The Last Platonists? Philosophic Teaching, Christianity, and Polytheism in Late-Antique Alexandria
What was going on at Alexandria, the other great centre of polytheist Platonist teaching, while the events at Athens we have been discussing in recent episodes were playing out? In this episode we find out (with digressions!).
Primary Sources
The Essays and Hymns of Synesius of Cyrene, Vol. 2
Synesius of Cyrene writes with a strange mix of wit, political anxiety, and mystical longing. He claims baldness is the ultimate physiological sign of a philosopher, mocking the vanity of hair as a mere biological excess. Beyond his humor, he provides a harsh assessment of human history, treating th
John Lydus: On the Months
John Lydus acts as a guide to a world that was already fading in the sixth century. He compiles Roman festivals, astronomical omens, and Pythagorean math into a singular view of how the universe functions. He presents time not as a flat line but as a sequence governed by planetary influence and divi