Eusebius of Myndus | |
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| Εὐσέβιος | |
| Born | c. 4th century |
| Philosophical work | |
| Era | Late antiquity |
| Region | Ancient Roman philosophy |
| School | Neoplatonism |
Eusebius of Myndus (Ancient Greek:Εὐσέβιος) was a 4th-century philosopher, a distinguishedNeoplatonist. He is described byEunapius as one of the links in the "Golden Chain" ofNeoplatonism.
He was a pupil ofAedesius ofPergamum. He devoted himself principally tologic and ventured to criticize the magical andtheurgic side of the doctrine. By this he exasperated the later EmperorJulian, who preferred themysticism ofMaximus andChrysanthius.[1]
Eusebius is known only from the biographies of the philosophers and sophists written byEunapius of Sardis.[2] Eunapius was a student ofChrysanthius of Sardis, a fellow student of Eusebius.
Eusebius was from the city ofMyndus inCaria on the southwest coast ofAsia Minor; today there is the village ofGümüşlük. Nothing is known about his family and childhood. He studied atPergamon under the distinguished Neoplatonic philosopherAedesius. Aedesius, a student of the famous NeoplatonistIamblichus, had opened his own school after his death. Besides Chrysanthios, Eusebius' fellow students at Pergamum included the philosophers Maximus of Ephesus and Priscus.
In 351, the future emperorJulian came to Pergamon to take lessons fromAedesius. After a time, because of his advanced age, Aedesius, who was already very old, entrusted the task of teaching Julian to his disciples. Since Maximus was then in Ephesus and Priscus in Greece, Eusebius and Chrysanthius became the teachers of the prominent student of philosophy. Eusebius impressed Julian with his extraordinary didactic skills.
Unlike most Neoplatonists of the time, Eusebius rejected the religious practices oftheurgy, which sought to magically and ritually obtain divine assistance, purify the soul, and establish a connection with the world of the gods. He held that the effects of magic and theurgy were not of divine origin, but illusions produced by material forces; it is a question of a wrong path, which contributes nothing to the purification of the soul, but leads to madness. Just like Plotinus, the founder of the Neoplatonic trend, and in contrast to Iamblichus, Eusebius was convinced that the ascent of the soul and its return to the spiritual world could not be accomplished through external actions within the framework of cult practice, but only through a purely spiritual purification, which can be achieved by means of reason will be accomplished to achieve. He therefore did not think he was dependent on divine intervention, but trusted in the soul's ability to redeem itself through philosophical knowledge. Eusebius therefore warned Julian of his former fellow student Maximus of Ephesus, who placed theurgy at the center of his efforts. In doing so, however, Eusebius achieved the opposite of what he was aiming for; Julian broke off his education in Pergamum and went to Ephesus to Maximus, whose direction he joined.[3]
Nothing is known about the later fate of Eusebius. It is also unknown whether he wrote anything. Several moral sayings in the Ionian dialect have survived under the name of Eusebius in Stobaeus, which Daniel Wyttenbach andFriedrich Wilhelm August Mullach attributed to Eusebius of Myndus without any compelling reason. However,Eduard Zeller pointed out that there is no trace of Neoplatonic ideas in these moral sayings, which is why the identification of these two sayings is generally rejected.[citation needed]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Eusebius of Myndus".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 9 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 956.| International | |
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