Plotinus

Plotinus (c. 204–270 AD) was an ancient Greek philosopher born and raised in Roman Egypt, widely regarded by modern scholars as the founder of Neoplatonism. He began studying philosophy at age twenty-eight, around 232, traveling to Alexandria where he was initially dissatisfied with every teacher until he encountered the self-taught Platonist Ammonius Saccas. Declaring Ammonius the man he had been seeking, Plotinus studied under him for eleven years. His thought was also shaped by Aristotle, the pre-Socratics Empedocles and Heraclitus, Middle Platonists such as Alexander of Aphrodisias and Numenius, as well as Stoic and Neopythagorean ideas.

At about thirty-eight, he joined Emperor Gordian III’s campaign against Persia to investigate Persian and Indian philosophy, but after the emperor’s death he barely escaped to Antioch. At forty, during the reign of Philip the Arab, he settled in Rome, where he taught for most of his remaining life. His inner circle included Porphyry, Amelius, the senator Castricius Firmus, and the physician Eustochius; his students also included women such as Gemina and Amphiclea.

Plotinus attempted to persuade Emperor Gallienus to rebuild a settlement in Campania as a “City of Philosophers” under Plato’s Laws, but the subsidy was never granted. He later lived in Sicily and died on an estate in Campania bequeathed by his student Zethos. His final words, according to Eustochius, were: “Try to raise the divine in yourselves to the divine in the all.” In his metaphysical writings, Plotinus described three fundamental principles: the One, the Intellect, and the Soul. His works profoundly influenced pagan, Jewish, Christian, Gnostic, and early Islamic metaphysicians and mystics, and shaped later theological concepts across multiple religions.