The Late Antique synthesis
Porphyry
Plotinus's student and editor, systematic philosopher, and generally more cautious about theurgy than Iamblichus would be.
- Dates
- c. 234 – c. 305
- Dating
- approximate dates
- Born
- Tyre
The life
He studied with Plotinus in Rome and became the editor responsible for preserving his teacher's philosophy.
Place in the tradition
His importance to esoteric history is partly indirect: he preserves both the Plotinian and the Pythagorean currents that later occult philosophy absorbs.
a note on the record
History and later legend
His exact place and circumstances of death are uncertain.
the written record
Principal works
-
c. 301
Life of Plotinus
Our fundamental biographical source for Plotinus, and an introduction to the Enneads.
-
late third century
Life of Pythagoras
A religious-philosophical biography that helped turn Pythagoras into an archetypal sacred philosopher.
-
third century
On Abstinence from Animal Food
Connects vegetarianism with purification and the philosophical life.
-
third century
Letter to Marcella
A spiritual and ethical exhortation to his wife.
-
c. 270–300
Isagoge
A work of logic whose medieval influence reached far beyond occultism.