16th century European contacts with Hinduism

[Erik Hoogcarspel]

Plotinus's ideas are said to stem from his teacher Ammonius Saccas, A mysterious figure
who never wrote anyhting down. There have been speculations that he was originally Indian.

Regards

Erik Hoogcarspel.

Stephen Hodge wrote:

> > You have the story right, but it doesn't show up in the Platonic
> > corpus (for 'Plato's works,' read 'works of the 4th-century BCE
> > Platonic school') -- too early.
>
> Of course, though much later, there was the Neo-Platonist interest in
> things Eastern.   Plotinus accompanied the ill-fated expedition of the
> emperor Gordian into Persia with the specific intention of making
> contact with Indian philosophers.  Though he never made it to India,
> some see clear signs of Indian thought in his later works though the
> similarities are more probably coincidental.   I can't find the
> reference but I recollect there was an account of some "gymnosophist"
> visiting the emperor who expounded his philosophy and then immolated
> himself in fire to prove his detachment.  I am not sure however
> whether this was during Gordian's trip or earlier -- perhaps somebody
> else might know.
> Going the other way, there are said to be striking parallels between
> the scepticism of the Pyrrhonists (Sextus Empiricus & co) and the
> Madhyamikas in India -- the flow of ideas thought to have been from
> west to east in this case.  Given the huge volume of Roman period
> trade across to south India from the Mediterrranean cultural sphere,
> this may not be too far fetched -- quite conjectural but interesting
> all the same.
>
> Best wishes,
> Stephen Hodge