Hermias (; ''Hermeias'') was a

Neoplatonist 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 id ...

philosopher who was born in

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

c. 410 AD. He went to

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

and studied philosophy under Syrianus. He married Aedesia, who was a relative of Syrianus, and who had originally been betrothed to

Proclus Proclus Lycius (; 8 February 412 – 17 April 485), called Proclus the Successor (, ''Próklos ho Diádokhos''), was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major classical philosophers of late antiquity. He set forth one of th ...

, but Proclus broke the engagement off after receiving a

divine Divinity (from Latin ) refers to the quality, presence, or nature of that which is divine—a term that, before the rise of monotheism, evoked a broad and dynamic field of sacred power. In the ancient world, divinity was not limited to a singl ...

warning. Hermias brought Syrianus' teachings back to Alexandria, where he lectured in the school of

Horapollo Horapollo (from Horus Apollo; ) (5th century?) is the supposed author of a treatise, titled ''Hieroglyphica'', on Egyptian hieroglyphs, extant in a Byzantine Greek language, Greek translation by one Philippus, also dating to 5th century. Life Hora ...

, receiving an income from the state. He died c. 450 AD (but before 470 AD), at a time when his children, Ammonius and Heliodorus, were still small. Aedesia, however, continued to receive an income from the state, in order to raise the children, enabling them to become philosophers. A ''Commentary on the Phaedrus'' written by Hermias survives. It consists of notes based on the lectures conducted by Syrianus concerning

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

's '' Phaedrus''.

Notes

References

* * * Gertz, S., (2019)
"Hermias on the Argument for Immortality in Plato’s Phaedrus"
In: ''Studies in Hermias’ Commentary on Plato’s Phaedrus''. Brill: Leiden. * Sorabji, R., (2005), ''The Philosophy of the Commentators, 200-600 AD'', Cornell University Press. * Uzdavinys, A., (2004), ''The Golden Chain: An Anthology of Pythagorean and Platonic Philosophy''.

World Wisdom World Wisdom is an independent American publishing company established in 1980 in Bloomington, Indiana. World Wisdom publishes religious and philosophical texts, including the work of authors such as Frithjof Schuon, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Titus ...

, Inc. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hermias 5th-century Greek philosophers Greek-language commentators on Plato Neoplatonists in Alexandria 5th-century births 450 deaths Roman-era students in Athens 5th-century Byzantine writers Late-Roman-era pagans