Porphyry
Philosophy & Thought • Historical Archive • 🇮🇹 Italy • 1 views

Porphyry 🇮🇹

Πορφύριος
["Neoplatonist Philosopher", "Logician", "Biographer of Plotinus"]
Born c. 234 CE 🇮🇹 Tyre, Italy
Passed Away c. 305 CE Rome, Italy
Lifespan 71 years old
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Notice / Correction
"The soul is held to the body by the bonds of passion; philosophy alone dissolves those bonds."

Archival Overview

Phoenician-born Neoplatonist philosopher who edited and published Plotinus's Enneads and wrote the Isagoge, whose 'Tree of Porphyry' became the standard introduction to logic for over a millennium.

Biographical Record

Born Malchus in Tyre, Porphyry (c. 234–305 CE) studied in Athens under Longinus before joining Plotinus in Rome in 262. He edited Plotinus's scattered treatises into six books of nine treatises each, titled the 'Enneads', accompanied by a biography of his teacher.

Porphyry authored the 'Isagoge' ('Introduction'), a commentary on Aristotle's Categories that introduced the famous Tree of Porphyry (arbor porphyriana), illustrating division by genus, species, and difference. His questions in the Isagoge sparked the monumental medieval debate over universals (realism vs. nominalism).

Key Life Milestones

c. 268 CE

Composition of the 'Isagoge'

Authored the standard introduction to Aristotelian logic that became mandatory in medieval curricula.

c. 301 CE

Publication of Plotinus's Enneads

Edited and published the masterworks of Plotinus, preserving Neoplatonic philosophy for posterity.

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Final Resting Place

Perpetual Memorial
Appian Way Roman Cemetery Grounds
Rome, Italy
GPS: 41.8536, 12.5289
View on Memory Atlas
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