(Jan 8, 412, Constantinople – Apr 17, 485, Athens), philosopher, Neoplatonist. From a prominent family, Proclus spent his youth in Xanthus (Lycia). He studied in Beirut, Alexandria, and Athens, where he was a student of the Neoplatonists Plutarch and Syrianus (Neoplatonism), succeeding the latter as head of the academy. The biography of his successor Marinus stylizes him as a divinely inspired saint.
In Proclus, the “Hegel of antiquity,” Neoplatonism reached its highest systematic consummation. On the foundations of the philosophy of Plotinus, Proclus designed…