Aion, Eros e Hades nei frammenti caldaici

Abstract

The essay deals with some aspects of the knotty question concerning the presence of Aion, Eros and Hades in the variegated universe of the Chaldean Oracles, traditionally attributed to a collaboration between two “Hellenized Magi” of the second c. AD: Julian “the Chaldean” and his son Julian “the Theurgist” (even if the theurgical expertise of the elder Julian, the repository of a more ancient Chaldean tradition, might not involve a direct eastern origin but only his knowledge of “Chaldean” sciences such as astrology and divination”). Aion, who is examined here in terms of his relationship with Chronos, as a more or less autonomous divinity, is mentioned only in the context of some fragments, but his name never appears in the oracular verses. Eros (beloging also to the triad of fr. 46, along with “Faith” and “Truth”) stands for an independent cosmological principle whose task is to preserve the universe and the armony of the cosmos. The Chaldean Oracles never make any explicit mention of Hades, who anyway is cited by the Byzantine scholar Psellos as an autonomous divinity of the Chaldeans.