Proklos

Proclus, one of the last great thinkers of Neoplatonic philosophy and ancient Greek philosophical thought in general, was born in 410 or 412 AD in Constantinople and died in 485 in Athens. He studied rhetoric in Alexandria under the tutelage of Leonas and Orion, and philosophy with Olympiodorus and Heron. Later, he continued his studies in Athens, where he was a student of Plutarch and Synesius. There, he came into contact with the Athenian Neoplatonic Academy, which captivated him completely, and he became its director after the death of his teacher Syrianus. Living in an era of syncretic chaos, he synthesized the entire preceding Neoplatonic philosophical tradition into a unified and complex system, influenced by Pythagorean, Aristotelian, and Stoic elements. His system incorporated the concept of a single god, magic, and various demonic beings, and in this form, he passed it on to the Scholastic Middle Ages. His work is a fundamental source for any scholar of Neoplatonic philosophy, as well as for Plato himself, offering original and highly interesting interpretations. His main works include commentaries on Plato's dialogues "Alcibiades I," "Parmenides," "Cratylus," "Republic," and "Timaeus," the theoretical "Elements of Theology," "On the Theology of Plato," among others, and notes on the works of Hesiod, Homer, Euclid, Ptolemy, and others.