theos
(θεος)
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| (Language: Greek) |
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| Short Description: |
god |
| Long Description: |
god; the term sometimes is used in a wide and loose sense; ‘everything if full of gods’ (panta plere theon), according to Thales; the cosmos may be regarded as a theophany – the manifestation of the One (likened to the supreme transcendent Sun) and the divine Nous that constitute the different levels of divine presence concealed by the screens or veils ( parapetasmata); in ancient Greece, speaking of theos or theoi, one posits an absolute point of reference for everything that has impact, validity, and permanence, while indistinct influences which affect man directly can be called daimon; for Plato and Plotinus, nous, the universal soul, the stars, and also the human soul are divine; thus there are invisible and visible gods, arranged in a hierarchy of henads which follows the arrangement of nine hypothesis of Plato’s Parmenides; theoi are the first principles, henads (as protos theoi), intellects and divine souls, but the supreme God is the ineffable One, or the Good; in some respects, theos is an equivalent of the Egyptian neter; neteru are the gods, the first principles, divine powers, manifestations – both transcendent and immanent. |
| Example(s): |
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| Source(s): |
The Golden Chain: An Anthology of Platonic and Pythagorean Philosophy, by Dr. Algis Uždavinys |
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