PORPHYRIUS
\pɔːfˈɪɹɪəs], \pɔːfˈɪɹɪəs], \p_ɔː_f_ˈɪ_ɹ_ɪ__ə_s]\
Sort: Oldest first
-
A celebrated Neo-Platonic philosopher; born at Batanea in Syria, 233 A.D.; died at Rome, 304 A.D. He was a disciple first of Longinus, then of Plotinus, whose works he edited, and whom he succeeded as master of a school of philosophy at Rome. But few of his writings have come down to us. He wrote a "History of Philosophy", to which probably belongs the extant "Life of Pythagoras". Some fragments of his work against the Christian religion- condemned to the flames by the emperor Theodosius II. in 453- are preserved in the writings of his adversaries. We have his tractate "On Abstinence from Animal Food"; also his "Homeric Questions", in 32 chapters; his "Epistle to Marcella" on the right conduct of life; his letter to the Egyptian priest Anebon in condemnation of magic and theurgy; "Introduction to Philosophy", in which the question of realism and nominalism is first mooted; "On Deriving a Philosophy from Oracles"; and "On the Cave of the Nymphs".
By Charles Dudley Warner