Iamblichus

Iamblichus studied under Porphyry and then went his own way, founding a school in Syria. Where Plotinus had said the soul ascends to the One through intellect and contemplation, Iamblichus disagreed: the gap between the human and the divine is too great for unaided reason to cross. What bridges it is theurgy — ritual, prayer, symbol, sacred objects — which act not by compelling the gods but by aligning the practitioner with the divine order. He developed an elaborate metaphysical hierarchy: the One, then Henads, then Intellect, then Soul, each requiring its proper approach. His work gave late Platonic philosophy the shape it held until the fall of Constantinople: a synthesis of argument and devotion, logic and rite. Julian the Apostate was a devoted disciple. His influence on the tradition that ends with Proclus is immeasurable.