Isidore of Alexandria

Template:Short description Template:Confuse Isidore of Alexandria also called Isidore of Gaza<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> (Template:IPAc-en; also Isidorus Template:IPAc-en; Template:Langx; Template:C.) was a Greek<ref name="Ref_">Encyclopædia Britannica: Isidore of Alexandria (Greek philosopher)</ref> philosopher and one of the last of the Neoplatonists. He lived in Athens and Alexandria toward the end of the 5th century AD. He became head of the school in Athens in succession to Marinus, who followed Proclus.<ref name="eb1911">{{#if: |

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Life

Isidore was born in Alexandria. In Athens, he studied under Proclus, and learned the doctrine of Aristotle from Marinus.<ref name="mu199">Suda, μ199</ref> According to Damascius, "Isidore was awestruck at the sight of Proclus, venerable and marvelous to see; he thought he was seeing in him the very face of true philosophy."<ref>Damascius, Life of Isidore fr. 248 (cf. Suda, αι89)</ref> Proclus for his part used to "marvel at Isidore's appearance, as it was possessed by the divine and full of the philosophical life within."<ref>Damascius, Life of Isidore fr. 80 (cf. Suda, ει40; ει301)</ref> Damascius further tells us that "Isidore, besides simplicity, loved truthfulness especially, and undertook to be straight-talking beyond what was necessary, and had no pretence in himself whatsoever."<ref>Damascius, Life of Isidore fr. 45 (cf. Suda, α4587)</ref> The claim made in the Suda that Isidore was the husband of Hypatia,<ref>Suda, υ166</ref> must be in error since Isidore was born long after Hypatia died.<ref>"Isidorus 1" entry in John Robert Martindale, (1980), The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire. Cambridge University Press</ref> It is elsewhere related that Isidore had a wife called Domna, who died five days after the birth of their son whom they named Proclus.<ref>Damascius, fr. 399 (cf. Photius, 301)</ref>

Isidore returned to Alexandria accompanied by Sallustius.<ref>Damascius, Life of Isidore fr. 138 (cf. Suda, σ62)</ref> In Alexandria he taught philosophy. He was in Athens when Proclus died (in 485), and later when Marinus took over as head (scholarch) of the Neoplatonist school.<ref name="mu199"/> Marinus persuaded him to be his successor as head of the school, but he left Athens not long after Marinus died,<ref name="isidorus5">"Isidorus 5" entry in John Robert Martindale, (1980), The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire. Cambridge University Press</ref> resigning his position to Hegias.<ref name="eb1911"/>

Isidore is known principally as the teacher of Damascius, whose testimony in his Life of Isidore presents Isidore in a very favourable light as a man and a thinker.<ref name="eb1911"/> Damascius' Life, which is dedicated to Theodora, a disciple of both Isidore and Damascius, is preserved in summary form by Photius in his Bibliotheca,<ref>Photius, Bibliotheca, 181, 212</ref> and in fragments in the Suda.

Philosophy

It is generally admitted that he was rather an enthusiast than a thinker; reasoning with him was subsidiary to inspiration, and he preferred the theories of Pythagoras and Plato to the unimaginative logic and the practical ethics of the Stoics and Aristotelians. He seems to have given loose rein to theosophical speculation and attached great importance to dreams and waking visions, on which he used to expatiate in his public discourses.<ref name="eb1911"/>