From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordAmasis is the Egyptian king named in the anecdote asking the Greek wise men what is most beautiful.
- In TraherneThe anecdote opens a substantial account of creation as the manifestation of divine attributes.
- In this editionThe 2026 note identifies Ahmose II and compares Plutarch’s more elaborate scene, including Thales.
- A place to beginThe question about supreme beauty leads to the world’s capacity to manifest God.
Meaning
Amasis is the Egyptian king named in the anecdote asking the Greek wise men what is most beautiful. Their answer supplies Traherne with a point of departure: the world.
Use in the book
The anecdote opens a substantial account of creation as the manifestation of divine attributes. Its function is to unsettle habitual indifference: what strangers or philosophers can judge supremely beautiful has become invisible through being seen every day. Traherne then asks how material things express immaterial wisdom, goodness, and love. The answer is relational and practical, involving breathable air, fruitful earth, light, and delight. The name is thus useful chiefly as the doorway into the argument, not as a claim that Egyptian kingship authorizes Traherne’s theology.
Places to read
- II.21The question about supreme beauty leads to the world’s capacity to manifest God.
In this edition
The 2026 note identifies Ahmose II and compares Plutarch’s more elaborate scene, including Thales. Traherne’s compressed version should not be expanded silently into that source’s narrative.
Source note
Primary text: II.21; identification and classical comparison: 2026 edition note to II.21.