It runs in the family: Proclus, pronoia and the Komnenoi

This contribution re-examines the disputed authorship of the Three Opuscules on Providence, a paraphrasis of three texts by Proclus, ascribed either to Isaac, the brother of Alexios I, or to ‘our’ Isaac, Alexios’s son. In this chapter, I argue in favour of the latter. First, I show how the cultural climate of the late 1110s and early 1120s makes a plausible backdrop for the three treatises. Rewriting neo-platonic philosophy in those years was an effective way of both highlighting one’s continuity with the previous generation (characterised by an active engagement with theological themes and an intensive use of Maximos the Confessor) and marking one’s distance from Anna Komnene’s circle through the formulation of an alternative model for a Christian approach to pagan philosophy. More broadly, the opuscules seem to reflect the cultural atmosphere of Isaac’s times, characterised by ongoing debates on the uses of ancient philosophy, from Plato to Neoplatonism. Second, through a close analysis of the texts, this chapter shows that the treatises deal with the crucial topic of pronoia in a way that resonates with the dynastic program of John and Isaac in their first years of harmony.