Qabalistic philosophy formed a principal school of thought within Judaism. It became well-known in Christian Europe due to its influence during the Middle Ages. The resultant widespread awareness of Hebrew Qabalah in the West has often led to the mistaken belief that the Jews were the original founders of the literal Qabalah, and even that it was the Jews who first used letters as numbers. The main thesis of this book is that Qabalah is, in fact, a late Jewish term for a gnosis that was already ancient when it emerged in Jewish mysticism. It was, in fact, the Greeks who, as early as the eighth century B.C.E., invented alphabetic numerals, the very essence of Qabalistic numerology. They introduced the idea to the Middle East only after the conquests of Alexander the Great in the fourth century B.C.E. Examples of Greek Qabalah can also be found outside of mainland Greece well before the third century C.E. in Egyptian amulets, Roman graffiti, Gnostic philosophy, and early Christian writings. This is the earliest likely date of the first known work in Hebrew Qabalah, the Sefer Yezirah, or Book of Formation. This early work was essentially a product of the impact of Greek Gnosticism on Jewish mysticism, and shows the influence of numerous concepts, such as the Gnostic theory of creation by emanations, the Pythagorean decad, Platonic philosophy, Ptolemaic astrology, and the four elements of Empedocles, all of which were already part of existing Greek alphabetical symbolism. It is this earlier Greek gnosis, anachronistically called here by the later Hebrew term Qabalah, that is investigated and presented in this book. 

A landmark new work in its field. The Greek Qabalah uses extensive academic research to reach what some may consider to be a controversial conclusion - that the literal Hebrew Qabalah actually has Greek origin. Drawn from a vast array of ancient authorities and archaeological evidence - from Aristotle to Zosimus, from Pythagoras to St. Paul, from Egyptian papyri to graffiti at Pompeii - Kieren Barry carefully documents the the use of the alphabet in philosophy, religion, oracles, and magic in the ancient world. He takes you on a journey through history, from the dawn of the alphabet, to the late Byzantine Era, following the continuous evolution of alphabetic symbolism from the number-mysticism of Pythagoras, to the Greek philosophers, the Egyptian magicians of Alexandria, the Romans, the Gnostics, the early Church Fathers, the Neo-Platonists, and the Jews. Special attention is also given to the topical use of Qabalah in the Bible, Gnosticism and in the recently discovered Nag Hammadi Codices.

The Greek Qabalah: Alphabetic Mysticism And Num...