Jean-Paul DE LUCCA
Abstract. The article examines the role of prisca philosophia, particularly the Hermetic and Sibylline sources, in Tommaso Campanella’s political thought. It analyses how Campanella employs ancient wisdom in two of his works, Articuli prophetales and Atheismus triumphatus, to buttress his eschatological views and his vision of universal religious and political reformation. The article argues that Campanella sees sources like the Sibylline Oracles and the Hermetic corpus as corroborating natural religion and natural law, which he considers foundational to proper politics. Since Campanella explicitly frames the Atheismus as simultaneously a theological and a political project, the prisca sapientia that underpins it must be understood as doing political work that the prisca theologia framework alone cannot adequately describe. By integrating these ancient sources with biblical prophecies and contemporary observations, Campanella constructs a narrative of history connecting past wisdom, present urgency, and utopian aspirations. Prisca sapientia offers traces of uncorrupted ancient knowledge that align with his conception of a purified Christianity and ideal universal monarchy. The study reveals how this engagement is integral to his broader project of universal reform, and argues that his appropriation of ancient wisdom constitutes not only a prisca theologia but also a prisca politica, that is, a recovery of a natural and universally valid order of governance, grounded in the natural unity of moral, spiritual and political authority and prior to any confessional or sectarian division.
Keywords: Hermeticism, Messianism, Political Theology, Prophecy, Sibylline Oracles, Tommaso Campanella