Platonism and Mythology

Abstract This Appendix shows how mythology came to be understood in the tradition of late antique Platonism, focusing on Plotinus, Porphyry, and Sallustius. This tradition reaches its peak in the work of Proclus, who argues that myths enable a symbolic representation of intelligible reality through inverted analogies. In such analogies, what is “highest” in the order of transcendental reality (as rational or beautiful) is represented through what is “lowest” in the order of sensible particulars (as irrational or ugly). The second half of this Appendix offers a brief sketch of how these Platonic approaches to mythology were received by British and German romantics, thereby demonstrating a common source from which these writers drew inspiration. The Appendix closes with a proposal of how these lines of connection from Platonism to romanticism can be developed in future research.