List of students of Plotinus

Last updated

The following is a list of students of Plotinus. The philosopher Plotinus was the founder of a tradition later known as Neoplatonism.

Contents

Porphyry

Porphyry, the most important of Plotinus's pupils, was born in Tyre c. 233. He was taught first by Cassius Longinus in Athens, before travelling to Rome in 262 where he studied under Plotinus for six years. After the death of Plotinus, he edited and published the Enneads , which had been compiled by his teacher. He also wrote a biography of his teacher, and many commentaries and philosophical works, some of which survive and is famous for his attacks on Christianity compiled in his Adversus Christianos, of which only fragments preserved by his Christian opponents remain.

Amelius

Amelius was originally a student of the works of Numenius of Apamea, before attending the lectures of Plotinus in the third year after Plotinus came to Rome, and never left him until the end of his life. Amelius read and wrote voraciously, writing over 100 volumes of sayings and commentaries, none of which survive. His most important convert to Neoplatonism was Porphyry. [1]

Castricius Firmus

Castricius Firmus was a 3rd-century neoplatonist and disciple of Plotinus. [2] Plotinus was on the most familiar terms with him (Zethos), and used to stay with him at his country place, six miles from Minturnae, a property which had formerly belonged to Castricius Firmus.

Porphyry stated of Castricius Firmus in the Life of Plotinus, "Castricius was excelled by none of the group in appreciation of the finer side of life: he venerated Plotinus; he devoted himself in the most faithful comradeship to Amelius in every need, and was in all matters as loyal to myself as though I were his own brother."

Eustochius of Alexandria

Eustochius of Alexandria was a 3rd-century neoplatonic philosopher and student of Plotinus. [2] Porphyry stated in the Life of Plotinus, "Among closer personal friends was Eustochius of Alexandria, also a doctor, who came to know Plotinus towards the end of his life, and attended him until his death: Eutochius consecrated himself exclusively to Plotinus' system and became a veritable philosopher."

Marcellus Orontius and Sabinillus

Senators Marcellus Orontius and Sabinillus were 3rd century neoplatonists and disciples of Plotinus. [3] Porphyry stated of them in the Life of Plotinus, "There were also among Plotinus' hearers not a few members of the Senate, amongst whom Marcellus Orontius and Sabinillus showed the greatest assiduity in philosophical studies."

Paulinus

Paulinus was a 3rd-century neoplatonist and disciple of Plotinus. [3] Porphyry stated of Paulinus in the Life of Plotinus, "The group included also one Paulinus, a doctor of Scythopolis, whom Amelius used to call Mikkalos in allusion to his blundering habit of mind."

Rogatianus

Rogatianus was a 3rd-century neoplatonist and disciple of Plotinus. [3] Porphyry stated of Rogatianus in the Life of Plotinus. "Another Senator, Rogatianus, advanced to such detachment from political ambitions that he gave up all his property, dismissed all his slaves, renounced every dignity, and, on the point of taking up his praetorship, the lictors already at the door, refused to come out or to have anything to do with the office. He even abandoned his own house, spending his time here and there at this friends' and acquaintances', sleeping and eating with them and taking, at that, only one meal every other day. He had been a victim of gout, carried in a chair, but this new regime of abstinence and abnegation restored his health: he had been unable to stretch out his hands; he came to use them as freely as men living by manual labour. Plotinus took a great liking to Rogatianus and frequently praised him very highly, holding him up as a model to those aiming at the philosophical life."

Serapion

Serapion was a 3rd-century neoplatonic philosopher and student of Plotinus. [3] Porphyry wrote of Serapion in the Life of Plotinus that "Then there was Serapion, an Alexandrian, who began life as a professional orator and later took to the study of philosophy, but was never able to conquer the vices of avarice and usury."

Zethos

Zethos was a 3rd-century neoplatonist and disciple of Plotinus. [2] Porphyry stated of Zethos in the Life of Plotinus, "Another friend was Zethos, an Arabian by descent, who married a daughter of Ammonius' friend Theodosius. Zethos, too, was a doctor. Plotinus was deeply attached to him and was always trying to divert him from the political career in which he stood high. Plotinus was on the most familiar terms with him, and used to stay with him at his country place, six miles from Minturnae, a property which had formerly belonged to Castricius Firmus."

Zoticus

Zoticus was a 3rd-century neoplatonic philosopher and student of Plotinus. [3] Porphyry stated in the Life of Plotinus, Zoticus was a critic and poet, who also amended the text of Antimachus. Zoticus also authored a poem upon the Atlantis story. His sight failed, and he died a little before Plotinus, as also did Paulinus.

Notes

  1. Porphyry, Vita Plotini, 1–5, 7, 10, 16–22
  2. 1 2 3 Porphyry, Vita Plotini, 2, 7
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Porphyry, Vita Plotini, 7

Related Research Articles

Ammonius Saccas was a Hellenistic Platonist self-taught philosopher from Alexandria, generally regarded as the precursor of Neoplatonism and/or one of its founders. He is mainly known as the teacher of Plotinus, whom he taught from 232 to 242. He was undoubtedly the biggest influence on Plotinus in his development of Neoplatonism, although little is known about his own philosophical views. Later Christian writers stated that Ammonius was a Christian, but it is now generally assumed that there was a different Ammonius of Alexandria who wrote biblical texts.

In the Platonic, Neopythagorean, Middle Platonic, and Neoplatonic schools of philosophy, the demiurge is an artisan-like figure responsible for fashioning and maintaining the physical universe. The Gnostics adopted the term demiurge. Although a fashioner, the demiurge is not necessarily the same as the Creator figure in the monotheistic sense, because the demiurge itself and the material from which the demiurge fashions the universe are both considered consequences of something else. Depending on the system, they may be considered either uncreated and eternal or the product of some other entity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plotinus</span> Greek philosopher and founder of neoplatonism (c. 204/5–270)

Plotinus was a philosopher in the Hellenistic tradition, born and raised in Roman Egypt. Plotinus is regarded by modern scholarship as the founder of Neoplatonism. His teacher was the self-taught philosopher Ammonius Saccas, who belonged to the Platonic tradition. Historians of the 19th century invented the term "neoplatonism" and applied it to refer to Plotinus and his philosophy, which was vastly influential during Late Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance. Much of the biographical information about Plotinus comes from Porphyry's preface to his edition of Plotinus' most notable literary work, The Enneads. In his metaphysical writings, Plotinus described three fundamental principles: the One, the Intellect, and the Soul. His works have inspired centuries of Pagan, Jewish, Christian, Gnostic, and Islamic metaphysicians and mystics, including developing precepts that influence mainstream theological concepts within religions, such as his work on duality of the One in two metaphysical states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">244</span> Calendar year

Year 244 (CCXLIV) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Armenius and Aemilianus. The denomination 244 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Theurgy describes the practice of rituals, sometimes seen as magical in nature, performed with the intention of invoking the action or evoking the presence of one or more deities, especially with the goal of achieving henosis and perfecting oneself.

Damascius, known as "the last of the Athenian Neoplatonists," was the last scholarch of the neoplatonic Athenian school. He was one of the neoplatonic philosophers who left Athens after laws confirmed by emperor Justinian I forced the closure of the Athenian school in c. 529 AD. After he left Athens, he may have sought refuge in the court of the Persian King Chrosroes, before being allowed back into the Byzantine Empire. His surviving works consist of three commentaries on the works of Plato, and a metaphysical text entitled Difficulties and Solutions of First Principles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iamblichus</span> Syrian Neoplatonist philosopher (c. 245 – c. 325)

Iamblichus was a Syrian neoplatonic philosopher of Arabic origin. He determined a direction later taken by neoplatonism. Iamblichus was also the biographer of the Greek mystic, philosopher, and mathematician Pythagoras. In addition to his philosophical contributions, his Protrepticus is important for the study of the sophists because it preserved about ten pages of an otherwise-unknown sophist known as the Anonymus Iamblichi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cassius Longinus (philosopher)</span> Greek Neoplatonist philosopher (c.213–273)

Cassius Longinus was a Greek rhetorician and philosophical critic. Born in either Emesa or Athens, he studied at Alexandria under Ammonius Saccas and Origen the Pagan, and taught for thirty years in Athens, one of his pupils being Porphyry. Longinus did not embrace the Neoplatonism then being developed by Plotinus, but continued as a Platonist of the old type and his reputation as a literary critic was immense. During a visit to the east, he became a teacher, and subsequently chief counsellor to Zenobia, queen of Palmyra. It was by his advice that she endeavoured to regain her independence from Rome. Emperor Aurelian, however, crushed the revolt, and Longinus was executed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Porphyry (philosopher)</span> 3rd-century Greek Neoplatonist philosopher

Porphyry of Tyre was a Neoplatonic philosopher born in Tyre, Roman Phoenicia during Roman rule. He edited and published The Enneads, the only collection of the work of Plotinus, his teacher. His commentary on Euclid's Elements was used as a source by Pappus of Alexandria.

Allogenes is a repertoire, or genre, of mystical Gnostic texts dating from the first half of the Third Century, CE. They concern Allogenes, "the Stranger", a half-human, half-divine capable of communicating with realms beyond the sense-perceptible world, into the unknowable.

Numenius of Apamea was a Greek philosopher, who lived in Apamea in Syria and Rome, and flourished during the latter half of the 2nd century AD. He was a Neopythagorean and forerunner of the Neoplatonists.

Gnosticism refers to a collection of religious groups originating in Jewish religiosity in Alexandria in the first few centuries CE. Neoplatonism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy that took shape in the 3rd century, based on the teachings of Plato and some of his early followers. While Gnosticism was influenced by Middle Platonism, neoplatonists from the third century onward rejected Gnosticism. Nevertheless, Alexander J. Mazur argues that many neoplatonic concepts and ideas are ultimately derived from Sethian Gnosticism during the third century in Lower Egypt, and that Plotinus himself may have been a Gnostic before nominally distancing himself from the movement.

Serapion is a given name, a variant of Seraphin.

Amelius, whose family name was Gentilianus, was a Neoplatonist philosopher and writer of the second half of the 3rd century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neoplatonism and Christianity</span> Relationship between Neoplatonism and Christianity

Neoplatonism was a major influence on Christian theology throughout Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages in the West. This was due to St. Augustine of Hippo, who was influenced by the early neoplatonists Plotinus and Porphyry, as well as the works of the Christian writer Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, who was influenced by later neoplatonists, such as Proclus and Damascius.

Plutarch of Athens was a Greek philosopher and Neoplatonist who taught in Athens at the beginning of the 5th century. He reestablished the Platonic Academy there and became its leader. He wrote commentaries on Aristotle and Plato, emphasizing the doctrines which they had in common.

Platonism, especially in its Neoplatonist form, underwent a revival in the Renaissance as part of a general revival of interest in classical antiquity. Interest in Platonism was especially strong in Florence under the Medici.

Origen the Pagan was a Platonist philosopher who lived in Alexandria. He was a student of Ammonius Saccas and a contemporary of Plotinus in Ammonius's philosophy school in Alexandria. Some researchers posit that this Origen is the very same famous Christian philosopher and theologian Origen of Alexandria, who was educated by Ammonius Saccas.

Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a series of thinkers. Among the common ideas it does maintain is that of monism, the doctrine that all of reality can be derived from a single principle, "the One".

Medieval Islamic philosophy was steeped in both Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism from its ninth-century beginnings with al-Kindi, but the influence of Neoplatonism becomes more clearly visible in the tenth and eleventh centuries with Al-Farabi and Avicenna. Al-Farabi expanded on Plato's concept of an ideal city ruled by philosopher-kings to develop a political philosophy that could accommodate the religious and cultural diversity central to Islamic nations. On the other hand, both al-Ghazali and Ibn Rushd vigorously opposed Neoplatonic views.

References