Ammonius Saccas
Sign in to saveHellenistic Platonist philosopher (175-242)
Key facts
- Born
- 175, Alexandria , Roman Egypt
- Died
- 243 (aged 67–68), Alexandria , Roman Egypt
- Era
- Ancient philosophy
- Region
- Western philosophy
- School
- Neoplatonism
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- Ancient Rome
- Place of birth
- Alexandria
- Place of death
- Alexandria
- Occupation
- philosopher
- Languages spoken
- Ancient Greek
- Field of work
- philosophy
Show 6 more facts
- date of birth
- 0175-00-00
- date of death
- 0250-00-00
- described by source
- Orgelbrand's Universal Encyclopedia
- time period
- Roman Empire
- name in native language
- Ἀμμώνιος Σακκάς
- writing language
- Ancient Greek
via Wikidata · CC0
~8 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Ammonius Saccas (/əˈmoʊniəs/; Ancient Greek: Ἀμμώνιος Σακκᾶς; 175 AD – 243 AD) was a Hellenistic Platonist self-taught philosopher from Alexandria, generally regarded as the precursor of Neoplatonism or one of its founders. He is mainly known as the teacher of Plotinus, whom he taught from 232 to 243. He was undoubtedly the most significant influence on Plotinus in his development of Neoplatonism, although little is known about his own philosophical views. Later Christian writers stated that Ammonius was a Christian, but it is now generally assumed that there was a different Ammonius of Alexandria who wrote biblical texts.
Life
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Ammonius Saccas” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.