Damascius facts for kids

Damascius (/dəˈmæʃəs/; Greek: Δαμάσκιος, around 462 – after 538) was a very important philosopher. He is known as "the last of the Athenian Neoplatonists." He was the final leader, or scholarch, of the Neoplatonic school in Athens.

Damascius was one of the philosophers who left Athens when the Roman Emperor Justinian I closed the Athenian school around 529 AD. After leaving Athens, he might have found safety with the Persian King Chrosroes. Later, he was allowed to return to the Byzantine Empire. His writings that still exist include three commentaries on the works of Plato. He also wrote a book about big ideas called Difficulties and Solutions of First Principles.

Life of Damascius

Most of what we know about Damascius comes from his own writings. He wrote a kind of autobiography called The Philosophical History, or Life of Isidore. Another writer, Zacharias Scholasticus, also wrote about him.

Damascius was born in Damascus around 462 AD, which is where his name comes from. In the 480s AD, he traveled to Alexandria to study public speaking, also known as rhetoric. He studied at a school run by Horapollo, where students from different religions and philosophies learned together.

Zacharias tells us that the Neoplatonic groups in Athens and Alexandria were very close. Students from Athens also studied in Alexandria. Damascius may have gone to Athens just before the famous philosopher Proclus died in 485 AD. He taught rhetoric there, then returned to Alexandria before 488 AD.

6th-century mosaic of Justinian I in the Basilique San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy. Damascius led the last Neoplatonic school in Athens when Emperor Justinian I closed it.

Life in Alexandria in the late 400s AD was difficult. There were many disagreements between different Christian groups. People also became more hostile towards Neoplatonists and other non-Christian thinkers. Sometimes, this led to riots and arrests of school leaders. Students even had to hide. Damascius wrote that intellectuals felt under attack. They were arrested and questioned. Sometimes they were brave, but other times they gave in.

Horapollo, the head of the school where Damascius studied, was arrested in 489 AD. This made Damascius and another philosopher, Isidore of Alexandria, leave Alexandria. They began an eight-month journey to Athens. Their goal was to study at the Neoplatonic school there.

During this long trip, Damascius realized he no longer wanted to be a public speaker. When they finally reached Athens, Damascius and Isidore became students of Marinus of Neapolis. Marinus was the leader of the Neoplatonic school after Proclus.

By 515 AD, Damascius became the head of the school in Athens. He followed Isidore, who had also been a leader. Damascius helped the school focus more on the ideas of Aristotle and Plato. He also studied ancient Greek religious texts. This was a change from earlier times when the school focused more on rituals. This change likely happened because of the increasing pressure on the school's teachings.

Damascius was still the head of the school in 529 AD. That year, the Byzantine emperor Justinian I made new laws. On April 7, 529 AD, he confirmed his Code of Justinian. These new laws took effect on April 16, 529 AD. They forced the last Neoplatonic school in Athens to close.

After the school closed in 529 AD, Damascius and several other philosophers left Athens. They traveled to Persia. They had heard that the Persian King Chrosroes might offer them a better place to think and study. It's not fully known if Damascius and his group reached Persia. Some historians believe they might have started a new Neoplatonic school in a place called Charrae (now Harran, Turkey). However, other historians disagree.

The last known record of Damascius is an inscription found in Emesa, Syria. It confirms he returned to Syria in 538 AD. Scholars believe he died that same year. Damascius wrote many works. Many of his writings survived, either in parts or through other authors. His most complete works include:

• Life of Isidore, also called Philosophical History.
• Problems and Solutions Concerning First Principles.
• Commentary on the Parmenides (a work by Plato).
• Commentary on the Phaedo (another work by Plato).
• Lectures on the Philebus (another work by Plato).

Damascius's Writings

Damascius's most important book is called Difficulties and Solutions of First Principles. In this book, he explores big questions about the nature of God and the human soul.

His ideas were different from some other Neoplatonist writers. He didn't focus on Eastern religious ideas. He also didn't argue against Christianity. In fact, he didn't even mention Christian ideas in his book. This is why a writer named Photius later accused him of not being religious enough.

In this book, Damascius tried to understand the very first principle of everything. He believed it was a deep and mysterious divine force. He thought God was infinite and impossible to fully understand. He said that we can only guess at God's goodness, knowledge, and power by looking at their effects in the world. He always stressed that God is one and cannot be divided. This book is also very important for understanding the history of philosophy. It contains many stories and ideas about earlier philosophers.

Most of Damascius's other writings are commentaries. These are books where he explains and discusses the works of other famous thinkers, especially Aristotle and Plato.

Some of his commentaries that still exist are:

• Commentary on Plato's Parmenides.
• Commentary on Plato's Phaedo. (This was wrongly thought to be written by someone else for a while.)
• Commentary on Plato's Philebus. (This was also wrongly thought to be written by someone else.)

Some of his works are lost or only exist in small pieces:

• Commentaries on Plato's Timaeus, First Alcibiades, and other dialogues.
• Commentaries on Aristotle's De Caelo and other works.
• Life of Isidore: This was a biography of his teacher, Isidore of Alexandria. A large part of it was saved by Photius. It gives us many details about the lives of other important people like Ammonius Hermiae and Hypatia.

See also

• Ammonius Saccas
• Azone
• Decline of Greco-Roman polytheism
• Iamblichus
• Olympiodorus the Younger
• Plotinus
• Proclus
• Simplicius of Cilicia
• Theodora of Emesa

Sources

• Polymnia Athanassiadi, Persecution and Response in late Paganism. The evidence of Damascius. In: Journal of Hellenic Studies 113 (1993), pp. 1–29.
• Polymnia Athanassiadi (editor and translator), Damascius. The Philosophical History. Athens: Apamea Cultural Association, 1999.
• Cosmin Andron, Damascius on Knowledge and its Object. In: Rhizai 1 (2004) pp. 107–124
• Sebastian R. P. Gertz, Death and Immortality in Late Neoplatonism: Studies on the Ancient Commentaries on Plato's Phaedo, Leiden: Brill, 2011.
• Sebastian R. P. Gertz, "From 'Immortal' to 'Imperishable': Damascius on the Final Argument in Plato's Phaedo". In: Ancient Readings of Plato's Phaedo (Leiden: 2015), 240–55.

• Raban von Haehling, Damascius und die heidnische Opposition im 5. Jahrhundert nach Christus. In: Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum 23 (1980), pp. 82–85.
• Udo Hartmann, Geist im Exil. Römische Philosophen am Hof der Sasaniden. In: Udo Hartmann/Andreas Luther/Monika Schuol (eds.), Grenzüberschreitungen. Formen des Kontakts zwischen Orient und Okzident im Altertum. Stuttgart 2002, pp. 123–160.
• Androniki Kalogiratou, The Portrayal of Socrates by Damascius. In: Phronimon: Journal of the South African Society for Greek Philosophy and the Humanities 7 (1) 2006, pp. 45–54.
• Androniki Kalogiratou, Theology in Philosophy: The Case of the Late Antique Neoplatonist Damascius. In Skepsis: A Journal for Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Research XVIII, i-ii, 2007, pp. 58–79.
• Robert Lamberton, "Damascius. The Philosophical History" (book review), Bryn Mawr Classical Review, January 1, 2000.

• John R. Martindale, John Morris, The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire II. Cambridge 1980, pp. 342f.
• Carlo Maria Mazzucchi, Damascio, Autore del Corpus Dionysiacum, e il dialogo Περι Πολιτικης Επιστημης. In: Aevum: Rassegna di scienze storiche linguistiche e filologiche 80, Nº 2 (2006), pp. 299–334.
• Carlo Maria Mazzucchi, Iterum de Damascio Areopagita. In: Aevum: Rassegna di scienze storiche linguistiche e filologiche 87, Nº 1 (2013), pp. 249–265.
• Sara Ahbel-Rappe, Scepticism in the sixth century? Damascius' 'Doubts and Solutions Concerning First Principles,' Journal of the History of Philosophy 36 (1998), pp. 337–363.
• Marilena Vlad, Damascius et l'ineffable. Récit de l'impossible discours (Paris, Vrin, 2019)
• Tiziano F. Ottobrini (a cura di), Damascio Intorno ai principi primi - Aporie e soluzioni, Editrice Morcelliana, (2022), pp. 835