gurugeorge

Hehe, yes that's a fascinating article. I do find it amusing though, that the author goes to some lengths to deny any validity to Olympiodorus' claim that he is citing an Orphic myth, without actually giving any reason why Olympiodorus should have been lying. There's no reason whatsoever why Olympiodorus should not have used a myth that suited his alchemical studies and his views on suicide that also did happen to be an Orphic myth. And there's no reason whatsoever to suspect that a Neoplatonist of that period shouldn't have known about Orphic myths. There's a clear line of connection from the "Orphics" (we can agree that this is a loose category) and Pythagoreans (who are often connected in ancient Greek history, with Pythagoreans often citing Orphic myths) through the Pre-socratics like Parmenides and Empedocles, with one line splitting off to the sophists (via Gorgias, a student of Empedocles) and with another line splitting off to Plato himself (who cherished and preserved Pythagorean/Orphic myths in his dialogues), through the neo-Pythagoreans (whom we actually have no reason whatsoever to suppose weren't actually carrying on authentic Pythagorean traditions) down to the Neoplatonists (who, starting from Numenius of Apamea, consciously claimed to be re-awakening the authenticity of the Pythagorean tradition, and rehabilitating the authentic Plato from the scepticism and rationalism to which Middle Platonism had in their view descended) on the one hand, and Hermeticism and Alchemy on the other.

But that's another story