John Walbridge is Associate Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at Indiana University, and the author of The Leaven of the Ancients: Suhrawardi and the Heritage of the Greeks, also published by SUNY Press.

• Preface Introduction: Suhrawardi and the Orient 1. The Lure of Oriental Wisdom The Greek Pseudepigrapha and Platonic OrientalismThe Basis of Platonic OrientalismSuhrawardi as Orientalizing Neoplatonist 2. Hermes of Egypt: God and Philosopher Hermes as Universal Sage: Greece, Egypt, ChaldaeaThe Problem of Philosophy and the Greek GodsThe Sabians of HarranThe Hermetic in Suhrawardi's Thought 3. Light, Darkness, and the Kings of Ancient Iran The Philosophical History of LightGhazali, the Ghost at Suhrawardi's FeastLight, Darkness, and the Persians 4. Buddha's Gate of Gates: The Problem of Reincarnation Buddhism and the MuslimsThe Indian Sages and the AncientsThe Problem of ReincarnationRecapitulation 5. The Past as Orient: The Ideological Heritage of Suhrawardi Hermes and the Miraculous Preservation of the AvestaThe Commentators and the Persian Side of SuhrawardiIndia: The Ancient Sages from Akbar to the RajZoroaster and the Magi: Bruno, Voltaire, and AnquetilSuhrawardi and Iranian Nationalism: The Persian Sages Return to Iran NotesBibliographyIndex

"Walbridge has the rare ability to make what might on the surface seem like arcane debates lively and relevant to today. His book is full of such important insights, the implications of which go well beyond simply Suhrawardi or even Islamics." — Juan R. I. Cole, University of Michigan