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Damascius (; grc-gre, Δαμάσκιος, 458 – after 538), known as "the last of the Athenian Neoplatonists," was the last
scholarch A scholarch ( grc, σχολάρχης, ''scholarchēs'') was the head of a school in ancient Greece. The term is especially remembered for its use to mean the heads of schools of philosophy, such as the Platonic Academy in ancient Athens. Its fir ...
of the neoplatonic Athenian school. He was one of the
neoplatonic Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of thinkers. But there are some id ...
philosophers who left Athens after laws confirmed by emperor
Justinian I Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized '' renov ...
forced the closure of the Athenian school in c. 529 AD. After he left Athens, he may have sought refuge in the court of the Persian King Chrosroes, before being allowed back into the
Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
. His surviving works consist of three commentaries on the works of
Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
, and a
metaphysical Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
text entitled ''Difficulties and Solutions of First Principles''.


Life

Much of what is known about Damascius' life comes from his semi-autobiographical work called ''The Philosophical History'', or ''Life of Isidore'', and from a work called ''Vita Severi'' written by the 6th-century bishop and historian
Zacharias Scholasticus Zacharias of Mytilene (c. 465, Gaza – after 536), also known as Zacharias Scholasticus or Zacharias Rhetor, was a bishop and ecclesiastical historian. Life The life of Zacharias of Mytilene can be reconstructed only from a few scattered repo ...
. Damascius, as his name suggests, was born in
Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...
in c. 462 AD, and travelled to
Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...
in the 480s AD to study rhetoric at the coeducational school of the late 5th-century Alexandrian professor Horapollo, where students of different religions and philosophies studied together. Zacharias reports that there was a close relationship between the neoplatonic communities of
Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...
and Alexandria, as Agapius of Athens and Severianus of Damascus, students of
Proclus Proclus Lycius (; 8 February 412 – 17 April 485), called Proclus the Successor ( grc-gre, Πρόκλος ὁ Διάδοχος, ''Próklos ho Diádokhos''), was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major classical philosophe ...
' neoplatonic school in Athens, also studied in neoplatonic schools in Alexandria. Damascius may have travelled to Athens shortly before Proclus died in 485 AD, to teach rhetoric, and travelled back to Alexandria before 488 AD. Late 5th-century Alexandria was a tumultuous place; there were conflicting factions of pro-
Chalcedonian Chalcedonian Christianity is the branch of Christianity that accepts and upholds theological and ecclesiological resolutions of the Council of Chalcedon, the Fourth Ecumenical Council, held in 451. Chalcedonian Christianity accepts the Christ ...
and
Monophysite Monophysitism ( or ) or monophysism () is a Christological term derived from the Greek (, "alone, solitary") and (, a word that has many meanings but in this context means "nature"). It is defined as "a doctrine that in the person of the inca ...
Christians, and a growing hostile sentiment towards neoplatonists and people of other non-Christian religions and philosophies that sometimes led to rioting and arrests of leaders of non-Christian schools, resulting in students having to flee and go into hiding. Damascius' accounts of these times paints a picture of a circle of intellectuals that was under siege, arrested, interrogated and who were sometimes courageous, but at other times capitulated. Horapollo, the head of the school at which Damascius had studied and taught rhetoric for nine years, was arrested in 489 AD, causing Damascius and the neoplatonic philosopher Isidore of Alexandria to flee Alexandria and start on a journey to Athens with the aim of studying in the neoplatonic school in Athens. That journey took eight months, and during that time Damascius writes that he lost interest in pursuing a profession as a rhetorician. When they finally arrived in Athens, Damascius and Isidore became students of the 5th-century neoplatonist
Marinus of Neapolis Marinus ( grc, Μαρῖνος ὁ Νεαπολίτης; born c. 440 AD) was a Neoplatonist philosopher, mathematician and rhetorician born in Flavia Neapolis (modern Nablus), Palestine. He was a student of Proclus in Athens. His survivin ...
, Proclus' successor, at the neoplatonic school of Athens. By 515 AD, Damascius had become head of the neoplatonic school in Athens, succeeding Marinus of Neapolis successor Isidore, and continued Isidore's path of steering the school back to the philosophical studies of Aristotle, Plato, Orphic theogony and the Chaldean Oracles, and away from theurgy and rituals, which were previously being favoured, most likely due to the increasing external pressure on the school's philosophical teachings. Damascius was still the head of the school in 529 AD after the
Byzantine emperor This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as ...
Justinian I Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized '' renov ...
confirmed his '' Novum Justinianeum Codicem'', or ''
Codex Justinianus The Code of Justinian ( la, Codex Justinianus, or ) is one part of the ''Corpus Juris Civilis'', the codification of Roman law ordered early in the 6th century AD by Justinian I, who was Eastern Roman emperor in Constantinople. Two other units, t ...
'', on the 7th of April 529 AD; and administrators enforcing the new laws, after they had legal force on the 16th of April 529 AD, closed the last neoplatonic school in Athens. According to the 6th-century historian
Agathias Agathias or Agathias Scholasticus ( grc-gre, Ἀγαθίας σχολαστικός; Martindale, Jones & Morris (1992), pp. 23–25582/594), of Myrina (Mysia), an Aeolian city in western Asia Minor (Turkey), was a Greek poet and the principal histo ...
, soon after the school closed in 529 AD, Damascius, Isidore and the 6th-century neoplatonic philosophers
Simplicius of Cilicia Simplicius of Cilicia (; el, Σιμπλίκιος ὁ Κίλιξ; c. 490 – c. 560 AD) was a disciple of Ammonius Hermiae and Damascius, and was one of the last of the Neoplatonists. He was among the pagan philosophers persecuted by Justinian i ...
, Eulamius of Phrygia, Priscianus of Lydia, Hermias and Diogenes of Phoenicia left Athens and travelled to Persia, where they had heard that the intellectual climate might be more suited to them, under the refuge of the Persian King Chrosroes. It is not known if Damascius and his retinue of philosophers arrived in Persia, although late 20th- and early 21st-century scholarship by the French historian and philosopher
Pierre Hadot Pierre Hadot (; ; 21 February 1922 – 24 April 2010) was a French philosopher and historian of philosophy specializing in ancient philosophy, particularly Neoplatonism. Life In 1944, Hadot was ordained, but following Pope Pius XII’s enc ...
, French scholar Michel Tardieu and German historian and philosopher
Ilsetraut Hadot Ilsetraut Hadot (born 20 December 1928) in Berlin, is a philosopher and historian of philosophy who specialised in Stoicism, Neoplatonism and more generally in Ancient Philosophy. Biography In 1978, Hadot won the Victor Cousin p ...
advanced the establishment of a neoplatonic school in Charrae (present-day
Harran Harran (), historically known as Carrhae ( el, Kάρραι, Kárrhai), is a rural town and district of the Şanlıurfa Province in southeastern Turkey, approximately 40 kilometres (25 miles) southeast of Urfa and 20 kilometers from the border ...
,
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...
) in the Persian Empire, a view that is disputed by other 21st-century scholarship. The last known trace of Damascius is an epigram carved in
stele A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek language, Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ...
in Emesa that confirms Damascius returned to Syria in 538 AD, and that is also the year scholars say he died. Damascius composed a number of works, and a significant number of his works in fragments or derived from his writings survived, the more complete works being: the literary work ''Life of Isidore'', or ''Philosophical History'', preserved by Saint Photius the Great; and the philosophical works: ''Problems and Solutions Concerning First Principles''; ''Commentary on the
Parmenides Parmenides of Elea (; grc-gre, Παρμενίδης ὁ Ἐλεάτης; ) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Elea in Magna Graecia. Parmenides was born in the Greek colony of Elea, from a wealthy and illustrious family. His date ...
''; ''Commentary on the
Phaedo ''Phædo'' or ''Phaedo'' (; el, Φαίδων, ''Phaidōn'' ), also known to ancient readers as ''On The Soul'', is one of the best-known dialogues of Plato's middle period, along with the '' Republic'' and the ''Symposium.'' The philosophica ...
''; and ''Lectures on the
Philebus The ''Philebus'' (; occasionally given as ''Philebos''; Greek: ) is a Socratic dialogue written in the 4th century BC by Plato. Besides Socrates (the main speaker) the other interlocutors are Philebus and Protarchus. Philebus, who advocates th ...
''.


Writings

His chief treatise is entitled ''Difficulties and Solutions of First Principles'' (). It examines the nature and attributes of
God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...
and the human
soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest att ...
. This examination is, in two respects, in striking contrast to that of certain other Neoplatonist writers. It is conspicuously free from Oriental
mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in ...
, and it contains no polemic against
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...
, to the doctrines of which, in fact, there is no allusion. Hence the charge of impiety which
Photius Photios I ( el, Φώτιος, ''Phōtios''; c. 810/820 – 6 February 893), also spelled PhotiusFr. Justin Taylor, essay "Canon Law in the Age of the Fathers" (published in Jordan Hite, T.O.R., & Daniel J. Ward, O.S.B., "Readings, Cases, Materia ...
brings against him. In this treatise Damascius inquires into the first principle of all things, which he finds to be an unfathomable and unspeakable divine depth, being all in one, but undivided. His main result is that God is infinite, and as such, incomprehensible; that his attributes of goodness, knowledge and power are credited to him only by inference from their effects; that this inference is logically valid and sufficient for human thought. He insists throughout on the unity and the indivisibility of God. This work is, moreover, of great importance for the history of philosophy, because of the great number of accounts which it contains concerning former philosophers. The rest of Damascius's writings are for the most part commentaries on works of
Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ...
and
Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
. Surviving commentaries include: *Commentary on Plato's ''Parmenides''. *Commentary on Plato's ''Phaedo''. This work has been erroneously ascribed to Olympiodorus of Alexandria.Giovanni Reale, John R. Catan, 1989, ''A History of Ancient Philosophy: The Schools of the Imperial Age'', page 546. SUNY Press. *Commentary on Plato's ''Philebus''. Also erroneously ascribed to Olympiodorus. Lost or fragmentary works include: *Commentaries on Plato's ''Timaeus'', ''First Alcibiades'', and other dialogues. *Commentaries on Aristotle's ''De Caelo'', and other works. The writings of Damascius on Time, Space, and Number, cited by Simplicius in his commentary on Aristotle's ''Physica'', are perhaps parts of his commentaries on Aristotle's writings. *''Life of Isidore.'' Damascius's biography of his teacher Isidore (perhaps a part of the ''philosophos historia'' attributed to Damascius by the
Suda The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; grc-x-medieval, Σοῦδα, Soûda; la, Suidae Lexicon) is a large 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas (Σούδας) or Souida ...
), of which
Photius Photios I ( el, Φώτιος, ''Phōtios''; c. 810/820 – 6 February 893), also spelled PhotiusFr. Justin Taylor, essay "Canon Law in the Age of the Fathers" (published in Jordan Hite, T.O.R., & Daniel J. Ward, O.S.B., "Readings, Cases, Materia ...
preserved a considerable fragment. It is considered the source containing most details about the life of
Ammonius Hermiae Ammonius Hermiae (; grc-gre, Ἀμμώνιος ὁ Ἑρμείου, Ammōnios ho Hermeiou, Ammonius, son of Hermias; – between 517 and 526) was a Greek philosopher from Alexandria in the eastern Roman empire during Late Antiquity. A Neoplatonis ...
, and is also a primary source for the life of
Hypatia Hypatia, Koine pronunciation (born 350–370; died 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 ...
. Incorporating material from both the Suda and Photius, a reconstructed text was translated into English by Polymnia Athanassiadi and published in 1999 as ''Damascius. The Philosophical History.'' *''Logoi Paradoxoi'', in 4 books, of which
Photius Photios I ( el, Φώτιος, ''Phōtios''; c. 810/820 – 6 February 893), also spelled PhotiusFr. Justin Taylor, essay "Canon Law in the Age of the Fathers" (published in Jordan Hite, T.O.R., & Daniel J. Ward, O.S.B., "Readings, Cases, Materia ...
gives an account and specifies the respective titles of the books.


Damascius and the ''Corpus Dionysiacum''

Starting from an article published in 2006, Byzantine philologist Carlo Maria Mazzucchi has argued that Damascius was the author of the Pseudo-Dionysian corpus, the "last counter-offensive of Paganism" (''l'ultima controffensiva del paganesimo''). Mazzucchi's theory, which faced some criticism, was later improved with more arguments.


See also

*
Ammonius Saccas Ammonius Saccas (; grc-gre, Ἀμμώνιος Σακκᾶς; 175 AD242 AD) was a Hellenistic Platonist self-taught philosopher from Alexandria, generally regarded as the precursor of Neoplatonism and/or one of its founders. He is mainly known a ...
* Azone *
Decline of Greco-Roman polytheism The growth of Christianity from its obscure origin 40 AD, with fewer than 1,000 followers, to being the majority religion of the entire Roman Empire by AD 350, has been examined through a wide variety of historiographical approaches. Unt ...
*
Iamblichus Iamblichus (; grc-gre, Ἰάμβλιχος ; Aramaic: 𐡉𐡌𐡋𐡊𐡅 ''Yamlīḵū''; ) was a Syrian neoplatonic philosopher of Arabic origin. He determined a direction later taken by neoplatonism. Iamblichus was also the biographer o ...
*
Olympiodorus the Younger Olympiodorus the Younger ( el, Ὀλυμπιόδωρος ὁ Νεώτερος; c. 495 – 570) was a Neoplatonist philosopher, astrologer and teacher who lived in the early years of the Byzantine Empire, after Justinian's Decree of 529 AD which c ...
*
Plotinus Plotinus (; grc-gre, Πλωτῖνος, ''Plōtînos'';  – 270 CE) was a philosopher in the Hellenistic tradition, born and raised in Roman Egypt. Plotinus is regarded by modern scholarship as the founder of Neoplatonism. His teacher wa ...
*
Proclus Proclus Lycius (; 8 February 412 – 17 April 485), called Proclus the Successor ( grc-gre, Πρόκλος ὁ Διάδοχος, ''Próklos ho Diádokhos''), was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major classical philosophe ...
*
Simplicius of Cilicia Simplicius of Cilicia (; el, Σιμπλίκιος ὁ Κίλιξ; c. 490 – c. 560 AD) was a disciple of Ammonius Hermiae and Damascius, and was one of the last of the Neoplatonists. He was among the pagan philosophers persecuted by Justinian i ...
*
Theodora of Emesa Theodora of Emesa was a member of an intellectual group of neoplatonists in late fifth and early sixth century Alexandria, and a disciple of Isidore. Damascius dedicated his ''Life of Isidore'', also known as the ''Philosophical History'', to The ...


References


Sources

* *Polymnia Athanassiadi, ''Persecution and Response in late Paganism. The evidence of Damascius''. In: ''Journal of Hellenic Studies'' 113 (1993), pp. 1–29. *Polymnia Athanassiadi (editor and translator), ''Damascius. The Philosophical History.'' Athens: Apamea Cultural Association, 1999. *Cosmin Andron, ''Damascius on Knowledge and its Object''. In: ''Rhizai'' 1 (2004) pp. 107–124 *Sebastian R. P. Gertz
''Death and Immortality in Late Neoplatonism: Studies on the Ancient Commentaries on Plato's Phaedo''
Leiden: Brill, 2011. * Sebastian R. P. Gertz
"From 'Immortal' to 'Imperishable': Damascius on the Final Argument in Plato's Phaedo"
In: ''Ancient Readings of Plato's Phaedo'' (Leiden: 2015), 240–55. * *Raban von Haehling, ''Damascius und die heidnische Opposition im 5. Jahrhundert nach Christus''. In: ''Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum'' 23 (1980), pp. 82–85. *Udo Hartmann, ''Geist im Exil. Römische Philosophen am Hof der Sasaniden''. In: Udo Hartmann/Andreas Luther/Monika Schuol (eds.), ''Grenzüberschreitungen. Formen des Kontakts zwischen Orient und Okzident im Altertum''. Stuttgart 2002, pp. 123–160. *Androniki Kalogiratou, ''The Portrayal of Socrates by Damascius''. In: ''Phronimon: Journal of the South African Society for Greek Philosophy and the Humanities'' 7 (1) 2006, pp. 45–54. *Androniki Kalogiratou, ''Theology in Philosophy: The Case of the Late Antique Neoplatonist Damascius''. In ''Skepsis: A Journal for Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Research'' XVIII, i-ii, 2007, pp. 58–79. *Robert Lamberton
"''Damascius. The Philosophical History''"
(book review), ''Bryn Mawr Classical Review'', January 1, 2000. * * * *John R. Martindale, John Morris, ''
The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire ''Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'' (abbreviated as ''PLRE'') is a work of Roman prosopography published in a set of three volumes collectively describing many of the people attested to have lived in the Roman Empire from AD 260, the date ...
II''. Cambridge 1980, pp. 342f. *Carlo Maria Mazzucchi, ''Damascio, Autore del Corpus Dionysiacum, e il dialogo Περι Πολιτικης Επιστημης''. In: ''Aevum: Rassegna di scienze storiche linguistiche e filologiche'' 80, Nº 2 (2006), pp. 299–334. *Carlo Maria Mazzucchi, ''Iterum de Damascio Areopagita''. In: ''Aevum: Rassegna di scienze storiche linguistiche e filologiche'' 87, Nº 1 (2013), pp. 249–265. *Sara Ahbel-Rappe, ''Scepticism in the sixth century? Damascius' 'Doubts and Solutions Concerning First Principles,' '' ''Journal of the History of Philosophy'' 36 (1998), pp. 337–363. *Marilena Vlad,
Damascius et l'ineffable. Récit de l'impossible discours
'' (Paris, Vrin, 2019) {{Authority control 5th-century births 6th-century deaths 5th-century Byzantine people 6th-century Byzantine people 6th-century philosophers Byzantine philosophers Commentators on Aristotle Commentators on Plato Deist philosophers Neoplatonists People from Damascus People from the Sasanian Empire Late-Roman-era pagans Roman-era philosophers Syrian philosophers Neoplatonists in Athens Persecution of philosophers Persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire 6th-century Byzantine writers