Juliano Eugenio da Silva

Abstract: While the influence of later Neoplatonists on Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite is well-documented, the specific extent and nature of his debt to Iamblichus of Chalcis remain an area ripe for further investigation. This project is a focused textual inquiry to verify the possibility of a more direct and foundational Iamblichean influence on Dionysius’s thought in two key areas: his conception of ritual practice and his structuring of metaphysical reality. The investigation will proceed along two primary axes: first, an exploration of the relationship between Iamblichean theurgy and the sacramental rites described in Dionysius’s Ecclesiastical Hierarchy; second, a comparative analysis of Iamblichus's main innovations, which aims to create an ontological continuum that can be mirrored in Dionysius's celestial hierarchy. The objective is not to prove a definitive thesis, but to conduct a textual investigation that may open new lines of inquiry into the specific relationship between these two thinkers.