I ran across this old gem put out by Kessinger Publishing in their cool, old yellow paperbacks with a rosicrucian logo. Hand it to Kessinger, they publish actual scans of old books rather than the fly-by-night publishing outfits that put out terribly O.C.R.'ed texts chockfull of errors.

It's a neat old book on Apollonius of Tyana, a religio-philosopher of the first century A.D. in the Roman Empire by theosophist and scholar G. R. S. Mead. The book kind of tells you a bit more about Mead and Blatavaskian Theosophy than it does Apollonius of Tyana. Mead takes great pains to make Apollonius look not like a first century miracle-worker à la Jesus but like a Indian sage à la Theosophy. He thus poo poos all reference to Apollonius as a magic man and makes him a guru of the Hindu/Buddhist type. His supposed travels to India are made much of; Pythagoras and Egypt, much less important. Mead denounces the historical sources for Apollonius: Philostratus through Damis. Instead, he claims to glean what is good from the sources and discards the dross. Everything he keeps makes Apollonius like a Theosophist guru instead of a Roman philosopher who supposedly worked wonders. Mead says several times that with proper work and practice (it is implied that the proper way is Theosophical) anybody could be like Apollonius and do the things he did.

The work is done in a late-1800s/early 1900s antiquarian style, with lots of odd footnotes, obscure references, etc. It bounces back and forth in time, and is not really done in a narrative or chronological manner. It is not the best source on Apollonius, but it is an interesting read and informative. If you know nothing of Apollonius, it is a decent place to start if you can get it cheap. If you like Theosophy, it will be a great addition to your bookshelf. ( )