Damascius (/dəˈmæʃəs/;Ancient Greek:Δαμάσκιος;c. 462[1] – after 538), known as "the last of the Athenian Neoplatonists", was the lastscholarch of the neoplatonicAthenian school. He was one of theneoplatonic philosophers who left Athens after laws confirmed by emperorJustinian I forced the closure of the Athenian school in c. 529 AD. After he left Athens, he may have sought refuge in the court of thePersian KingChrosroes, before being allowed back into theByzantine Empire. His surviving works consist of three commentaries on the works ofPlato, and ametaphysical text entitledDifficulties and Solutions of First Principles.
Much of what is known about Damascius' life comes from his semi-autobiographical work calledThe Philosophical History, orLife of Isidore, and from a work calledVita Severi written by the 6th-century bishop and historianZacharias Scholasticus.[2] Damascius, as his name suggests, was born inDamascus in c. 462 AD, and travelled toAlexandria in the 480s AD to study rhetoric at the coeducational school of the late 5th-century Alexandrian professor[3]Horapollo, where students of different religions and philosophies studied together.[4] Zacharias reports that there was a close relationship between the neoplatonic communities ofAthens and Alexandria, asAgapius of Athens andSeverianus of Damascus, students ofProclus' neoplatonic school in Athens, also studied in neoplatonic schools in Alexandria.[5] Damascius may have travelled to Athens shortly before Proclus died in 485 AD, to teach rhetoric, and travelled back to Alexandria before 488 AD.[6]
Late 5th-century Alexandria was a tumultuous place; there were conflicting factions of pro-Chalcedonian andMonophysite Christians, and a growing hostile sentiment towards neoplatonists and people of other non-Christian religions and philosophies that sometimes led to rioting and arrests of leaders of non-Christian schools, resulting in students having to flee and go into hiding.[7] Damascius' accounts of these times paints a picture of a circle of intellectuals that was under siege, arrested, interrogated and who were sometimes courageous, but at other times capitulated.[7] Horapollo, the head of the school at which Damascius had studied and taught rhetoric for nine years,[6] was arrested in 489 AD, causing Damascius and the neoplatonic philosopherIsidore of Alexandria to flee Alexandria and start on a journey to Athens with the aim of studying in the neoplatonic school in Athens.[7]
That journey took eight months, and during that time Damascius writes that he lost interest in pursuing a profession as a rhetorician.[7] When they finally arrived in Athens, Damascius and Isidore became students of the 5th-century neoplatonistMarinus of Neapolis, Proclus' successor, at the neoplatonic school of Athens.[7] By 515 AD, Damascius had become head of the neoplatonic school in Athens, succeeding Marinus of Neapolis successor Isidore,[8] and continued Isidore's path of steering the school back to the philosophical studies of Aristotle, Plato, Orphic theogony and the Chaldean Oracles, and away from theurgy and rituals, which were previously being favoured, most likely due to the increasing external pressure on the school's philosophical teachings.[9] Damascius was still the head of the school in 529 AD after theByzantine emperorJustinian I confirmed hisCodex Justinianus,[10] in 529 AD;[11] and administrators[12] enforcing the new laws, closed the last neoplatonic school in Athens.[7]
According to the 6th-century historianAgathias, soon after the school closed in 529 AD, Damascius, Isidore and the 6th-century neoplatonic philosophersSimplicius of Cilicia,Eulamius of Phrygia,Priscianus of Lydia,Hermias andDiogenes of Phoenicia left Athens and travelled to Persia, where they had heard that the intellectual climate might be more suited to them,[13][14] under the refuge of the Persian KingChosroes.[15] It is not known if Damascius and his retinue of philosophers arrived in Persia, although late 20th- and early 21st-century scholarship by the French historian and philosopherPierre Hadot, French scholarMichel Tardieu and German historian and philosopherIlsetraut Hadot advanced the establishment of a neoplatonic school in Charrae (present-dayHarran,[16]Turkey) in the Persian Empire,[17] a view that is disputed by other 21st-century scholarship.[18] The last known trace of Damascius is an epigram carved instele inEmesa that confirms Damascius returned to Syria in 538 AD, and that is also the year scholars say he died.[19] Damascius composed a number of works, and a significant number of his works in fragments or derived from his writings survived, the more complete works being: the literary workLife of Isidore, orPhilosophical History, preserved byPhotius;[15] and the philosophical works:Problems and Solutions Concerning First Principles;Commentary on theParmenides;Commentary on thePhaedo; andLectures on thePhilebus.[20]
His chief treatise is entitledDifficulties and Solutions of First Principles (ἀπορίαι καὶ λύσεις περὶ τῶν πρώτων ἀρχῶν). It examines the nature and attributes ofGod and the humansoul. This examination is, in two respects, in striking contrast to that of certain other Neoplatonist writers. It is conspicuously free from Orientalmysticism, and it contains no polemic againstChristianity, to the doctrines of which, in fact, there is no allusion. Hence the charge of impiety whichPhotius brings against him. In this treatise Damascius inquires into the first principle of all things, which he finds to be an unfathomable and unspeakable divine depth, being all in one, but undivided. His main result is that God is infinite, and as such, incomprehensible; that his attributes of goodness, knowledge and power are credited to him only by inference from their effects; that this inference is logically valid and sufficient for human thought. He insists throughout on the unity and the indivisibility of God.[21] This work is, moreover, of great importance for the history of philosophy, because of the great number of accounts which it contains concerning former philosophers.[citation needed]
The rest of Damascius's writings are for the most part commentaries on works ofAristotle andPlato. Surviving commentaries include:
Commentary on Plato'sPhilebus. Also erroneously ascribed to Olympiodorus.[22]
Lost or fragmentary works include:
Commentaries on Plato'sTimaeus,First Alcibiades, and other dialogues.
Commentaries on Aristotle'sDe Caelo, and other works. The writings of Damascius on Time, Space, and Number, cited bySimplicius in his commentary on Aristotle'sPhysica,[23] are perhaps parts of his commentaries on Aristotle's writings.
Life of Isidore. Damascius's biography of his teacherIsidore (perhaps a part of thePhilosophos Historia attributed to Damascius by theSuda), of whichPhotius[24] preserved a considerable fragment. It is considered the source containing most details about the life ofAmmonius Hermiae,[25] and is also a primary source for the life ofHypatia. Incorporating material from both the Suda and Photius, a reconstructed text was translated into English byPolymnia Athanassiadi and published in 1999 asDamascius. The Philosophical History.[26]
Logoi Paradoxoi, in 4 books, of whichPhotius[27] gives an account and specifies the respective titles of the books.
Starting from an article published in 2006, Byzantine philologist Carlo Maria Mazzucchi has argued that Damascius was the author of thePseudo-Dionysian corpus, the "last counter-offensive of Paganism" (l'ultima controffensiva del paganesimo).[28] Mazzucchi's theory, which faced some criticism,[29][30] was later improved with more arguments.[31][32][33][34][35]
^abWesterink, L. G. (2009).The Greek Commentaries on Plato's Phaedo, Volume II: Damascius (Revised Second ed.). Wiltshire, UK: The Prometheus Trust. p. 7.ISBN978-1-898910-47-3.
^Mazzucchi, Carlo Maria (2006). "Damascio, autore delCorpus Dionysiacum, e il dialogo ΠΕΡΙ ΠΟΛΙΤΙΚΗΣ ΕΠΙΣΤΗΜΗ" [Damascius, author of theCorpus Dionysiacum, and the dialogue ΠΕΡΙ ΠΟΛΙΤΙΚΗΣ ΕΠΙΣΤΗΜΗ].Aevum (in Italian).80 (2):299–334.eISSN1827-787X.ISSN0001-9593.JSTOR20861842.
^E.g. Fiori, Emiliano Bronislaw (2008). InAdamantius (in Italian).14: 670–673; Napoli, Valerio (2008).Ἐπέκεινα τοῦ ἑνὸς. Il principio totalmente ineffabile tra dialettica ed esegesi in Damascio. Catania – Napoli: CUECM – Officina di Studi Medievali: 124, n. 217; and Curiello, Gioacchino (2013). "Pseudo-Dionysius and Damascius, an impossible identification". InDionysius. N.s.XXXI: 101–116.
^Mazzucchi, Carlo Maria (2013). "Iterum de Damascio Areopagita" [Again on Damascius the Areopagite].Aevum (in Latin).87 (1):249–266.eISSN1827-787X.ISSN0001-9593.JSTOR26453874.
^Mazzucchi, Carlo Maria (2017). "Impudens societas, sive Iohannes Scythopolitanus conscius Areopagiticae fraudi" [An insolent coven, or: John of Scythopolis being aware of the Areopagite fraud].Aevum (in Latin).91 (2):289–294.eISSN1827-787X.ISSN0001-9593.JSTOR26497004.
Damascius' Problems and Solutions Concerning First Principles (in English and Ancient Greek). Translated by Ahbel-Rappe, Sara. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc. 2010.ISBN9780195150292.
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.
DamascioIntorno ai principi primi - Aporie e soluzioni, Translated by Ottobrini, Tiziano F., Brescia: Editrice Morcelliana, 2022.
Damascius' Problems and Solutions Concerning First Principles (in English and Ancient Greek). Translated by Ahbel-Rappe, Sara. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc. 2010.
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
Golitsis, Pantelis (2023).Damascius' philosophy of time. Berlin Boston: De Gruyter.ISBN9783111053189.
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.
Hartmann, Udo (2018).Der spätantike Philosoph. Die Lebenswelten der paganen Gelehrten und ihre hagiographische Ausgestaltung in den Philosophenviten von Porphyrios bis Damaskios (in German). Bonn: Habelt. pp. 246–354.ISBN978-3-7749-4172-4.
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. InSkepsis: A Journal for Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Research XVIII, i-ii, 2007, pp. 58–79.
Remes, Pauliina; Slaveva-Griffin, Svetla, eds. (2014).The Routledge Handbook of Neoplatonism (in English and Ancient Greek). H. Tarrant, R. Sorabji, G. Reydams-Schils, F. Ferrari, J. D. Turner, V. Adluri, H. Baltussen, A. Smith, L. Brisson, M. Martijn, S. Ahbel-Rappe, J. Halfwassen, C. O’Brien, T. Arnold, T. Ratzsch, S. Slaveva-Griffin, R. Chiaradonna, J-M. Narbonne, R. M. Berg, L. P. Gerson, J. F. Finamore, F. M. Schroeder, G. Aubry, P. Lautner, A. Linguiti, J. Wilberding, K. Corrigan, S. Stern-Gillet, B. Collette-Dučić, P. Adamson, P. Remes, D. J. O’Meara, P. Vassilopoulou, D. Moran, D. Y. Dimitrov, S. Pessin. Oxford; New York: Routledge.ISBN9781315744186.
On the Eternity of the World, De Aeternitate Mundi, Proclus (in English and Ancient Greek). Translated by Lang, Helen S.; Macro, A. D.; McGinnis, Jon. Berkeley; Los Angeles; London: University of California Press. 2001.ISBN0520225546.
Remes, Pauliina (2008).Neoplatonism. Stocksfield, United Kingdom: Acumen Publishing Limited.ISBN9781844651252.
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.
Smith, William, ed. (1870).Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 2. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company. p. 667. ark:/13960/t9f47mp93.
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One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Damascius".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 783–784.