautiful and robust philosophy didn't die out; it only needs to be rediscovered and dusted off, like a forgotten vase.

[Liffrea]

Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus and Seneca are stoic philosophers I regularly read, Aristotle’s Ethics and Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy, whilst not strictly speaking Stoic, are insightful as well.

Certainly my ethical-philosophical outlook owes much to Stoicism, it combines readily with the “spirit of courage” of Tolkien’s mythology, Nietzsche’s standpoint as exemplified in The Birth of Tragedy and, for an Odinist, with the NNV and Havamal.

[Cato]

Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus and Seneca are stoic philosophers I regularly read, Aristotle’s Ethics and Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy, whilst not strictly speaking Stoic, are insightful as well.

Certainly my ethical-philosophical outlook owes much to Stoicism, it combines readily with the “spirit of courage” of Tolkien’s mythology, Nietzsche’s standpoint as exemplified in The Birth of Tragedy and, for an Odinist, with the NNV and Havamal.

Boethius is usually passed off as a Christian writer, but he makes no mention of Jesus or Christianity in his book. However, I do see shades of the ancient philosophy and he makes mention of the classical deities, although usually as natural phenomena. I can't really say that his God is the same as that of the Bible. Boethius' Lady Philosophy can, to me, be only Athena under another guise.

[Liffrea]

Originally Posted by Pallamedes
Boethius is usually passed off as a Christian writer, but he makes no mention of Jesus or Christianity in his book. However, I do see shades of the ancient philosophy and he makes mention of the classical deities, although usually as natural phenomena. I can't really say that his God is the same as that of the Bible. Boethius' Lady Philosophy can, to me, be only Athena under another guise.

Boethius was Christian but, you are correct, it is generally accepted his philosophy was of Greek Pagan origin.

[Cato]

Had Boethius been born a couple of centuries earlier, chances are he'd have been a pagan. But, as he lived after the fall of the western empire, Catholicism had replaced the ancient pagan religions of antiquity.