Podcast episode
October 16, 2024
Episode 195: Contested Esotericisms at the End of Antiquity: Simplicius, Philoponus, and Olympiodorus
Continuing our exsposé of late-antique Alexandria and her final polytheist Platonists, we focus in on three crucial thinkers: Simplicius of Kilikia, John Philoponus, and Olympiodorus, final scholarch to teach in the Golden Chain of Platonic tradition (or at least the last one to do so openly). Many side-issues are broached, including Simplicius’ esotericism, Philoponus’ anti-esotericism, and Olympiodorus and the question of a Platonist alchemy.
Works Cited in this Episode:
Primary:
Agathias, Histories II 30.3-31, Keydell. We quote the translation of Joseph D. Frendo, editor. Agathias: The Histories. Translated with an introduction and short explanatory notes by Joseph D. Frendo. De Gruyter, Berlin/New York, NY, 1975.
Damascius on Isidore’s ‘honourary professorship’ at Athens: Damascius, Philosophic History fr. 148C Athanassiadi.
Elias Prefect of Illyricum: see Justianian’s Novella CLIII (Dec. 541).
Olympiodorus:
- ‘Life of Plato’ passage cited: In Alc. 2,14–3,2.
- On artisanal glass: In Mete. 331.1.
- On cupelation: Ibid. 292.6.
- Complaints about money: In Gorg. 43.2; In Alc. 141.1-3.
- Daimonion passage: In Alc. 21, 15-22, 5.
John Philoponus:
- On the “Philoponoi” as a thing in Alexandria at the time, see the testimony of Zaccharias the Scholastic in his Life of Severus, a Syriac history which can be found in M.A. Kugener, editor. Zacharie le Scholastique, Vie de Sévère. Number II.1.6 in Patrologia Orientalis. Brepols, Turnhout, 1993, p. 12, ll. 7-9.
- Philoponus’ commentaries on Aristotle’s On Generation and Corruption, On the Soul, Prior Analytics and Posterior Analytics explicitly state in their titles that they are based on Ammonius’ seminars (ek tōn synousiōn Ammōniou).
- Action of a vacuum in sucking up liquids: In Phys. 571 f.
- The theoretical importance of positing a void in physics: In Phys. 675–94.
- Experimentally verifies that objects of the same resistance-profile fall at the same speed, regardless of weight: In Phys. 682–84.
Simplicius
- Damascius dead: In Phys. I.795, 11-17.
- The ancient philosophy (palaia philosophia) remains unrefuted: In Phys. 77.11.
- Everyone agrees with Proclus except Asclepiodorus and Damascius: In Phys. 795.11–17.
- On the ‘good exegete’ and the necessity of ‘harmonisation’: In Cat. 7.23–32.
- Has never met Philoponus: In Cael. 26.18–19.
Secondary:
A lot of use has been made of the three relevant Stanford Encyclopædia of Philosophy entries, the one on Simplicius by Christoph Helmig and Philoponus and Olympiodorus by Christian Wildberg.
Polymnia Athanassiadi. The Creation of Orthodoxy in Neoplatonism. In G. Clark and T. Rajak, editors, Philosophy and Power in the Graeco-Roman World: Essays in Honour of Miriam Griffin, pages 27-92. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2002.
Ilsetraut Hadot. Le néoplatonicien Simplicius à la lumière des recherches contemporaines: Un bilan critique. Academia Verlag, Sankt Augustin, 2014.
Richard Sorabji and Michæl Griffin, editors. Olympiodorus: Life of Plato and On Plato First Alcibiades 1-9. Ancient Commentators on Aristotle. Bloomsbury, London/New Delhi/New York, NY/Sydney, 2015, we quote pp. 91-92 of Griffin’s translation.
Cristina Viano. Olympiodorus and Greco-Alexandrian Alchemy. In Albert Joosse, editor, Olympiodorus of Alexandria: Exegete, Teacher, Platonic Philosopher, number 159 in Philosophia antiqua, pages 1430. Brill, Leiden/Boston, MA, 2021; we quote p. 20.
Leendert Gerrit Westerink. Introduction. In Anonymous Prolegomena to Platonic Philosophy, number 5 in Platonic Texts and Translations, pages ix-lii. The Prometheus Trust, King’s Lynn, 2011.
Recommended Reading:
Recommended Reading Bibliography
A chart of the Athenian and Alexandrian schools in late antiquity.
Themes
Alchemy, Ammonios Hermeiou, Aristotle, Christianity, Esoteric Tradition, Henads, John Philoponus, Late Platonism, Olympiodorus, Parmenides, Plato, Polytheism, Proclus, Simplicius, Theurgy
Kell Drinkwater
March 22, 2026
Do we have any idea why ancient works are often so incredibly long? When it all had to be written by hand and papyrus/vellum/etc were expensive? Is this just what happens when you are a wealthy aristocrat, maybe with an enslaved scribe taking dictation, and little to no editing? Was there any prestige placed on sheer voluminousness of one’s output or one’s personal library?
Earl Fontainelle
March 23, 2026
Kell,
Well, ancient works weren’t typically THAT long. I mean, Nonnos’ Dionysiaka is by any account a long-ass poem, but the general rule is I think (maybe?) greater brevity than comparable modern works. I’m going very anecdotally here; if there’s a study on this I haven’t seen it.
Most ancient novels are lost, but I haven’t read of any that much exceeded the length of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses as far as we can tell; the Metamorphoses is tiny by modern novelistic standards. Gravity’s Rainbow weighs in at something like 800 pages, give or take, and it’s not even that excessively long by modern standards.
Ancient philosophy: yes, the Prokloses and Simplikioses of the ancient world knew how to lay down ink. Few modern philosophical works even approach their length. But think of, I don’t know, the collected papers of Newton or Leibniz: hella long, running to millions of words. And often the philosophical works we have, from Aristotle down to late antiquity, are actually published lecture-notes, so something along the lines of `collected papers’.
I think there probably was then, as now, a kind of social capital to be gained by gesturing to one’s well-stocked bookshelves, but I’m not sure it was a case of writing long for the sake of writing long. Some differences are maybe relevant here, such as the Græco-Roman intoxication with language — this was a culture where orators were the equivalent of rockstars, with rabid followings and the ability to send audiences into raptures — which I don’t think moderns have in quite the same way.
Anyhow, some thoughts on the matter. I would be interested to see some considered scholarship on relative lengths of ancient works of literature.
Suggestions, anyone?