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- 17. Okt.letzte Folge
Exploring the forgotten and rejected story of Western thought
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Early Islamic ‘Mahdism’: Radical Politics, Apocalyptic, and the Esoteric
We explore the origins of an enduring idea in Islām: the idea of the mahdī, the righteous leader who will return to bring justice and purify the religion near the end of time. The origins, it turns out, are esoteric, and so are many aspects
The Struggle for Esoteric Authority in Early Islām: The Shī‘a and the Ghulāt
We explore some of the weird territory where extreme politics meet extreme theology in the pre-Umayyad and Umayyad periods. Includes case-studies of a representative selection of early shiite "extremists".
Prolegomena to the Development of the Shī‘a and of Shī‘ī Esotericisms in the Eighth Century and Beyond
We discuss the Iraqi context of the early shī‘ī movements, explore some of the political, esoteric, and politicesoteric concerns of the early partisans of the ahl al-bayt, and then give a basic run-down of some of the most important shiite
Islām and Esotericism in the Eighth Century: The Umayyad Era and the Question of Islām as ‘Religion’
We discuss politico-religious developments among the Believers in the eighth century, setting the stage for a series of episodes exploring developments in esoteric Islām in the Umayyad period. We also discuss our evidence for how the Believ
Into the Archives with Alicia Walker
In this interview, Part II of our discussion of quotidian magical practices in the East-Roman world with Alicia Walker, we explore a wealth of materia magica, which is a fancy way of saying "magical things". Come for the alchemical enamel-w
Alicia Walker on Everyday Magical Culture in East Rome
In the previous episode we looked at learned, elaborate, elite magical practices and the books that enabled them in East Rome. In this episode we discuss the magical practices and objects with which normal, non-specialist Romans navigated t
Three Ancient Sages: On East Roman Magical Books
Looking through the lens provided by three central figures of the western esoteric tradition -- Hermes Trismegistus, Apollonios of Tyana, and King Solomon -- we discuss three important East Roman magical books whose influence echoes from th
Gerasimos Merianos on East Roman Alchemy in Late Antiquity and Beyond, Part II
We delve further into the laboratories, workshops, and even state coffers of East Rome with Gerasimos Merianos. East Roman alchemy becomes mathematised. The parameters of alchemical secrecy change. We encounter our first alchemical con-men.
Gerasimos Merianos on East Roman Alchemy in Late Antiquity and Beyond, Part I
In Part I of a two-parter we explore the contours of East Roman alchemy from the seventh century onward. Gerasimos Merianos is our guide to the many and varied authors writing in the alchemical genre aside from (but including) the great Ste
The Horoscope of Islām and The Alchemical Stone: Maria Papathanassiou on Stephanos of Alexandria, Part II
In Part II we explore two of Stephanos' works: the astrological piece entitled Apotelesmatikē pragmateia, with its katarchic ‘Horoscope of Islam’, and his influential, vexing, and beautiful alchemical work, On the Great and Holy Art of Gold
Philosophy and Occult Sciences at Constantinople: Maria Papathanassiou on Stephanos of Alexandria, Part I
We speak with Maria Papathanassiou about Stephanos of Alexandria: the last known Platonist/Aristotelean philosopher trained at Alexandria, a politically-connected courtier at Herakleios' Constantinople, a Christian, an astrologer, an alchem
Esoteric Orthodoxy in East Rome: Jonathan Greig on Maximus the Confessor
We head back to Constantionple with Jonathan Greig at the controls, to discuss the quintessentially Orthodox mystic, Maximus the Confessor. Late-Platonist apophasis meets hard-core ascesis, and Maximus follows the theology where it wants to
Introducing the Apocalypse of the Pseudo-Methodios, with Christopher Bonura
Christopher Bonura introduces us to the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodios, a seventh-century Syriac prophetic universal history. Come for the Arab conquests reflected in Christian revelation, stay for the apocalyptic Roman emperor.
Jewish Apocalypse in the Seventh Century: Martha Himmelfarb on the Sefer Zerubbabel
In this interview we explore a crucial document of seventh-century Judaism: the Sefer Zerubbabel, an apocalyptic ‘future history’ allegedly written in the past. The Temple will descend, the evil Armilus (son of Satan and a statue) will wrea
Touraj Daryaee on Zoroastrianism in the Seventh Century and Beyond
With the Arab conquest of Sasanian Persia, a new religion enters the west. Once the great religious Other to the Græco-Roman world, the Zoroastrians are now part of the story of western esotericism. We explore their extraordinary religion w
Ahab Bdaiwi on the Rise of Shī‘ī Esotericism
In Part I we looked at the political events leading up to the formation of the Shi'a. In Part II we see that it did not take long for things to get very esoteric. Come for the programmatic esoteric hermeneutics, stay for the occult sciences
Ahab Bdaiwi on ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib, his Family, and the Origins of Shī‘ī Islam
We pick up from our last episode, where geopolitics and esotericism met in the crucible of Roman, Sassanian, and Arab political struggles. Ahab Bdaiwi threads the labyrinth of the earliest historical sources for the birth of the movement wi
Seventh-Century History for Students of Western Esotericism
We return to the history of late antiquity in the eastern Mediterranean and central Asia. Momentous events occur, empires rise and fall, and Jews, Christians, and Muslims all suddenly develop new apocalyptic notions. Come for the dry histor
Introducing the Qur’an Part III: Qur’ānic Texts vs. the Qur’ān
We discuss some of the history of how the Qur'ān came to be ‘the Book’: it started in the oral milieu of the high-octane early Believers' movement, and ended up in written form as something called the ‘Uthmanic recension. Many esoteric thin
Introducing the Qur’ān, Part II: Ambiguity and Esoteric Themes
We begin to explore the esoteric side of the Qur'ān, examining several case-studies in terms of ambiguity and esoteric themes. It turns out that every letter of the Qur'ān is an esoteric text.
Introducing the Qur’ān, Part I: Revelation, Text, and History
We cover some basic territory in introducing the Qur'ān, the holiest text of Islām. We introduce the text, discuss the traditional story of the Qur'ān's revelation, the modern text-critical enterprise of Qur'anic studies, and try to pin dow
Fred Donner on the History of Early Islām
We discuss what little we know and how much we don't know about the nature of the early ‘Believers' movement’, the nature and origins of the Qur'ān, the curious case of the so-called Constitution of Medinah, and what went on during the earl
Matthew Melvin-Koushki on Islam, ‘the West’, and Western Esotericism
We welcome Matthew Melvin-Koushki back to the show to discuss how we might improve our historical picture of western esotericism by including the vast majority of the surviving historical dossier of western esotericism. There's only one pro
Introducing Islām
With Episode 200 the SHWEP has reached a milestone of sorts. We are in the seventh century, and the world-order suddenly changes irrevocably as a new political force arises from Arabia: the Believers. We discuss three main respects in which
Paul Pasquesi on the Book of the Holy Hierotheos
We discuss one of the lesser-known, but most esoterically-important, classics of Syriac spiritual literature, the Book of the Holy Hierotheos. Hierotheos was said to have been the teacher of Dionysius the Areopagite, but he wrote in Syriac,
The Pseudo-Dionysios, the Esoteric, and (Christian) Mysticism
We turn to the questions: What is ‘mystical’ in the Corpus Dionysiacum? What is esoteric? The answers we come up with involve pretty much every aspect of the western esoteric traditions, and, after all the initiatory liturgy, esoteric scrip
Naming Divine Nothingness: Introducing the Pseudo-Dionysios
Into the divine darkness of a hyper-non-existent god walks the Pseudo-Dionysios. In this episode we join many esoteric currents from the antique and late-antique past into a new synthesis which will forever shape western esotericism going f
One Empire, Many Names: Reading “Byzantium” with Anthony Kaldellis
We are delighted to speak with Anthony Kaldellis about ‘Byzantium’, fabled empire full of Greek-speaking Romans which never fell until the fifteenth century, and which plays an outsize role in the history of western esotericism. Come for th
Contested Esotericisms at the End of Antiquity: Simplicius, Philoponus, and Olympiodorus
We discuss three of the most important thinkers from the final generations of philosophical teaching at Alexandria. One is an upstart Christian. Two are esoteric Platonists of the Golden Chain. One may or may not have been an alchemist.
The Last Platonists? Philosophic Teaching, Christianity, and Polytheism in Late-Antique Alexandria
We discuss how Platonist philosophical teaching played out at Alexandria before Justinian's edict of 529 and in its aftermath. Featuring cameo appearances from the fall of the western Roman empire and Horapollo's Hieroglyphika.
