Maria Carmen De Vita

In this paper, I will discuss Iamblichus’ interpretation of the solar analogy in Book VI of Plato’s Republic (508a-509d) through a reexamination of the julianic Hymn to King Helios (132b-c). There is, in my opinion, the possibility that in Iamblichus’metaphysical system the image of the Good/Sun was related not to the First Principle, the Ineffable, but to a Second Principle, the One-Existent, presented as a necessary link between the realm of the One and the realm of the Nous. So interpreted, the exegesis of Resp. VI 508a ss. given by Iamblichus/Julian differs from those proposed by Plotinus and Proclus in providing a less radical vision of the transcendence of the Good/Sun; but, on the other hand, it is quite close to Damascius’ interpretation exposed in his work De principiis.