Neo-Platonism is not simply a revival of the original Platonic philosophy. It is a remoulding of a number of Platonic, Aristotelian, Stoic and neo-Pythagorean propositions and themes. The process of assimilation was guided by a principle of its own which gave rise from the start to a clearly envisaged “system”.

The following principles were taken over from Plato: the first three hypotheses of the Parmenides, which were expounded as the three hypostases on which all reality and degrees of reality were based: the One, the spirit (νοũς) and the soul; the One of the Parmenides could thus be …