Antiochus of Ascalon facts for kids

Antiochus of Ascalon (/ænˈtaɪəkəs/; Greek: Άντίοχος ὁ Ἀσκαλώνιος; c. 135/130 – c. 68 BC) was an important philosopher from the 1st century BC. He was a follower of Platonism, but he also brought in ideas from another school called Stoicism. He is known as the first philosopher in the tradition of Middle Platonism.

Antiochus moved to Athens when he was young. There, he became a student of Philo of Larissa at the Platonic Academy. However, Antiochus disagreed with the Academy's main idea at the time, which was Academic skepticism. This idea suggested that true knowledge was impossible to find.

Because of this disagreement, Antiochus left the Academy. He started his own school, which he called the "Old Academy". He believed his school taught the original ideas of Platonism, which he felt had been lost by the skeptics. Famous Roman students like Varro and Cicero studied with him. Antiochus was also a friend of the Roman general Lucullus, and he traveled with him to North Africa and Armenia.

After the original Academy declined, Antiochus's school became the main place for Platonic ideas in Athens. This period is known as Middle Platonism. Antiochus tried to combine some ideas from the Stoics and the Peripatetics (followers of Aristotle) with Platonism. He believed that the mind could tell the difference between true and false, using a Stoic idea called katalepsis. He felt he was bringing back the true teachings of the "Old Academy."

Life of Antiochus

Most of what we know about Antiochus comes from a biography written by Philodemus. We also learn about him from Cicero, who was his close friend, and from Plutarch.

Early life & studies

Antiochus was born around 135-130 BC in Ascalon. We don't know much about his early years. He went to Athens and joined the Platonic Academy sometime after 110 BC. At that time, Philo of Larissa was the head of the Academy. Antiochus studied with Philo for a long time, longer than most other students. But later, they disagreed about skepticism, which led to their separation.

While in Athens, Antiochus also studied Stoicism. This was another major school of thought at the time. He learned from Mnesarchus, who was the head of the Stoic school. It's not clear if Antiochus was first a Stoic or if he just took Stoic classes while being a Platonist.

Founding the Old Academy

Under Philo, the Academy followed Academic skepticism. This idea had been popular since about 265 BCE. It meant that philosophers doubted if true knowledge could be found. Philo's version of skepticism was a bit milder, but it still rejected the Stoic idea of katalepsis (the ability to grasp truth).

Antiochus started to disagree with skepticism. He felt it wasn't a strong enough way to think. This led him to leave the Academy and start his own school in Athens. He called it the Old Academy. He wanted to show that his school was going back to the original ideas of Platonism before skepticism became popular. Later, people sometimes called his school the "fifth academy."

Travels & return to Athens

Around 88 BC, there was political trouble in Athens because of a war. Many people, including Philo, fled to Rome. Antiochus, however, went to Alexandria instead. There, he met Lucullus, a Roman officer who later became a famous general. Lucullus became Antiochus's friend and supporter.

In 87 BC, Philo wrote some books from Rome where he made some small changes to his skeptical ideas. When Antiochus read these books, he was upset. He wrote his own response called Sosus, named after a Stoic philosopher. This book showed that Antiochus had completely broken away from Philo and the New Academy.

Later, Antiochus returned to Athens. The skeptical "New Academy" had not survived the war. So, Antiochus's "Old Academy" was now the only school that claimed to follow Plato's tradition. However, Antiochus did not teach at the original Academy site, which was destroyed. He taught at a different place in the city center.

Around 83 BC, the Roman scholar Varro studied with Antiochus in Athens. In 79 BC, Cicero and his friends also spent six months studying with Antiochus. Antiochus was very respected at this time. He even traveled to Rome and other provinces as a diplomat.

In 69 BC, Antiochus went with his friend Lucullus on a military campaign to Armenia. He was present at a major battle where the Romans won. Antiochus died the next year, around 68 BC, in Syria, while still with Lucullus.

Antiochus's Philosophy

Antiochus's own writings are lost today. But we know his ideas from the writings of Cicero, especially his books Lucullus and De Finibus. Other philosophers like Sextus Empiricus and Augustine also wrote about his teachings. All the information we have is from after he rejected skepticism.

Platonism & other schools

Antiochus saw himself as a true follower of Plato, even though he brought in new ideas. He believed that the Stoics and the Peripatetics (Aristotle's followers) actually agreed with Platonism on the most important truths. He thought they just explained these truths in different ways.

He felt that the skepticism introduced by Arcesilaus had led Platonism astray. He thought the Stoics had kept some of the original Platonic teachings. He even said that in terms of how we gain knowledge, the Stoics were defending Platonism against Plato's own school, which had become skeptical. However, in ethics, he thought the Stoics had taken ideas from the Old Academy and just changed the words.

Like most ancient Greek philosophers, Antiochus divided philosophy into three main parts:

• Ethics: This was the most important part for him. It answered the question of how to live a good life.
• Logic: This was second in importance. It helped people understand how to find truths, especially about ethics.
• Physics: This was the least important. He felt it dealt with difficult questions that were less important than how to live.

How we know things (Epistemology)

Antiochus strongly disagreed with the skeptics who said that nothing could be known for sure. He believed that true knowledge is possible. He used the Stoic idea of katalepsis, which means a "knowledge-grasping idea." This is an idea that is so clear and true that you can't doubt it. For Antiochus, this was the way to tell truth from falsehood.

He also distinguished between things we learn through our senses (like seeing or hearing) and things we understand with our minds.

• Sensible things are always changing, so they can only give us opinions, not true knowledge.
• Intelligible things are unchanging concepts that our minds can grasp. True knowledge comes from understanding these concepts.

However, unlike Plato, Antiochus didn't believe these unchanging concepts existed in a separate "world of ideas." For him, they existed in our minds as general concepts derived from our sense experiences. He believed the intellect itself was a kind of sense, and it worked with sensory information to form universal ideas.

Antiochus argued that if skeptics said nothing could be known for certain, then they couldn't even be certain about their own statement. He also said that skepticism couldn't work in daily life because it wouldn't give people a way to make good decisions.

How to live (Ethics)

For Antiochus, the best way to live was to "live according to nature." He said that this idea came from the Old Academy Platonists, and the Stoics had adopted it. However, Antiochus had a different view of "nature" than the Stoics.

The Stoics believed that human nature was just a small part of the universe's nature. So, for them, only virtues (good character traits) were truly valuable. But Antiochus believed that human nature included the body too. He thought that a perfect life meant perfecting all parts of human nature, including the physical side.

Physical goods

Antiochus thought the Stoics were wrong to ignore physical goods like health, strength, and beauty. He believed that since humans have both a body and a soul, the body should not be ignored. Physical well-being was important for a complete, natural life. He even spoke of "bodily virtues," meaning desirable states of the body, like good posture.

External goods

He also believed that external things like friends, family, homeland, wealth, honor, and power were valuable. However, these external goods were not as necessary for a perfect life as mental and physical goods. They could add to happiness, but they weren't absolutely required.

Mental goods

Antiochus divided mental virtues into two types:

• Natural virtues: These are things you are born with, like quick understanding and good memory.
• Voluntary virtues: These are virtues you choose to develop through reason, like prudence (wisdom), sophrosyne (self-control), courage, and justice. These voluntary virtues are the most important. They are necessary and enough for happiness. This means that a happy life is always possible through your own choices, no matter what physical or external problems you face.

While he believed that virtues alone were enough for happiness, Antiochus thought that physical and external goods could make happiness even greater. He called a life with only virtues a "happy life" (Latin: vita beata). But a life with virtues plus physical and external goods was a "perfectly happy life" (Latin: vita beatissima).

Order of virtues

Antiochus taught that human development happens step by step. People first try to survive, then they use their abilities, and finally, they gain self-knowledge about what it means to be truly human. He believed that nature gives humans the ability to reflect on what is natural and good.

He thought that if people made mistakes or had ethical problems, it was because they didn't follow the right order of importance for different goods. He believed that the best life was a mix of an active life (focused on external success) and a thoughtful, quiet life (focused on philosophy).

Nature of the world (Natural philosophy)

Antiochus's ideas about nature were very similar to the Stoics'. He believed that matter could be divided endlessly, unlike the Atomists who thought everything was made of tiny, indivisible particles.

He thought there were two main principles for everything that exists:

• An efficient cause: This is the active force that shapes things. He also called this "quality."
• Matter: This is the raw material that is shaped by the efficient cause.

These two principles always exist together. You can't have one without the other. This meant that for Antiochus, nothing could exist without being physical. This was different from Plato's theory of forms, which said that ideas existed independently of physical things.

Antiochus's Writings

Antiochus wrote several books, but none of them have survived to today. He believed it was important for philosophical ideas to be presented clearly so that everyone could understand them.

Cicero mentioned that Antiochus wrote about skepticism when he was still a student of Philo. Around 86 BC, Antiochus wrote a book called Sosus. This was his answer to Philo's ideas. Around 78 BC, he wrote another book where he argued that the Stoics and Peripatetics actually agreed on many things, and their differences were just about words. In the last year of his life, he wrote a book called "On the Gods." Another work, Canonica, was about logic.

Cicero used Antiochus's ideas in his own philosophical writings, even though he didn't always name the specific books.

Antiochus's Legacy

In ancient times

Antiochus was sometimes called the founder of the "fifth Academy." His school started just before a war that destroyed the original Academy. After Antiochus died around 68 BC, his brother Aristus of Ascalon took over the school. However, Antiochus's "Old Academy" seems to have ended as an institution after Aristus.

Antiochus had a big impact on his Roman students, Cicero and Varro. He also influenced Marcus Junius Brutus, who was a student of Aristus and admired Antiochus. Brutus wrote a book about virtue that followed Antiochus's ethical ideas.

Cicero spoke very highly of Antiochus. He praised his talent, intelligence, gentle character, and persuasive way of speaking. Antiochus was even nicknamed "the swan" because of his speaking skills. Some people accused Antiochus of leaving the Academy and starting his own school just to become famous, but Cicero and Plutarch mentioned these as rumors.

Later, some philosophers in the Roman Empire were not as positive about Antiochus. Numenius of Apamea didn't like how Antiochus mixed Stoic ideas with Platonism. The skeptic Sextus Empiricus thought Antiochus was basically a Stoic who brought Stoic ideas into the Academy. Augustine was very critical, suggesting Antiochus was more interested in fame than truth and that he "polluted" Platonism with Stoic ideas.

In modern times

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many scholars focused on the parts of Antiochus's teaching that were not purely Platonic. They saw his mixing of different philosophies as a weakness. Some thought he didn't fully understand the different ideas he was combining. For example, Theodor Mommsen thought Antiochus had a "malformed doctrine."

However, since the late 20th century, scholars have started to view Antiochus more positively. Jonathan Barnes thought his return to older ideas made sense. Woldemar Görler saw Antiochus's philosophy as "self-contained" and not just a vague mix. He suggested that Antiochus wasn't trying to trick anyone, but that he simply wasn't interested in deep metaphysical thinking. John Dillon also found Antiochus's ideas to be consistent. Mauro Bonazzi argued that Antiochus wasn't just a "Platonic Stoic," but that he skillfully tried to make Stoic ideas fit within Platonism.

See Also

• Middle Platonism
• Academic skepticism
• Stoicism
• Platonic Academy