This book presents four small but exceptionally significant works by the philosopher Porphyry, who lived in the third century AD. He was a student of Plotinus and a teacher of Iamblichus, and he had a deep understanding of the works of other Greek philosophers.
Porphyry was very prolific, yet very few of his works have survived intact. He dealt with many topics and in a unique and practical way, which even today proves to be useful to those who study and contemplate the great questions of human existence.
In his works, he does not provide a philosophical analysis for the pleasure and entertainment of those who enjoy philosophical treatises. He always keeps the reader in mind, aiming to guide them through the shadowy and dangerous circles of the labyrinth towards a perception of reality and thus towards their liberation from bondage, by providing them with the thread of Ariadne.
He leads them to divinization and identification with the One Self, through allegories and insightful interpretations of symbols.
(from the back cover of the book)
