Neoplatonism is a version 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 maintains is monism , the doctrine that all of reality can be derived from a single principle, "the One".
215-593: Hypatia (born c. 350–370 - March 415 AD) was a Neoplatonist philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician who lived in Alexandria , Egypt , then part of the Eastern Roman Empire . She was a prominent thinker in Alexandria where she taught philosophy and astronomy . Although preceded by Pandrosion , another Alexandrian female mathematician , she is the first female mathematician whose life
430-440: A close reading in comparison with her supposed contributions to the work of Diophantus, Knorr suggests that Hypatia may also have edited Archimedes ' Measurement of a Circle , an anonymous text on isometric figures, and a text later used by John of Tynemouth in his work on Archimedes' measurement of the sphere. A high degree of mathematical accomplishment would have been needed to comment on Apollonius's advanced mathematics or
645-504: A forged anti-Christian letter appeared under her name. Damascius was "anxious to exploit the scandal of Hypatia's death", and attributed responsibility for her murder to Bishop Cyril and his Christian followers. A passage from Damascius's Life of Isidore , preserved in the Suda , concludes that Hypatia's murder was due to Cyril's envy over "her wisdom exceeding all bounds and especially in the things concerning astronomy". Damascius's account of
860-467: A universal genius , but she was probably more of a teacher and commentator than an innovator. No evidence has been found that Hypatia ever published any independent works on philosophy and she does not appear to have made any groundbreaking mathematical discoveries. During Hypatia's time period, scholars preserved classical mathematical works and commented on them to develop their arguments, rather than publishing original works. It has also been suggested that
1075-515: A "martyr for philosophy", and her murder led philosophers to adopt attitudes that increasingly emphasized the pagan aspects of their beliefs system and helped create a sense of identity for philosophers as pagan traditionalists set apart from the Christian masses. Thus, while Hypatia's death did not bring an end to Neoplatonist philosophy as a whole, Watts argues that it did bring an end to her particular variety of it. Shortly after Hypatia's murder,
1290-425: A "treacherous" priest. In his 1852 Hypatie and 1857 Hypathie et Cyrille , French poet Charles Leconte de Lisle portrayed Hypatia as the epitome of "vulnerable truth and beauty". Leconte de Lisle's first poem portrayed Hypatia as a woman born after her time, a victim of the laws of history. His second poem reverted to the eighteenth-century Deistic portrayal of Hypatia as the victim of Christian brutality, but with
1505-461: A Byzantine monk, writer, philosopher, politician and historian, wrote many philosophical treatises, such as De omnifaria doctrina . He wrote most of his philosophy during his time as a court politician at Constantinople in the 1030s and 1040s. Gemistos Plethon ( c. 1355 – 1452; Greek: Πλήθων Γεμιστός) remained the preeminent scholar of neoplatonic philosophy in the late Byzantine Empire. He introduced his understanding and insight into
1720-402: A Christian church. There, the mob stripped Hypatia naked and murdered her using ostraka , which can either be translated as " roof tiles ", " oyster shells " or simply "shards". Damascius adds that they also cut out her eyeballs. They tore her body into pieces and dragged her limbs through the town to a place called Cinarion, where they set them on fire. According to Watts, this was in line with
1935-480: A Hellenized Jew, translated Judaism into terms of Stoic , Platonic, and Neopythagorean elements, and held that God is "supra rational" and can be reached only through "ecstasy". Philo also held that the oracles of God supply the material of moral and religious knowledge. The earliest Christian philosophers , such as Justin Martyr and Athenagoras of Athens , who attempted to connect Christianity with Platonism, and
2150-516: A Jewish-led massacre, Cyril closed all the synagogues in Alexandria, confiscated all the property belonging to the Jews, and expelled a number of Jews from the city ; Scholasticus suggests all the Jews were expelled, while John of Nikiu notes it was only those involved in the massacre. Orestes , the Roman prefect of Alexandria, who was also a close friend of Hypatia and a recent convert to Christianity,
2365-426: A believer in "the laws of rational Nature" and "the capacities of the human mind free of dogmas " and described her death as "a bestial murder perpetrated by Cyril's tonsured hounds, with a fanatical gang at their heels". Later, in an entry for his Dictionnaire philosophique (1772), Voltaire again portrayed Hypatia as a freethinking deistic genius brutally murdered by ignorant and misunderstanding Christians. Most of
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#17327798926252580-528: A commentary on Diophantus 's thirteen-volume Arithmetica , which had been written sometime around the year 250 AD. It set out more than 100 mathematical problems, for which solutions are proposed using algebra . For centuries, scholars believed that this commentary had been lost. Only volumes one through six of the Arithmetica have survived in the original Greek, but at least four additional volumes have been preserved in an Arabic translation produced around
2795-490: A confused and vicious sect." Iamblichus ( c. 245 – c. 325 ) influenced the direction taken by later neoplatonic philosophy. He is perhaps best known for the compendium The Life of Pythagoras , his commentary on Pythagorean philosophy, and his De Mysteriis . In Iamblichus' system, the realm of divinities stretched from the original One down to material nature itself, where soul, in fact, descended into matter and became "embodied" as human beings. The world
3010-474: A controversy over the date of the Christian holiday of Easter 417 and that she was killed on the vernal equinox while making astronomical observations. Classical scholars Alan Cameron and Edward J. Watts both dismiss this hypothesis, noting that there is absolutely no evidence in any ancient text to support any part of the hypothesis. Hypatia's death sent shockwaves throughout the empire; for centuries, philosophers had been seen as effectively untouchable during
3225-524: A doctor of Scythopolis ; and Serapion from Alexandria. He had students amongst the Roman Senate beside Castricius, such as Marcellus Orontius , Sabinillus , and Rogantianus . Women were also numbered amongst his students, including Gemina, in whose house he lived during his residence in Rome, and her daughter, also Gemina; and Amphiclea, the wife of Ariston, the son of Iamblichus . Finally, Plotinus
3440-720: A female intellectual, Hypatia became a role model for modern intelligent women and two feminist journals were named after her: the Greek journal Hypatia: Feminist Studies was launched in Athens in 1984, and Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy in the United States in 1986. In the United Kingdom , the Hypatia Trust maintains a library and archive of feminine literary, artistic and scientific work; and, sponsors
3655-619: A flowing, ροη, out, απο), similar to the metaphysics of Creation, describes the absolute transcendence of the One or of the Divine, as the source of the Being of all things, but which remains transcendent of them in its own nature. The One is in no way affected or diminished by these emanations, just as the Christian God in no way is augmented or diminished by the act of Creation. Plotinus, using
3870-512: A letter written to Hypatia in 413, Synesius requests her to intercede on behalf of two individuals impacted by the ongoing civil strife in Alexandria, insisting, "You always have power, and you can bring about good by using that power." He also reminds her that she had taught him that a Neoplatonic philosopher must introduce the highest moral standards to political life and act for the benefit of their fellow citizens. According to Socrates Scholasticus , in 414, following an exchange of hostilities and
4085-400: A lifelong virgin and that, when one of the men who came to her lectures tried to court her, she tried to soothe his lust by playing the lyre. When he refused to abandon his pursuit, she rejected him outright, displaying her bloody menstrual rags and declaring "This is what you really love, my young man, but you do not love beauty for its own sake." Damascius further relates that the young man
4300-497: A number of students. His innermost circle included Porphyry , Amelius Gentilianus of Tuscany , the Senator Castricius Firmus , and Eustochius of Alexandria , a doctor who devoted himself to learning from Plotinus and attending to him until his death. Other students included: Zethos , an Arab by ancestry who died before Plotinus, leaving him a legacy and some land; Zoticus , a critic and poet; Paulinus ,
4515-470: A perfect universe, and invites moral depravity. He does, however, claim the stars and planets are ensouled , as witnessed by their movement . Plotinian concepts have been discussed in a cinematic context and relate Plotinus' theory of time as a transitory intelligible movement of the soul to Bergson’s and Deleuze’s time-image. The emperor Julian the Apostate was deeply influenced by neoplatonism, as
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#17327798926254730-400: A popular subject in both fiction and nonfiction by authors in many countries and languages. In 2015, the planet designated Iota Draconis b was named after Hypatia. Neoplatonist Neoplatonism began with Ammonius Saccas and his student Plotinus ( c. 204/5–271 AD) and stretched to the sixth century. After Plotinus there were three distinct periods in the history of neoplatonism:
4945-399: A precedent that Neoplatonism and Christianity could coexist peacefully and cooperatively. Instead, her death and the subsequent failure by the Christian government to impose justice on her killers destroyed that notion entirely and led future Neoplatonists such as Damascius to consider Christian bishops as "dangerous, jealous figures who were also utterly unphilosophical." Hypatia became seen as
5160-404: A pure form of idealism. The demiurge (the nous ) is the energy, or ergon (does the work), which manifests or organises the material world into perceivability . The image and product of the motionless nous is the world-soul , which, according to Plotinus, is immaterial like the nous . Its relation to the nous is the same as that of the nous to the One. It stands between the nous and
5375-538: A requisite principle of totality which is also the source of ultimate wisdom. After the Platonic Academy was destroyed in the first century BC, philosophers continued to teach Platonism , but it was not until the early 5th century (c. 410) that a revived academy (which had no connection with the original Academy) was established in Athens by some leading neoplatonists. It persisted until 529 AD when it
5590-416: A riot and attempting to murder the governor, not for his faith. Prominent Alexandrian Christians intervened and forced Cyril to drop the matter. Nonetheless, Cyril's feud with Orestes continued. Orestes frequently consulted Hypatia for advice because she was well-liked among both pagans and Christians alike, she had not been involved in any previous stages of the conflict, and she had an impeccable reputation as
5805-511: A saint." In response to these accusations, Catholic authors, as well as some French Protestants, insisted with increased vehemence that Cyril had absolutely no involvement in Hypatia's murder and that Peter the Lector was solely responsible. In the course of these heated debates, Hypatia tended to be cast aside and ignored, while the debates focused far more intently on the question of whether Peter
6020-463: A scholar, but does not mention her death, perhaps indicating that he saw her scholarly work as more significant. The intellectual Eudokia Makrembolitissa (1021–1096), the second wife of Byzantine emperor Constantine X Doukas , was described by the historian Nicephorus Gregoras as a "second Hypatia". Early eighteenth-century Deist scholar John Toland used the murder of Hypatia as the basis for an anti-Catholic tract, portraying Hypatia's death in
6235-552: A school edition, designed for the use of students rather than professional mathematicians." Hypatia also wrote a commentary on Apollonius of Perga 's work on conic sections , but this commentary is not extant. She also created an " Astronomical Canon "; this is believed to have been either a new edition of the Handy Tables by the Alexandrian Ptolemy or the aforementioned commentary on his Almagest . Based on
6450-456: A sect of Gnostics that held anti-polytheistic and anti-daemon views, and that preached salvation was possible without struggle. At one point, Plotinus makes clear that his major grudge is the way Gnostics 'misused' Plato's teachings, and not their own teachings themselves: There are no hard feelings if they tell us in which respects they intend to disagree with Plato [...] Rather, whatever strikes them as their own distinct views in comparison with
6665-544: A snake crept under the bed where Plotinus lay, and slipped away through a hole in the wall; at the same moment the philosopher died. Plotinus wrote the essays that became the Enneads (from Greek ἐννέα ( ennéa ), or group of nine) over a period of several years from c. 253 until a few months before his death seventeen years later. Porphyry makes note that the Enneads , before being compiled and arranged by himself, were merely
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6880-408: A soul may be reincarnated into another human or even a different sort of animal. However, Porphyry maintained, instead, that human souls were only reincarnated into other humans. A soul which has returned to the One achieves union with the cosmic universal soul and does not descend again; at least, not in this world period. Certain central tenets of neoplatonism served as a philosophical interim for
7095-537: A student of Athanasius of Alexandria . In the Laodikeia of Asia Minor (today Denizli in Turkey) until late 19th century Hypatia was venerated as identical to St. Catherine. The Byzantine Suda encyclopedia contains a very long entry about Hypatia, which summarizes two different accounts of her life. The first eleven lines come from one source and the rest of the entry comes from Damascius's Life of Isidore . Most of
7310-542: A superstition is so intangible you can not get at it to refute it, but truth is a point of view, and so is changeable. Falsehoods and misconceptions about Hypatia continued to proliferate throughout the late twentieth century. Though Hubbard's fictional biography may have been intended for children, Lynn M. Osen relied on it as her main source in her influential 1974 article on Hypatia in her 1974 book Women in Mathematics . Fordham University used Hubbard's biography as
7525-510: A teacher and founder of the neoplatonic system. Porphyry stated in On the One School of Plato and Aristotle , that Ammonius' view was that the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle were in harmony. Eusebius and Jerome claimed him as a Christian until his death, whereas Porphyry claimed he had renounced Christianity and embraced pagan philosophy. Plotinus ( c. 205 – c. 270 )
7740-525: A tradition of thought begun by Plato himself. Plotinus's metaphysics, at least in broad outline, was therefore already familiar to the first generation of Plato's students. This confirms Plotinus' own view, for he considered himself not the inventor of a system but the faithful interpreter of Plato's doctrines. At least two modern conferences within Hellenic philosophy fields of study have been held in order to address what Plotinus stated in his tract Against
7955-408: A variety of other inventions, these other attributions may all be discounted as spurious. Booth concludes, "The modern day reputation held by Hypatia as a philosopher, mathematician, astronomer, and mechanical inventor, is disproportionate to the amount of surviving evidence of her life's work. This reputation is either built on myth or hearsay as opposed to evidence. Either that or we are missing all of
8170-486: A venerable analogy that would become crucial for the (largely neoplatonic) metaphysics of developed Christian thought, likens the One to the Sun which emanates light indiscriminately without thereby diminishing itself, or reflection in a mirror which in no way diminishes or otherwise alters the object being reflected. The first emanation is Nous (Divine Mind, Logos , Order, Thought, Reason), identified metaphorically with
8385-555: A victim to the political jealousy which at that time prevailed. For as she had frequent interviews with Orestes, it was calumniously reported among the Christian populace that it was she who prevented Orestes from being reconciled to the bishop." Socrates Scholasticus unequivocally condemns the actions of the mob, declaring, "Surely nothing can be farther from the spirit of Christianity than the allowance of massacres, fights, and transactions of that sort." The Canadian mathematician Ari Belenkiy has argued that Hypatia may have been involved in
8600-515: A wise counselor. Despite Hypatia's popularity, Cyril and his allies attempted to discredit her and undermine her reputation. Socrates Scholasticus mentions rumors accusing Hypatia of preventing Orestes from reconciling with Cyril. Traces of other rumors that spread among the Christian populace of Alexandria may be found in the writings of the seventh-century Egyptian Coptic bishop John of Nikiû , who alleges in his Chronicle that Hypatia had engaged in satanic practices and had intentionally hampered
8815-432: A young woman by the early photographer Julia Margaret Cameron and an 1885 painting by Charles William Mitchell showing a nude Hypatia standing before an altar in a church. At the same time, European philosophers and scientists described Hypatia as the last representative of science and free inquiry before a "long medieval decline". In 1843, German authors Soldan and Heppe argued in their highly influential History of
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9030-447: Is a perfect image of the One and the archetype of all existing things. It is simultaneously both being and thought, idea and ideal world. As image, the nous corresponds perfectly to the One, but as derivative, it is entirely different. What Plotinus understands by the nous is the highest sphere accessible to the human mind , while also being pure intellect itself. Nous is the most critical component of idealism , Neoplatonism being
9245-615: Is an imperfect copy of the Nous and the Platonic realm of the Forms. The process of Emanation is beyond temporality as time does not exist in the One, the Nous, or the Soul, but only in the sensible world. Despite their distinctions, these four realities are all part of the same unified reality unfolding within the One. The original Being initially emanates, or throws out, the nous (νοῦς), which
9460-424: Is better than to never think at all." Hubbard claims that, as a young woman, Hypatia traveled to Athens, where she studied under Plutarch of Athens . All of this supposed biographical information, however, is completely fictional and is not found in any ancient source. Hubbard even attributes to Hypatia numerous completely fabricated quotations in which she presents modern, rationalist views. The cover illustration for
9675-521: Is both the creative source of the Universe and the teleological end of all existing things. Although, properly speaking, there is no name appropriate for the first principle, the most adequate names are "the One" or "the Good". The One is so simple that it cannot even be said to exist or to be a being. Rather, the creative principle of all things is beyond being, a notion which is derived from Book VI of
9890-454: Is both the knower, the known, and the act of knowing, embodying a complete unity. The Platonic realm of the Forms is contained within the Nous and acts as the archetype of the sensible world. From the Nous emanates a lesser reality known as the Soul, which receives information from the Nous and actualizes it. This act of "actualization" is the same as the creation of the sensible world, the realm of multiplicity, time, and space. This sensible realm
10105-626: Is called soul ( World Soul ). Henosis for Plotinus was defined in his works as a reversing of the ontological process of consciousness via meditation (in the Western mind to un contemplate ) toward no thought ( Nous or demiurge ) and no division ( dyad ) within the individual (being). Plotinus words his teachings to reconcile not only Plato with Aristotle but also various World religions that he had personal contact with during his various travels. Plotinus' works have an ascetic character in that they reject matter as an illusion (non-existent). Matter
10320-567: Is known, but also because it contradicts Damascius's own statement quoted in the same entry about Hypatia being a lifelong virgin. Watts suggests that someone probably misunderstood the meaning of the word gynē used by Damascius to describe Hypatia in his Life of Isidore , since the same word can mean either "woman" or "wife". The Byzantine and Christian intellectual Photios ( c. 810/820–893) includes both Damascius's account of Hypatia and Socrates Scholasticus's in his Bibliotheke . In his own comments, Photios remarks on Hypatia's great fame as
10535-512: Is no dualist in the sense of certain sects, such as the Gnostics; in contrast, he admires the beauty and splendour of the world. So long as idea governs matter, or the soul governs the body, the world is fair and good. It is an image – though a shadowy image – of the upper world, and the degrees of better and worse in it are essential to the harmony of the whole. But, in the actual phenomenal world, unity and harmony are replaced by strife or discord;
10750-406: Is one of Plotinus’ greatest imprints on Western thought, as he is one of the first to introduce the idea that eudaimonia (happiness) is attainable only within consciousness. The true human is an incorporeal contemplative capacity of the soul, and superior to all things corporeal. It then follows that real human happiness is independent of the physical world. Real happiness is, instead, dependent on
10965-420: Is possible any longer to distinguish between seer and seen, and not boldly to affirm that the two are one." Although Plotinus never mentions Christianity in any of his works, he seems to offer an alternative to the orthodox Christian notion of creation ex nihilo (out of nothing), though this is disputed. The metaphysics of emanation (ἀπορροή aporrhoe (ΙΙ.3.2) or ἀπόρροια aporrhoia (II.3.11)) (literally
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#173277989262511180-436: Is reasonably well recorded. Hypatia was renowned in her own lifetime as a great teacher and a wise counselor. She wrote a commentary on Diophantus 's thirteen-volume Arithmetica , which may survive in part, having been interpolated into Diophantus's original text, and another commentary on Apollonius of Perga 's treatise on conic sections , which has not survived. Many modern scholars also believe that Hypatia may have edited
11395-506: Is set always and only inward.” (Enneads I.4.11) Overall, happiness for Plotinus is "... a flight from this world's ways and things." (Theaet. 176) and a focus on the highest, i.e. Forms and the One. Plotinus regarded happiness as living in an interior way (interiority or self-sufficiency), and this being the obverse of attachment to the objects of embodied desires. Henosis is the word for mystical "oneness", "union", or "unity" in classical Greek. In Platonism , and especially neoplatonism ,
11610-479: Is the utilization of the most authentically human capacity of contemplation. Even in daily, physical action, the flourishing human’s “… Act is determined by the higher phase of the Soul.” (Enneads III.4.6) Even in the most dramatic arguments Plotinus considers (if the Proficient is subject to extreme physical torture, for example), he concludes this only strengthens his claim of true happiness being metaphysical, as
11825-462: Is thought not to be the work of a ' pseudo-Aristotle ' though this remains debatable. Hypatia ( c. 360 – 415) was a Greek philosopher and mathematician who served as head of the Platonist school in Alexandria, Egypt, where she taught philosophy, mathematics and astronomy. She was murdered in a Church by a fanatical mob of Coptic Parabalani monks because she had been advising
12040-481: Is thus peopled by a crowd of superhuman beings influencing natural events and possessing and communicating knowledge of the future, and who are all accessible to prayers and offerings. Iamblichus had salvation as his final goal (see henosis ). The embodied soul was to return to divinity by performing certain rites, or theurgy , literally, 'divine-working'. After Plotinus' (around 205–270) and his student Porphyry (around 232–309) Aristotle's (non-biological) works entered
12255-439: Is widely considered the father of Neoplatonism. Much of our biographical information about him comes from Porphyry's preface to his edition of Plotinus' Enneads . While he was himself influenced by the teachings of classical Greek , Persian , and Indian philosophy and Egyptian theology , his metaphysical writings later inspired numerous Pagan , Jewish , Christian , Gnostic , and Islamic metaphysicians and mystics over
12470-560: The Republic , when, in the course of his famous analogy of the Sun , Plato says that the Good is beyond being (ἐπέκεινα τῆς οὐσίας) in power and dignity. In Plotinus' model of reality, the One is the cause of the rest of reality, which takes the form of two subsequent " hypostases " or substances: Nous and Soul ( psyché ). Although neoplatonists after Plotinus adhered to his cosmological scheme in its most general outline, later developments in
12685-475: The Almagest , based on the title of Theon's commentary on the third book of Almagest , which reads "Commentary by Theon of Alexandria on Book III of Ptolemy's Almagest , edition revised by my daughter Hypatia, the philosopher", but, based on analysis of the titles of Theon's other commentaries and similar titles from the time period, scholars have concluded that Hypatia corrected, not her father's commentary, but
12900-571: The Christian theologian Augustine of Hippo on his journey from dualistic Manichaeism to Christianity. As a Manichaen, Augustine had held that evil has substantial being and that God is made of matter; when he became a neoplatonist, he changed his views on these things. As a neoplatonist, and later a Christian, Augustine believed that evil is a privation of good and that God is not material. When writing his treatise 'On True Religion' several years after his 387 baptism, Augustine's Christianity
13115-638: The Demiurge in Plato's Timaeus . It is the first Will toward Good. From Nous proceeds the World Soul , which Plotinus subdivides into upper and lower, identifying the lower aspect of Soul with nature . From the world soul proceeds individual human souls, and finally, matter, at the lowest level of being and thus the least perfected level of the cosmos. Plotinus asserted the ultimately divine nature of material creation since it ultimately derives from
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#173277989262513330-709: The Eastern Christian Church as an independent tradition and was reintroduced to the West by Pletho ( c. 1355 – 1452/1454), an avowed pagan and opponent of the Byzantine Church, inasmuch as the latter, under Western scholastic influence, relied heavily upon Aristotelian methodology. Pletho's Platonic revival, following the Council of Florence (1438–1439), largely accounts for the renewed interest in Platonic philosophy which accompanied
13545-487: The Enneads of Plotinus the Monad can be referred to as the Good above the demiurge. The Monad or dunamis (force) is of one singular expression (the will or the one which is the good); all is contained in the Monad and the Monad is all ( pantheism ). All division is reconciled in the one; the final stage before reaching singularity, called duality (dyad), is completely reconciled in the Monad, Source or One (see monism ). As
13760-470: The Enneads , but to clarify aspects of the works of Plato that he considered misrepresented or misunderstood. Plotinus does not claim to be an innovator, but rather a communicator of a tradition. Plotinus referred to tradition as a way to interpret Plato's intentions. Because the teachings of Plato were for members of the academy rather than the general public, it was easy for outsiders to misunderstand Plato's meaning. However, Plotinus attempted to clarify how
13975-483: The Italian Renaissance thinkers Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola , and continues through 19th-century Universalism and modern-day spirituality . Neoplatonism is a modern term. The term neoplatonism has a double function as a historical category. On the one hand, it differentiates the philosophical doctrines of Plotinus and his successors from those of the historical Plato . On
14190-810: 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 early Islamic metaphysicians and mystics , including developing precepts that influence mainstream theological concepts within religions, such as his work on duality of
14405-525: The Middle Platonist philosophers Alexander of Aphrodisias and Numenius of Apamea , along with various Stoics and Neopythagoreans . After having spent eleven years in Alexandria, he then decided, at the age of around thirty-eight, to investigate the philosophical teachings of the Persian and Indian philosophers . In the pursuit of this endeavor he left Alexandria and joined the army of
14620-729: The Mutazilite Abbasids fused Greek concepts into sponsored state texts, and found great influence amongst the Ismaili Shia and Persian philosophers as well, such as Muhammad al-Nasafi and Abu Yaqub Sijistani . By the 11th century, neoplatonism was adopted by the Fatimid state of Egypt, and taught by their da'i . Neoplatonism was brought to the Fatimid court by Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani , although his teachings differed from Nasafi and Sijistani, who were more aligned with
14835-566: The Renaissance . "Of all the students of Greek in Renaissance Italy, the best-known are the neoplatonists who studied in and around Florence" (Hole). Neoplatonism was not just a revival of Plato's ideas, it is all based on Plotinus' created synthesis, which incorporated the works and teachings of Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, and other Greek philosophers. The Renaissance in Italy was the revival of classic antiquity, and this started at
15050-515: The curriculum of Platonic thought. Porphyry's introduction ( Isagoge ) to Aristotle's Categoria was important as an introduction to logic , and the study of Aristotle became an introduction to the study of Plato in the late Platonism of Athens and Alexandria . The commentaries of this group seek to harmonise Plato, Aristotle, and, often, the Stoics . Some works of neoplatonism were attributed to Plato or Aristotle. De Mundo , for instance,
15265-478: The feminist movement . Since the late twentieth century, some portrayals have associated Hypatia's death with the destruction of the Library of Alexandria , despite the historical fact that the library no longer existed during Hypatia's lifetime. Hypatia was the daughter of the mathematician Theon of Alexandria ( c. 335 – c. 405 AD ). According to classical historian Edward J. Watts , Theon
15480-429: The "Sun", and lastly the Soul (Ψυχή, Psyche ) to the "Moon" whose light is merely a "derivative conglomeration of light from the 'Sun'". The first light could exist without any celestial body. The One, being beyond all attributes including being and non-being, is the source of the world—but not through any act of creation, since activity cannot be ascribed to the unchangeable, immutable One. Plotinus argues instead that
15695-570: The "spirit of Plato and the body of Aphrodite ." Kingsley's novel was tremendously popular; it was translated into several European languages and remained continuously in print for the rest of the century. It promoted the romantic vision of Hypatia as "the last of the Hellenes" and was quickly adapted into a broad variety of stage productions, the first of which was a play written by Elizabeth Bowers, performed in Philadelphia in 1859, starring
15910-515: The Areopagite , and he knew about other Neoplatonists, such as Plotinus and Porphyry, through second-hand sources. The German mystic Meister Eckhart ( c. 1260 – c. 1328 ) was also influenced by Neoplatonism, propagating a contemplative way of life which points to the Godhead beyond the nameable God. Neoplatonism also had a strong influence on the perennial philosophy of
16125-673: The Christian Gnostics of Alexandria , especially Valentinus and the followers of Basilides , also mirrored elements of Neoplatonism, Ammonius Saccas (died c. 240–245 AD ) was a teacher of Plotinus. Through Ammonius Saccas, Plotinus may have been influenced by Indian thought. The similarities between Neoplatonism and Indian philosophy , particularly Samkhya , have led several authors to suggest an Indian influence in its founding, particularly on Ammonius Saccas. Both Christians (see Eusebius , Jerome , and Origen ) and Pagans (see Porphyry and Plotinus) claimed him
16340-414: The Christian murder of Hypatia is the sole historical source attributing direct responsibility to Bishop Cyril. At the same time, Damascius was not entirely kind to Hypatia either; he characterizes her as nothing more than a wandering Cynic , and compares her unfavorably with his own teacher Isidore of Alexandria , remarking that "Isidorus greatly outshone Hypatia, not just as a man does over a woman, but in
16555-576: The Christian, the Other World was the Kingdom of Heaven, to be enjoyed after death; to the Platonist, it was the eternal world of ideas, the real world as opposed to that of illusory appearance. Christian theologians combined these points of view, and embodied much of the philosophy of Plotinus. [...] Plotinus, accordingly, is historically important as an influence in moulding the Christianity of
16770-594: The Decian martyrs and she became part of the basis for the legend of Saint Catherine of Alexandria , a virgin martyr said to have been exceedingly wise and well-educated. The earliest attestation for the cult of Saint Catherine comes from the eighth century, around three hundred years after Hypatia's death. One story tells of Saint Catherine being confronted by fifty pagan philosophers seeking to convert her, but instead converting all of them to Christianity through her eloquence. Another legend claimed that Saint Catherine had been
16985-482: The Earth. In his early commentary, Theon had tried to improve upon Ptolemy's division calculation. In the text edited by Hypatia, a tabular method is detailed. This tabular method might be the "astronomical table" which historic sources attribute to Hypatia. Classicist Alan Cameron additionally states that it is possible Hypatia may have edited, not only Book III, but all nine extant books of the Almagest . Hypatia wrote
17200-523: The Enneads , p. vii Authentic human happiness for Plotinus consists of the true human identifying with that which is the best in the universe. Because happiness is beyond anything physical, Plotinus stresses the point that worldly fortune does not control true human happiness, and thus “… there exists no single human being that does not either potentially or effectively possess this thing we hold to constitute happiness.” (Enneads I.4.4) The issue of happiness
17415-547: The German theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher as an early thinker who took Plato's philosophy to be separate from that of his neoplatonic interpreters. However, others have argued that the differentiation of Plato from neoplatonism was the result of a protracted historical development that preceded Schleiermacher's scholarly work on Plato. Neoplatonism started with Plotinus in the 3rd century AD. Three distinct phases in classical neoplatonism after Plotinus can be distinguished:
17630-586: The Gnostics and to whom he was addressing it, in order to separate and clarify the events and persons involved in the origin of the term "Gnostic". From the dialogue, it appears that the word had an origin in the Platonic and Hellenistic tradition long before the group calling themselves "Gnostics"—or the group covered under the modern term "Gnosticism"—ever appeared. It would seem that this shift from Platonic to Gnostic usage has led many people to confusion. The strategy of sectarians taking Greek terms from philosophical contexts and re-applying them to religious contexts
17845-427: The Gnostics despising the material world and its maker. For decades, Armstrong's was the only translation available of Plotinus. For this reason, his claims were authoritative. However, a modern translation by Lloyd P. Gerson doesn't necessarily support all of Armstrong's views. Unlike Armstrong, Gerson didn't find Plotinus to be so vitriolic against the Gnostics. According to Gerson: As Plotinus himself tells us, at
18060-455: The Greeks’, these views – as well as the views that contradict them – should be forthrightly set out on their own in a considerate and philosophical manner. The neoplatonic movement (though Plotinus would have simply referred to himself as a philosopher of Plato) seems to be motivated by the desire of Plotinus to revive the pagan philosophical tradition. Plotinus was not claiming to innovate with
18275-780: The Hindu school of Advaita Vedanta ( advaita meaning "not two" or "non-dual"). M. Vasudevacharya says, "Though Plotinus never managed to reach India, his method shows an affinity to the 'method of negation' as taught in some of the Upanishads, such as the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad, and also to the practice of yoga." Advaita Vedanta and neoplatonism have been compared by J. F. Staal , Frederick Copleston , Aldo Magris and Mario Piantelli, Radhakrishnan, Gwen Griffith-Dickson, and John Y. Fenton. The joint influence of Advaitin and neoplatonic ideas on Ralph Waldo Emerson
18490-559: The Hypatia-in-the-Woods women's retreat in Washington , United States. Judy Chicago 's large-scale art piece The Dinner Party awards Hypatia a table setting . The table runner depicts Hellenistic goddesses weeping over her death. Chicago states that the social unrest leading to Hypatia's murder resulted from Roman patriarchy and mistreatment of women and that this ongoing unrest can only be brought to an end through
18705-550: The Islamic cultural sphere, Neoplatonic texts were available in Arabic and Persian translations, and notable philosophers such as al-Farabi , Solomon ibn Gabirol ( Avicebron ), Avicenna ( Ibn Sina ), and Maimonides incorporated Neoplatonic elements into their own thinking. Christian philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) had direct access to the works of Proclus , Simplicius of Cilicia , and Pseudo-Dionysius
18920-448: The Lector had acted alone or under Cyril's orders. In the nineteenth century European literary authors spun the legend of Hypatia as part of neo-Hellenism , a movement that romanticised ancient Greeks and their values. Interest in the "literary legend of Hypatia" began to rise. Diodata Saluzzo Roero 's 1827 Ipazia ovvero delle Filosofie suggested that Cyril had actually converted Hypatia to Christianity, and that she had been killed by
19135-521: The Logos interior to God from the Logos related to the world by creation and salvation. For Augustine, the Logos " took on flesh " in Christ, in whom the Logos was present as in no other man. He strongly influenced early medieval Christian philosophy . Some early Christians, influenced by neoplatonism, identified the neoplatonic One, or God, with Yahweh . The most influential of these would be Origen ,
19350-706: The Middle Ages and of theology. The Eastern Orthodox position on energy, for example, is often contrasted with the position of the Roman Catholic Church , and in part this is attributed to varying interpretations of Aristotle and Plotinus, either through Thomas Aquinas for the Roman Catholics or Gregory Palamas for the Orthodox Christians. Neoplatonism and the ideas of Plotinus influenced medieval Islam as well, since
19565-401: The Middle Ages most Plotinus' insights will be presented as authored by Proclus. The Enneads of Plotinus are the primary and classical document of neoplatonism. As a form of mysticism , it contains theoretical and practical parts. The theoretical parts deal with the high origin of the human soul , showing how it has departed from its first estate. The practical parts show the way by which
19780-512: The One (τὸ Ἕν, to hen ; V.6.6). Rather, if we insist on describing it further, we must call the One a sheer potentiality ( dynamis ) without which nothing could exist. (III.8.10) As Plotinus explains in both places and elsewhere (e.g. V.6.3), it is impossible for the One to be Being or a self-aware Creator God. At (V.6.4), Plotinus compared the One to "light", the Divine Intellect/ Nous (Νοῦς, Nous ; first will towards Good) to
19995-457: The One after death. After bodily death, the soul takes up a level in the afterlife corresponding with the level at which it lived during its earthly life. The neoplatonists believed in the principle of reincarnation . Although the most pure and holy souls would dwell in the highest regions, the impure soul would undergo a purification, before descending again, to be reincarnated into a new body, perhaps into animal form. Plotinus believed that
20210-694: The One in two metaphysical states. Porphyry reported that Plotinus was sixty-six years old when he died in 270 CE , the second year of the reign of the Roman Emperor Claudius II , thus giving us the year of his birth as around 204. Eunapius reported that Plotinus was born in Lyco, which could either refer to the modern Asyut in Upper Egypt or Deltaic Lycopolis , in Lower Egypt . This has led to speculations that his family
20425-424: The One, from which they emanated. The neoplatonists believed in the pre-existence, and immortality of the soul. The human soul consists of a lower irrational soul and a higher rational soul ( mind ), both of which can be regarded as different powers of the one soul. It was widely held that the soul possesses a "vehicle" ( okhêma ), accounting for the human soul's immortality and allowing for its return to
20640-463: The One, through the mediums of Nous and the world soul. It is by the Good or through beauty that we recognize the One, in material things and then in the Forms . (I.6.6 and I.6.9) The essentially devotional nature of Plotinus' philosophy may be further illustrated by his concept of attaining ecstatic union with the One ( henosis ). Porphyry relates that Plotinus attained such a union four times during
20855-491: The Renaissance" (Hole). In 1462, Cosimo I de' Medici, patron of arts, who had an interest in humanism and Platonism, provided Ficino with all 36 of Plato's dialogues in Greek for him to translate. Between 1462 and 1469, Ficino translated these works into Latin, making them widely accessible, as only a minority of people could read Greek. And, between 1484 and 1492, he translated the works of Plotinus, making them available for
21070-534: The Roman emperor Gordian III as it marched on Persia (242–243). However, the campaign was a failure, and on Gordian's eventual death Plotinus found himself abandoned in a hostile land, and only with difficulty found his way back to safety in Antioch . At the age of forty, during the reign of Emperor Philip the Arab , he came to Rome , where he stayed for most of the remainder of his life. There he attracted
21285-474: The Roman prefects and other prominent political leaders. Partly as a result of Theophilus's tolerance, Hypatia became extremely popular with the people of Alexandria and exerted profound political influence. Theophilus died unexpectedly in 412. He had been training his nephew Cyril , but had not officially named him as his successor. A violent power struggle over the diocese broke out between Cyril and his rival Timothy . Cyril won and immediately began to punish
21500-603: The Universe, having an "other" necessity, as a harmonizing factor. Later neoplatonic philosophers, especially Iamblichus, added hundreds of intermediate beings such as gods , angels , demons , and other beings as mediators between the One and humanity. The neoplatonist gods are omni-perfect beings and do not display the usual amoral behaviour associated with their representations in the myths. Neoplatonists did not believe in an independent existence of evil . They compared it to darkness, which does not exist in itself but only as
21715-491: The Witchcraft Trials that Hypatia may have been, in effect, the first famous " witch " punished under Christian authority (see witch-hunt ). Hypatia was honored as an astronomer when 238 Hypatia , a main belt asteroid discovered in 1884, was named for her. The lunar crater Hypatia was also named for her, in addition to craters named for her father Theon. The 180 km Rimae Hypatia are located north of
21930-418: The ability of someone to be happy (presupposing happiness is contemplation) if they are mentally incapacitated or even asleep. Plotinus disregards this claim, as the soul and true human do not sleep or even exist in time, nor will a living human who has achieved eudaimonia suddenly stop using its greatest, most authentic capacity just because of the body’s discomfort in the physical realm. “… The Proficient’s will
22145-441: The absence of light. So, too, evil is simply the absence of good. Things are good insofar as they exist; they are evil only insofar as they are imperfect, lacking some good which they should have. Neoplatonists believed human perfection and happiness were attainable in this world, without awaiting an afterlife . Perfection and happiness—seen as synonymous—could be achieved through philosophical contemplation . All people return to
22360-440: The additional material in the Arabic manuscripts came from Hypatia was the nineteenth-century scholar Paul Tannery . In 1885, Sir Thomas Heath published the first English translation of the surviving portion of the Arithmetica . Heath argued that surviving text of Arithmetica is actually a school edition produced by Hypatia to aid her students. According to Mary Ellen Waithe, Hypatia used an unusual algorithm for division (in
22575-407: The age of Justinian I . Fables should be taught as fables, myths as myths, and miracles as poetic fantasies. To teach superstitions as truths is a most terrible thing. The child mind accepts and believes them, and only through great pain and perhaps tragedy can he be in after years relieved of them. In fact, men will fight for a superstition quite as quickly as for a living truth–often more so, since
22790-424: The astronomical Canon. Because of this, most scholars today recognize that Hypatia must have been among the leading mathematicians of her day. One of Synesius's letters describes Hypatia as having taught him how to construct a silver plane astrolabe as a gift for an official. An astrolabe is a device used to calculate date and time based on the positions of the stars and planets. It can also be used to predict where
23005-421: The author of the interpolations can only have been "an essentially trivial mind... in direct conflict with ancient testimonies of Hypatia's high caliber as a philosopher and mathematician." Cameron rejects this argument, noting that "Theon too enjoyed a high reputation, yet his surviving work has been judged 'completely unoriginal.'" Cameron also insists that "Hypatia's work on Diophantus was what we today might call
23220-512: The biological sense and was often used merely to signal strong feelings of paternal connection. Hypatia's exact year of birth is still under debate, with suggested dates ranging from 350 to 370 AD. Many scholars have followed Richard Hoche in inferring that Hypatia was born around 370. According to Damascius's lost work Life of Isidore, preserved in the entry for Hypatia in the Suda , a tenth-century Byzantine encyclopedia, Hypatia flourished during
23435-426: The book, a drawing of Hypatia by artist Jules Maurice Gaspard showing her as a beautiful young woman with her wavy hair tied back in the classical style, has now become the most iconic and widely reproduced image of her. Around the same time, Hypatia was adopted by feminists , and her life and death began to be viewed in the light of the women's rights movement. The author Carlo Pascal claimed in 1908 that her murder
23650-458: The calculations necessary in order to construct an astrolabe. Synesius's wording indicates that Hypatia did not design or construct the astrolabe, but acted as a guide and mentor during the process of constructing it. In another letter, Synesius requests Hypatia to construct him a "hydroscope", a device now known as a hydrometer , to determine the density or specific gravity of liquids. Based on this request, it has been claimed that Hypatia invented
23865-404: The centuries. Plotinus taught that there is a supreme, totally transcendent "One", containing no division, multiplicity, nor distinction; likewise, it is beyond all categories of being and non-being. The concept of "being" is derived by us from the objects of human experience and is an attribute of such objects, but the infinite, transcendent One is beyond all such objects and, therefore, is beyond
24080-507: The church's influence over Orestes: And in those days there appeared in Alexandria a female philosopher, a pagan named Hypatia, and she was devoted at all times to magic, astrolabes and instruments of music, and she beguiled many people through her Satanic wiles. And the governor of the city honoured her exceedingly; for she had beguiled him through her magic. And he ceased attending church as had been his custom... And he not only did this, but he drew many believers to her, and he himself received
24295-584: The closure of the Mouseion and the destruction of the Serapeum may have led Hypatia and her father to focus their efforts on preserving seminal mathematical books and making them accessible to their students. The Suda mistakenly states that all of Hypatia's writings have been lost, but modern scholarship has identified several works by her as extant. This kind of authorial uncertainty is typical of female philosophers from antiquity. Hypatia wrote in Greek, which
24510-435: The concept of 'Good' and the principle of 'Beauty'. (I.6.9) His "One" concept encompassed thinker and object. Even the self-contemplating intelligence (the noesis of the nous ) must contain duality . "Once you have uttered 'The Good,' add no further thought: by any addition, and in proportion to that addition, you introduce a deficiency." (III.8.11) Plotinus denies sentience , self-awareness or any other action ( ergon ) to
24725-462: The concepts which we can derive from them. The One "cannot be any existing thing" and cannot be merely the sum of all such things (compare the Stoic doctrine of disbelief in non-material existence) but "is prior to all existents". Porphyry (c. 233 – c. 309) wrote widely on astrology, religion, philosophy, and musical theory. He produced a biography of his teacher, Plotinus. He is important in
24940-666: The crater, one degree south of the equator, along the Mare Tranquillitatis . In 1908, American writer Elbert Hubbard published a putative biography of Hypatia in his series Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Teachers . The book is almost entirely a work of fiction. In it, Hubbard relates a completely made-up physical exercise program which he claims Theon established for his daughter, involving "fishing, horseback-riding, and rowing". He claims that Theon taught Hypatia to "Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly
25155-440: The dialogues of Plato. The particular characteristic of Proclus' system is his insertion of a level of individual ones, called henads , between the One itself and the divine Intellect, which is the second principle. The henads are beyond being, like the One itself, but they stand at the head of chains of causation ( seirai or taxeis ) and in some manner give to these chains their particular character. They are also identified with
25370-464: The displays of public violence that sometimes occurred in Roman cities and the murder of a female philosopher at the hand of a mob was seen as "profoundly dangerous and destabilizing". Although no concrete evidence was ever discovered definitively linking Cyril to the murder of Hypatia, it was widely believed that he had ordered it. Even if Cyril had not directly ordered the murder, his smear campaign against Hypatia had inspired it. The Alexandrian council
25585-554: The editorial process, and turned the task to Porphyry, who polished and edited them into their modern form. Plotinus taught that there is a supreme, totally transcendent " One ", containing no division, multiplicity, or distinction; beyond all categories of being and non-being. His "One" "cannot be any existing thing", nor is it merely the sum of all things (compare the Stoic doctrine of disbelief in non-material existence), but "is prior to all existents". Plotinus identified his "One" with
25800-520: The effects of creation. Islamic philosophers used the framework of Islamic mysticism in their interpretation of Neoplatonic writings and concepts. In the Middle Ages, neoplatonist ideas influenced Jewish thinkers, such as the Kabbalists Isaac the Blind , Azriel of Gerona and Nachmanides and the earlier Jewish neoplatonic philosopher Solomon ibn Gabirol ( Avicebron ), who modified it in
26015-410: The enormous collection of notes and essays which Plotinus used in his lectures and debates, rather than a formal book. Plotinus was unable to revise his own work due to his poor eyesight, yet his writings required extensive editing, according to Porphyry: his master's handwriting was atrocious, he did not properly separate his words, and he cared little for niceties of spelling. Plotinus intensely disliked
26230-620: The entry ignores Hypatia altogether and instead deals with the controversy over whether or not Cyril was responsible for her death. Voltaire concludes with the snide remark that "When one strips beautiful women naked, it is not to massacre them." In his monumental work The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire , the English historian Edward Gibbon expanded on Toland and Voltaire's misleading portrayals by declaring Cyril as
26445-501: The evidence that would support it." Neoplatonism and paganism both survived for centuries after Hypatia's death, and new academic lecture halls continued to be built in Alexandria after her death. Over the next 200 years, Neoplatonist philosophers such as Hierocles of Alexandria , John Philoponus , Simplicius of Cilicia , and Olympiodorus the Younger made astronomical observations, taught mathematics, and wrote lengthy commentaries on
26660-549: The fall of the Byzantine empire, who were considered the "librarians of the world", because of their great collection of classical manuscripts and the number of humanist scholars that resided in Constantinople (Hole). Neoplatonism in the Renaissance combined the ideas of Christianity and a new awareness of the writings of Plato. Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499) was "chiefly responsible for packaging and presenting Plato to
26875-443: The fate of this book." Hypatia's death became symbolic for some historians. For example, Kathleen Wider proposes that the murder of Hypatia marked the end of Classical antiquity , and Stephen Greenblatt writes that her murder "effectively marked the downfall of Alexandrian intellectual life". On the other hand, Christian Wildberg notes that Hellenistic philosophy continued to flourish in the 5th and 6th centuries, and perhaps until
27090-486: The first eleven lines of the entry probably come from Hesychius 's Onomatologos , but some parts are of unknown origin, including a claim that she was "the wife of Isidore the Philosopher" (apparently Isidore of Alexandria ). Watts describes this as a very puzzling claim, not only because Isidore of Alexandria was not born until long after Hypatia's death, and no other philosopher of that name contemporary with Hypatia
27305-510: The first time to the West. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–1494) was another neoplatonist during the Italian Renaissance. He could speak and write Latin and Greek, and had knowledge on Hebrew and Arabic. The pope banned his works because they were viewed as heretical – unlike Ficino, who managed to stay on the right side of the church. The efforts of Ficino and Pico to introduce neoplatonic and Hermetic doctrines into
27520-501: The followers of Gnosticism had corrupted the original teachings of Plato and often argued against likes of Valentinus who, according to Plotinus, had given rise to doctrines of dogmatic theology with ideas such as that the Spirit of Christ was brought forth by a conscious god after the fall from Pleroma . According to Plotinus, The One is not a conscious god with intent, nor a godhead , nor a conditioned existing entity of any kind, rather
27735-461: The goal of henosis is union with what is fundamental in reality: the One ( τὸ Ἕν ), the Source, or Monad . As is specified in the writings of Plotinus on henology , one can reach a state of tabula rasa , blank state where the individual may grasp or merge with The One. This absolute simplicity means that the nous or the person is then dissolved, completely absorbed back into the Monad. Here within
27950-470: The history of mathematics because of his commentary on Euclid's Elements , which Pappus used when he wrote his own commentary. Porphyry is also known as an opponent of Christianity and as a defender of paganism ; of his Adversus Christianos ( Against the Christians ) in 15 books, only fragments remain. He famously said, "The gods have proclaimed Christ to have been most pious, but the Christians are
28165-478: The hydrometer. The minute detail in which Synesius describes the instrument, however, indicates that he assumes she has never heard of the device, but trusts she will be able to replicate it based on a verbal description. Hydrometers were based on Archimedes ' 3rd century BC principles, may have been invented by him, and were being described by the 2nd century AD in a poem by the Roman author Remnius. Although modern authors frequently credit Hypatia with having developed
28380-439: The ideas of the self-taught Platonist philosopher Ammonius Saccas . Upon hearing Ammonius' lecture, Plotinus declared to his friend: "this is the man I was looking for", began to study intently under his new instructor, and remained with him as his student for eleven years. Besides Ammonius, Plotinus was also influenced by the philosophical works of Aristotle , the pre-Socratic philosophers Empedocles and Heraclitus ,
28595-457: The intelligible world; but it also embraces innumerable individual souls; and these can either allow themselves to be informed by the nous , or turn aside from the nous and choose the phenomenal world and lose themselves in the realm of the senses and the finite. The soul, as a moving essence, generates the corporeal or phenomenal world. This world ought to be so pervaded by the soul that its various parts should remain in perfect harmony. Plotinus
28810-463: The knowledge of his teacher and predecessors in order to inspire the next generation. Whether neoplatonism is a meaningful or useful historical category is itself a central question concerning the history of the interpretation of Plato. For much of the history of Platonism, it was commonly accepted that the doctrines of the neoplatonists were essentially the same as those of Plato. The Renaissance Neoplatonist Marsilio Ficino , for instance, thought that
29025-449: The legacy of Hypatia's opinions and teachings, such as the pursuit of "the philosophical state of apatheia —complete liberation from emotions and affections". The Christian historian Socrates of Constantinople , a contemporary of Hypatia, describes her in his Ecclesiastical History : There was a woman at Alexandria named Hypatia, daughter of the philosopher Theon, who made such attainments in literature and science, as to far surpass all
29240-543: The light of their own monotheism. The works of Pseudo-Dionysius were primarily instrumental in the flowering of western medieval mysticism , most notably the German mystic Meister Eckhart (c. 1260 – c. 1328). Neoplatonism also influenced Latin scholasticism , for example through the reception and translation of Neoplatonic conception by Eriugena . Aquinas, for example, have some Neoplatonic elements in his philosophical conceptions that he adapts within an Aristotelian vocabulary. Neoplatonism ostensibly survived in
29455-604: The main source of information about Hypatia in a medieval history course. Carl Sagan 's 1980 PBS series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage relates a heavily fictionalized retelling of Hypatia's death, which results in the " Great Library of Alexandria " being burned by militant Christians. In actuality, though Christians led by Theophilus did destroy the Serapeum in 391 AD, the Library of Alexandria had already ceased to exist in any recognizable form centuries prior to Hypatia's birth. As
29670-428: The main sources of information about her career. Seven letters by Synesius to Hypatia have survived, but none from her addressed to him are extant. In a letter written in around 395 to his friend Herculianus, Synesius describes Hypatia as "... a person so renowned, her reputation seemed literally incredible. We have seen and heard for ourselves she who honorably presides over the mysteries of philosophy." Synesius preserves
29885-482: The metaphysical and authentic human being found in this highest capacity of Reason. “For man, and especially the Proficient, is not the Couplement of Soul and body: the proof is that man can be disengaged from the body and disdain its nominal goods.” (Enneads I.4.14) The human who has achieved happiness will not be bothered by sickness, discomfort, etc., as his focus is on the greatest things. Authentic human happiness
30100-569: The monotheistic constraints of Islam. The translations of the works which extrapolate the tenets of God in neoplatonism present no major modification from their original Greek sources, showing the doctrinal shift towards monotheism . Islamic neoplatonism adapted the concepts of the One and the First Principle to Islamic theology, attributing the First Principle to God. God is a transcendent being, omnipresent and inalterable to
30315-502: The more. Philostorgius , another Christian historian, who was also a contemporary of Hypatia, states that she excelled her father in mathematics and the lexicographer Hesychius of Alexandria records that, like her father, she was also an extraordinarily talented astronomer. Damascius writes that Hypatia was "exceedingly beautiful and fair of form", but nothing else is known regarding her physical appearance and no ancient depictions of her have survived. Damascius states that Hypatia remained
30530-593: The multiple cannot exist without the simple. The "less perfect" must, of necessity, "emanate", or issue forth, from the "perfect" or "more perfect". Thus, all of "creation" emanates from the One in succeeding stages of lesser and lesser perfection. These stages are not temporally isolated, but occur throughout time as a constant process. The One is not just an intellectual concept but something that can be experienced, an experience where one goes beyond all multiplicity. Plotinus writes, "We ought not even to say that he will see , but he will be that which he sees, if indeed it
30745-403: The neoplatonic interpretation of Plato was an authentic and accurate representation of Plato's philosophy. Although it is unclear precisely when scholars began to disassociate the philosophy of the historical Plato from the philosophy of his neoplatonic interpreters, they had clearly begun to do so at least as early as the first decade of the nineteenth century. Contemporary scholars often identify
30960-424: The neoplatonist Stephanus of Alexandria brought this Alexandrian tradition to Constantinople, where it would remain influential, albeit as a form of secular education. The university maintained an active philosophical tradition of Platonism and Aristotelianism , with the former being the longest unbroken Platonic school, running for close to two millennia until the fifteenth century Michael Psellos (1018–1078),
31175-497: The neopythagoreans, to Plotinus and the neoplatonists. Thus Plotinus' philosophy was, he argued, 'not the starting-point of neoplatonism but its intellectual culmination.' Further research reinforced this view and by 1954 Merlan could say 'The present tendency is toward bridging rather than widening the gap separating Platonism from neoplatonism.' Since the 1950s, the Tübingen School of Plato interpretation has argued that
31390-515: The one source or substance of all things, the Monad is all encompassing. As infinite and indeterminate all is reconciled in the dunamis or one. It is the demiurge or second emanation that is the nous in Plotinus. It is the demiurge (creator, action, energy) or nous that "perceives" and therefore causes the force (potential or One) to manifest as energy, or the dyad called the material world. Nous as being; being and perception (intellect) manifest what
31605-459: The opposing faction; he closed the churches of the Novatianists , who had supported Timothy, and confiscated their property. Hypatia's school seems to have immediately taken a strong distrust toward the new bishop, as evidenced by the fact that, in all his vast correspondences, Synesius only ever wrote one letter to Cyril, in which he treats the younger bishop as inexperienced and misguided. In
31820-438: The original teachings of Plotinus. The teachings of Kirmani in turn influenced philosophers such as Nasir Khusraw of Persia. As with Islam and Christianity, neoplatonism in general and Plotinus in particular influenced speculative thought. Notable thinkers expressing neoplatonist themes are Solomon ibn Gabirol (Latin: Avicebron) and Moses ben Maimon (Latin: Maimonides ). As with Islam and Christianity, apophatic theology and
32035-478: The other, the term makes an assumption about the novelty of Plotinus's interpretation of Plato. In the nearly six centuries from Plato's time to Plotinus', there had been an uninterrupted tradition of interpreting Plato which had begun with Aristotle and with the immediate successors of Plato's Academy and continued on through a period of Platonism which is now referred to as middle Platonism . The term neoplatonism implies that Plotinus' interpretation of Plato
32250-422: The parabalani from attending "any public spectacle whatever" or entering "the meeting place of a municipal council or a courtroom." It also severely restricted their recruitment by limiting the total number of parabalani to no more than five hundred. According to Damascius , Cyril allegedly only managed to escape even more serious punishment by bribing one of Theodosius's officials. Watts argues that Hypatia's murder
32465-432: The phenomenal world, and it is permeated and illuminated by the former, but it is also in contact with the latter. The nous/spirit is indivisible; the world-soul may preserve its unity and remain in the nous , but, at the same time, it has the power of uniting with the corporeal world and thus being disintegrated. It therefore occupies an intermediate position. As a single world-soul, it belongs in essence and destination to
32680-545: The philosophers of her own time. Having succeeded to the school of Plato and Plotinus, she explained the principles of philosophy to her auditors, many of whom came from a distance to receive her instructions. On account of the self-possession and ease of manner which she had acquired in consequence of the cultivation of her mind, she not infrequently appeared in public in the presence of the magistrates. Neither did she feel abashed in going to an assembly of men. For all men on account of her extraordinary dignity and virtue admired her
32895-495: The philosophers of the academy had not arrived at the same conclusions (such as misotheism or dystheism of the creator God as an answer to the problem of evil ) as the targets of his criticism. Plotinus seems to be one of the first to have argued against the then popular notion of causal astrology . In the late tractate 2.3, "Are the stars causes?", Plotinus makes the argument that specific stars influencing one's fortune (a common Hellenistic theme) attributes irrationality to
33110-764: The plane astrolabe, but the plane astrolabe was in use at least 500 years before Hypatia was born. Hypatia may have learned how to construct a plane astrolabe from her father Theon, who had written two treatises on astrolabes: one entitled Memoirs on the Little Astrolabe and another study on the armillary sphere in Ptolemy's Almagest . Theon's treatise is now lost, but it was well known to the Syrian bishop Severus Sebokht (575–667), who describes its contents in his own treatise on astrolabes. Hypatia and Theon may have also studied Ptolemy's Planisphaerium , which describes
33325-482: The prefect of Egypt Orestes during his feud with Cyril , Alexandria's dynastic archbishop. The extent of Cyril's personal involvement in her murder remains a matter of scholarly debate. Proclus Lycaeus (February 8, 412 – April 17, 485) was a Greek neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major Greek philosophers (see Damascius ). He set forth one of the most elaborate, complex, and fully developed neoplatonic systems, providing also an allegorical way of reading
33540-471: The privative nature of evil are two prominent themes that such thinkers picked up from either Plotinus or his successors. In the Renaissance the philosopher Marsilio Ficino set up an Academy under the patronage of Cosimo de Medici in Florence , mirroring that of Plato. His work was of great importance in reconciling the philosophy of Plato directly with Christianity. One of his most distinguished pupils
33755-682: The prominence of neoplatonic influences in the historical Muslim world was availability of neoplatonic texts: Arabic translations and paraphrases of neoplatonic works were readily available to Islamic scholars greatly due to the availability of the Greek copies, in part, because Muslims conquered some of the more important centres of the Byzantine Christian civilization in Egypt and Syria. Various Persian and Arabic scholars, including Avicenna (Ibn Sina), Ibn Arabi , al-Kindi , al-Farabi , and al-Himsi , adapted neoplatonism to conform to
33970-438: The pupil of Ammonius Saccas; and the sixth-century author known as Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite , whose works were translated by John Scotus in the ninth century for the West. Both authors had a lasting influence on Eastern Orthodox and Western Christianity , and the development of contemplative and mystical practices and theology. Neoplatonism also had links with Gnosticism, which Plotinus rebuked in his ninth tractate of
34185-516: The reign of Arcadius . Hoche reasoned that Damascius's description of her physical beauty would imply that she was at most 30 at that time, and the year 370 was 30 years prior to the midpoint of Arcadius's reign. In contrast, theories that she was born as early as 350 are based on the wording of the chronicler John Malalas (c. 491 – 578), who calls her old at the time of her death in 415. Robert Penella argues that both theories are weakly based, and that her birth date should be left unspecified. Hypatia
34400-484: The restoration of an original, primeval matriarchy. She (anachronistically and incorrectly) concludes that Hypatia's writings were burned in the Library of Alexandria when it was destroyed. Major works of twentieth century literature contain references to Hypatia, including Marcel Proust 's volume "Within a Budding Grove" from In Search of Lost Time , and Iain Pears 's The Dream of Scipio . Hypatia has continued to be
34615-409: The result is a conflict, a becoming and vanishing, an illusive existence. And the reason for this state of things is that bodies rest on a substratum of matter. Matter is the indeterminate: that with no qualities. If destitute of form and idea, it is evil; as capable of form, it is neutral. Evil here is understood as a parasite, having no-existence of its own (parahypostasis), an unavoidable outcome of
34830-462: The same reasons of dislike. Likewise, Plotinus never discussed his ancestry, childhood, or his place or date of birth. From all accounts his personal and social life exhibited the highest moral and spiritual standards. Plotinus took up the study of philosophy at the age of twenty-eight, around the year 232 and travelled to Alexandria to study. There he was dissatisfied with every teacher he encountered, until an acquaintance suggested he listen to
35045-667: The second Enneads : "Against Those That Affirm The Creator of The Cosmos and The Cosmos Itself to Be Evil" (generally known as "Against The Gnostics"). Because their belief was grounded in Platonic thought, the neoplatonists rejected Gnosticism's vilification of Plato's demiurge , the creator of the material world or cosmos discussed in the Timaeus . Neoplatonism has been referred to as orthodox Platonic philosophy by scholars like John D. Turner ; this reference may be due, in part, to Plotinus' attempt to refute certain interpretations of Platonic philosophy, through his Enneads. Plotinus believed
35260-401: The sensible universe and its contents, and as a Platonist, Plotinus must share this critical attitude to some extent. But here he makes his case that the proper understanding of the highest principles and emanation forces us to respect the sensible world as the best possible imitation of the intelligible world. Plotinus seems to direct his attacks at a very specific sect of Gnostics, most notably
35475-607: The so-called 'unwritten doctrines' of Plato debated by Aristotle and the Old Academy strongly resemble Plotinus's metaphysics. In this case, the neoplatonic reading of Plato would be, at least in this central area, historically justified. This implies that neoplatonism is less of an innovation than it appears without the recognition of Plato's unwritten doctrines. Advocates of the Tübingen School emphasize this advantage of their interpretation. They see Plotinus as advancing
35690-406: The sole cause of all evil in Alexandria at the beginning of the fifth century and construing Hypatia's murder as evidence to support his thesis that the rise of Christianity hastened the decline of the Roman Empire. He remarks on Cyril's continued veneration as a Christian saint, commenting that "superstition [Christianity] perhaps would more gently expiate the blood of a virgin, than the banishment of
35905-514: The soul may again return to the Eternal and Supreme. The system can be divided between the invisible world and the phenomenal world, the former containing the transcendent , absolute One from which emanates an eternal, perfect, essence ( nous , or intellect), which, in turn, produces the world-soul . For Plotinus, the first principle of reality is "the One", an utterly simple, ineffable, beyond being and non-being, unknowable subsistence which
36120-535: The stars and planets will be on any given date. A "little astrolabe", or "plane astrolabe", is a kind of astrolabe that used stereographic projection of the celestial sphere to represent the heavens on a plane surface, as opposed to an armillary sphere , which was globe-shaped. Armillary spheres were large and normally used for display, whereas a plane astrolabe was portable and could be used for practical measurements. The statement from Synesius's letter has sometimes been wrongly interpreted to mean that Hypatia invented
36335-436: The surviving text of Ptolemy 's Almagest , based on the title of her father Theon 's commentary on Book III of the Almagest . Hypatia constructed astrolabes and hydrometers , but did not invent either of these, which were both in use long before she was born. She was tolerant toward Christians and taught many Christian students, including Synesius , the future bishop of Ptolemais . Ancient sources record that Hypatia
36550-975: The teaching of the Roman Catholic Church has recently been evaluated in terms of an attempted "Hermetic Reformation". In the seventeenth century in England, neoplatonism was fundamental to the school of the Cambridge Platonists , whose luminaries included Henry More , Ralph Cudworth , Benjamin Whichcote and John Smith , all graduates of the University of Cambridge . Coleridge claimed that they were not really Platonists, but "more truly Plotinists": "divine Plotinus", as More called him. Plotinus Plotinus ( / p l ɒ ˈ t aɪ n ə s / ; ‹See Tfd› Greek : Πλωτῖνος , Plōtînos ; c. 204/5 – 270 CE )
36765-530: The teachings of Iamblichus . The second variety was the more moderate and less polemical variety championed by Hypatia and her father Theon, which was based on the teachings of Plotinus . Although Hypatia was a pagan, she was tolerant of Christians. In fact, every one of her known students was Christian. One of her most prominent pupils was Synesius of Cyrene , who went on to become a bishop of Ptolemais (now in eastern Libya ) in 410. Afterward, he continued to exchange letters with Hypatia and his extant letters are
36980-412: The text of Almagest itself. Her contribution is thought to be an improved method for the long division algorithms needed for astronomical computation. The Ptolemaic model of the universe was geocentric , meaning it taught that the Sun revolved around the Earth. In the Almagest , Ptolemy proposed a division problem for calculating the number of degrees swept out by the Sun in a single day as it orbits
37195-429: The textbook for centuries and almost totally supplanted all other editions. Nothing is known about Hypatia's mother, who is never mentioned in any of the extant sources. Theon dedicates his commentary on Book IV of Ptolemy's Almagest to an individual named Epiphanius, addressing him as "my dear son", indicating that he may have been Hypatia's brother, but the Greek word Theon uses ( teknon ) does not always mean "son" in
37410-442: The then-standard sexagesimal numeral system), making it easy for scholars to pick out which parts of the text she had written. The consensus that Hypatia's commentary is the source of the additional material in the Arabic manuscripts of the Arithmetica has been challenged by Wilbur Knorr , a historian of mathematics, who argues that the interpolations are "of such low level as not to require any real mathematical insight" and that
37625-439: The time of this treatise’s composition some of his friends were ‘attached’ to Gnostic doctrine, and he believed that this attachment was harmful. So he sets out here a number of objections and corrections. Some of these are directed at very specific tenets of Gnosticism, e.g. the introduction of a ‘new earth’ or a principle of ‘Wisdom’, but the general thrust of this treatise has a much broader scope. The Gnostics are very critical of
37840-401: The time, Theon's mathematical work has been deemed by modern standards as essentially "minor", "trivial", and "completely unoriginal". His primary achievement was the production of a new edition of Euclid's Elements , in which he corrected scribal errors that had been made over the course of nearly 700 years of copying. Theon's edition of Euclid's Elements became the most widely used edition of
38055-408: The tradition also departed substantively from Plotinus' teachings in regards to significant philosophical issues, such as the nature of evil. From the One emanated different levels of lesser realities known as "Hypostases." At the highest level of reality exists "the One" from which emanates the Nous or the mind. It is the first principle after the One and contains all knowledge in a unified form. It
38270-408: The traditional Greek gods, so one henad might be Apollo and be the cause of all things apollonian, while another might be Helios and be the cause of all sunny things. The henads serve both to protect the One itself from any hint of multiplicity and to draw up the rest of the universe towards the One, by being a connecting, intermediate stage between absolute unity and determinate multiplicity. In
38485-656: The traditional manner in which Alexandrians carried the bodies of the "vilest criminals" outside the city limits to cremate them as a way of symbolically purifying the city. Although Socrates Scholasticus never explicitly identifies Hypatia's murderers, they are commonly assumed to have been members of the parabalani . Christopher Haas disputes this identification, arguing that the murderers were more likely "a crowd of Alexandrian laymen". Socrates Scholasticus presents Hypatia's murder as entirely politically motivated and makes no mention of any role that Hypatia's paganism might have played in her death. Instead, he reasons that "she fell
38700-468: The truly happy human being would understand that which is being tortured is merely a body, not the conscious self, and happiness could persist. Plotinus offers a comprehensive description of his conception of a person who has achieved eudaimonia . “The perfect life” involves a man who commands reason and contemplation. (Enneads I.4.4) A happy person will not sway between happy and sad, as many of Plotinus' contemporaries believed. Stoics, for example, question
38915-420: The twist that Hypatia tries and fails to convince Cyril that Neoplatonism and Christianity are actually fundamentally the same. Charles Kingsley 's 1853 novel Hypatia; Or, New Foes with an Old Face was originally intended as a historical treatise, but instead became a typical mid- Victorian romance with a militantly anti-Catholic message, portraying Hypatia as a "helpless, pretentious, and erotic heroine" with
39130-565: The unbelievers at his house. According to Socrates Scholasticus , during the Christian season of Lent in March 415, a mob of Christians under the leadership of a lector named Peter raided Hypatia's carriage as she was travelling home. They dragged her into a building known as the Kaisarion , a former pagan temple and center of the Roman imperial cult in Alexandria that had been converted into
39345-524: The way a genuine philosopher will over a mere geometer." Hypatia's death was similar to those of Christian martyrs in Alexandria, who had been dragged through the streets during the Decian persecution in 250. Other aspects of Hypatia's life also fit the mold for a Christian martyr, especially her lifelong virginity. In the Early Middle Ages , Christians conflated Hypatia's death with stories of
39560-448: The work of his student Porphyry (third to early fourth century); that of Iamblichus (third to fourth century); and the period in the fifth and sixth centuries, when the academies in Alexandria and Athens flourished. Neoplatonism had an enduring influence on the subsequent history of Western philosophy and religion. In the Middle Ages , Neoplatonic ideas were studied and discussed by Christian , Jewish , and Muslim thinkers. In
39775-691: The work of his student Porphyry ; that of Iamblichus and his school in Syria; and the period in the 5th and 6th centuries, when the Academies in Alexandria and Athens flourished. Neoplatonism synthesized ideas from various philosophical and religious cultural spheres. The most important forerunners from Greek philosophy were the Middle Platonists , such as Plutarch , and the Neopythagoreans , especially Numenius of Apamea . Philo ,
39990-509: The works of Plato and Aristotle. Hypatia was not the last female Neoplatonist philosopher; later ones include Aedesia , Asclepigenia , and Theodora of Emesa . According to Watts, however, Hypatia had no appointed successor, no spouse, and no offspring and her sudden death not only left her legacy unprotected, but also triggered a backlash against her entire ideology. Hypatia, with her tolerance toward Christian students and her willingness to cooperate with Christian leaders, had hoped to establish
40205-552: The works of neoplatonism during the failed attempt to reconcile the East–West Schism at the Council of Florence . At Florence, Plethon met Cosimo de' Medici and influenced the latter's decision to found a new Platonic Academy there. Cosimo subsequently appointed as head Marsilio Ficino, who proceeded to translate all Plato's works, the Enneads of Plotinus, and various other neoplatonist works into Latin. The major reason for
40420-459: The worst possible light by changing the story and inventing elements not found in any of the ancient sources. A 1721 response by Thomas Lewis defended Cyril, rejected Damascius's account as unreliable because its author was "a heathen " and argued that Socrates Scholasticus was "a Puritan ", who was consistently biased against Cyril. Voltaire , in his Examen important de Milord Bolingbroke ou le tombeau de fanatisme (1736) interpreted Hypatia as
40635-569: The writer in the titular role. On 2 January 1893, a much higher-profile stage play adaptation Hypatia , written by G. Stuart Ogilvie and produced by Herbert Beerbohm Tree , opened at the Haymarket Theatre in London. The title role was initially played by Julia Neilson , and it featured an elaborate musical score written by the composer Hubert Parry . The novel also spawned works of visual art, including an 1867 image portraying Hypatia as
40850-415: The writings of Plato and Aristotle . He also states that she walked through Alexandria in a tribon , a kind of cloak associated with philosophers, giving impromptu public lectures. According to Watts, two main varieties of Neoplatonism were taught in Alexandria during the late fourth century. The first was the overtly pagan religious Neoplatonism taught at the Serapeum , which was greatly influenced by
41065-452: The year 860. The Arabic text contains numerous expansions not found in the Greek text, including verifications of Diophantus's examples and additional problems. Cameron states that the most likely source of the additional material is Hypatia, since Hypatia is the only ancient writer known to have written a commentary on the Arithmetica and the additions appear to follow the same methods used by her father Theon. The first person to deduce that
41280-430: The years he knew him. This may be related to enlightenment , liberation , and other concepts of mysticism common to many Eastern traditions. The philosophy of Plotinus has always exerted a peculiar fascination upon those whose discontent with things as they are has led them to seek the realities behind what they took to be merely the appearances of the sense. The philosophy of Plotinus: representative books from
41495-434: Was Greek . Plotinus had an inherent distrust of materiality (an attitude common to Platonism ), holding to the view that phenomena were a poor image or mimicry ( mimesis ) of something "higher and intelligible" (VI.I) which was the "truer part of genuine Being". This distrust extended to the body , including his own; it is reported by Porphyry that at one point he refused to have his portrait painted, presumably for much
41710-517: Was Hypatia of Alexandria . Neoplatonism influenced many Christians as well, including Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite . St. Augustine , though often referred to as a "Platonist", acquired his Platonist philosophy through the mediation of the Neoplatonist teachings of Plotinus. Plotinus' philosophy had an influence on the development of Christian theology . In A History of Western Philosophy , philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote that: To
41925-605: Was Pico della Mirandola , author of An Oration on the Dignity of Man . In Great Britain, Plotinus was the cardinal influence on the 17th-century school of the Cambridge Platonists , and on numerous writers from Samuel Taylor Coleridge to W. B. Yeats and Kathleen Raine . Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Ananda Coomaraswamy used the writing of Plotinus in their own texts as a superlative elaboration upon Indian monism , specifically Upanishadic and Advaita Vedantic thought. Coomaraswamy has compared Plotinus' teachings to
42140-553: Was a Greek Platonist philosopher , 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 ,
42355-557: Was a Neoplatonist, but, like her father, she rejected the teachings of Iamblichus and instead embraced the original Neoplatonism formulated by Plotinus . The Alexandrian school was renowned at the time for its philosophy, and Alexandria was regarded as second only to Athens as the philosophical capital of the Greco-Roman world. Hypatia taught students from all over the Mediterranean. According to Damascius, she lectured on
42570-409: Was a correspondent of the philosopher Cassius Longinus . While in Rome, Plotinus also gained the respect of the Emperor Gallienus and his wife Salonina . At one point Plotinus attempted to interest Gallienus in rebuilding an abandoned settlement in Campania , known as the 'City of Philosophers', where the inhabitants would live under the constitution set out in Plato 's Laws . An Imperial subsidy
42785-415: Was alarmed at Cyril's conduct and sent an embassy to Constantinople. The advisors of Theodosius II launched an investigation to determine Cyril's role in the murder. The investigation resulted in the emperors Honorius and Theodosius II issuing an edict in autumn of 416, which attempted to remove the parabalani from Cyril's power and instead place them under the authority of Orestes. The edict restricted
43000-460: Was an anti-feminist act and brought about a change in the treatment of women, as well as the decline of the Mediterranean civilization in general. Dora Russell published a book on the inadequate education of women and inequality with the title Hypatia or Woman and Knowledge in 1925. The prologue explains why she chose the title: "Hypatia was a university lecturer denounced by Church dignitaries and torn to pieces by Christians. Such will probably be
43215-522: Was either ( Hellenized ) Egyptian , Greek , or Roman . Historian Lloyd P. Gerson states that Plotinus was "almost certainly" a Greek. A.H. Armstrong , one of the foremost authorities on the philosophical teachings of Plotinus, writes that: "All that can be said with reasonable certainty is that Greek was his normal language and that he had a Greek education ". Plotinus himself was said to have had little interest in his ancestry, birthplace, or that of anyone else for that matter. His native language
43430-400: Was finally closed by Justinian I because of active paganism of its professors. Other schools continued in Constantinople , Antioch , Alexandria and Gaza which were the centers of Justinian's empire. After the closure of the neoplatonic academy, neoplatonic and/or secular philosophical studies continued in publicly funded schools in Alexandria and Gaza. In the early seventh century,
43645-440: Was murdered by a mob of Christians led by a lector named Peter. Hypatia's murder shocked the empire and transformed her into a " martyr for philosophy", leading future Neoplatonists such as the historian Damascius ( c. 458 – c. 538 ) to become increasingly fervent in their opposition to Christianity . During the Middle Ages , Hypatia was co-opted as a symbol of Christian virtue and scholars believe she
43860-421: Was never granted, for reasons unknown to Porphyry, who reports the incident. Plotinus subsequently went to live in Sicily . He spent his final days in seclusion on an estate in Campania which his friend Zethos had bequeathed him. According to the account of Eustochius, who attended him at the end, Plotinus' final words were: "Try to raise the divine in yourselves to the divine in the all." Eustochius records that
44075-456: Was outraged by Cyril's actions and sent a scathing report to the emperor. The conflict escalated and a riot broke out in which the parabalani , a group of Christian clerics under Cyril's authority, nearly killed Orestes. As punishment, Orestes had Ammonius, the monk who had started the riot, publicly tortured to death. Cyril tried to proclaim Ammonius a martyr, but Christians in Alexandria were disgusted, since Ammonius had been killed for inciting
44290-410: Was part of the basis for the legend of Saint Catherine of Alexandria . During the Age of Enlightenment , she became a symbol of opposition to Catholicism . In the nineteenth century, European literature, especially Charles Kingsley 's 1853 novel Hypatia , romanticized her as "the last of the Hellenes ". In the twentieth century, Hypatia became seen as an icon for women's rights and a precursor to
44505-730: Was popular in Christianity , the Cult of Isis and other ancient religious contexts including Hermetic ones (see Alexander of Abonutichus for an example). According to A. H. Armstrong, Plotinus and the neoplatonists viewed Gnosticism as a form of heresy or sectarianism to the Pythagorean and Platonic philosophy of the Mediterranean and Middle East. Also according to Armstrong, Plotinus accused them of using senseless jargon and being overly dramatic and insolent in their distortion of Plato's ontology." Armstrong argues that Plotinus attacks his opponents as untraditional, irrational and immoral and arrogant. Armstrong believed that Plotinus also attacks them as elitist and blasphemous to Plato for
44720-441: Was so distinct from those of his predecessors that it should be thought to introduce a new period in the history of Platonism. Some contemporary scholars, however, have taken issue with this assumption and have doubted that neoplatonism constitutes a useful label. They claim that merely marginal differences separate Plotinus' teachings from those of his immediate predecessors. As a pupil of philosopher Ammonius Saccas , Plotinus used
44935-535: Was so traumatized that he abandoned his desires for her immediately. From 382 – 412, the bishop of Alexandria was Theophilus . Theophilus was militantly opposed to Iamblichean Neoplatonism and, in 391, he demolished the Serapeum. Despite this, Theophilus tolerated Hypatia's school and seems to have regarded Hypatia as his ally. Theophilus supported the bishopric of Hypatia's pupil Synesius, who describes Theophilus in his letters with love and admiration. Theophilus also permitted Hypatia to establish close relationships with
45150-440: Was still tempered by neoplatonism. The term logos was interpreted variously in neoplatonism. Plotinus refers to Thales in interpreting logos as the principle of meditation, the interrelationship between the hypostases (Soul, Spirit (nous) and the 'One'). St. John introduces a relation between Logos and the Son, Christ , whereas Paul calls it 'Son', 'Image', and 'Form'. Victorinus subsequently differentiated
45365-540: Was strictly treated as immanent , with matter as essential to its being, having no true or transcendential character or essence, substance or ousia (οὐσία). This approach is called philosophical Idealism . For several centuries after the Protestant Reformation , neoplatonism was condemned as a decadent and 'oriental' distortion of Platonism. In a 1929 essay, E. R. Dodds showed that key conceptions of neoplatonism could be traced from their origin in Plato's dialogues, through his immediate followers (e.g., Speusippus ) and
45580-407: Was the head of a school called the "Mouseion", which was named in emulation of the Hellenistic Mouseion , whose membership had ceased in the 260s AD. Theon's school was exclusive, highly prestigious, and doctrinally conservative. Theon rejected the teachings of Iamblichus and may have taken pride in teaching a pure, Plotinian Neoplatonism . Although he was widely seen as a great mathematician at
45795-457: Was the language spoken by most educated people in the Eastern Mediterranean at the time. In classical antiquity, astronomy was seen as being essentially mathematical in character. Furthermore, no distinction was made between mathematics and numerology or astronomy and astrology . Hypatia is now known to have edited the existing text of Book III of Ptolemy 's Almagest . It was once thought that Hypatia had merely revised Theon's commentary on
46010-415: Was the turning point in Cyril's fight to gain political control of Alexandria. Hypatia had been the linchpin holding Orestes's opposition against Cyril together, and, without her, the opposition quickly collapsed. Two years later, Cyril overturned the law placing the parabalani under Orestes's control and, by the early 420s, Cyril had come to dominate the Alexandrian council. Hypatia has been described as
46225-406: Was widely beloved by pagans and Christians alike and that she established great influence with the political elite in Alexandria. Toward the end of her life, Hypatia advised Orestes , the Roman prefect of Alexandria , who was in the midst of a political feud with Cyril , the bishop of Alexandria . Rumors spread accusing her of preventing Orestes from reconciling with Cyril and, in March 415 AD, she
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