Plotinus

Mariapaola Bergomi (Università degli studi di Milano)

Ed. by Emily Kneebone, University of Nottingham
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.1.1: Greek Writing and Culture: Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic and Imperial, -800--100.
Vol. editors: Jonathan Burgess (University of Toronto), Anca Dan (École Practique de Hautes Études PSL), Martine Diepenbroek (University of Johannesburg), Giacomo Fedeli (University of Exeter), Victoria Fendel (University of Oxford), Emily Kneebone (University of Nottingham), Vaios Liapis (Open University of Cyprus), Elodie Paillard (University of Sydney), Mali Skotheim (Ashoka University), Laura Swift (The Open University), Guendalina Daniela Maria Taietti (University of Liverpool)

Dates

Born c. 205
Died c. 270

Places

Active in Roman Greece& Asia Minor

Activities

Primary

Philosopher

Resources

Plotinus' Works

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Traditionally, historians have placed Plotinus’ birth around 205 CE in a city called Lycopolis, in Egypt. Although we do not know about his family and early life, we do posses a good summary of his adult life by his closest pupil and friend, Porphyry of Tyre (

Vita Plotini

On the Life of Plotinus

). According to this biography, written by Porphyry around thirty years after his teacher’s death, Plotinus was reluctant to talk about himself, his background and his physical condition; moreover, he was – in Porphyry’s own words – “ashamed” of having a body. The biography states that Plotinus discovered philosophy at the age of twenty-seven, and, after a disappointing experience in Alexandria, where he first attended the lectures of the best-known professors of the time (Whittaker,…

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2648 words

Citation: Bergomi, Mariapaola. "Plotinus". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 07 July 2017 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=13945, accessed 22 November 2024.]