Agapius ( el, Ἀγάπιος; 5th-6th century) was a

Neoplatonist Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of thinkers. But there are some ide ...

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

who lived in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. He was a notable philosopher in the Neoplatonist school in Athens when

Marinus of Neapolis Marinus ( grc, Μαρῖνος ὁ Νεαπολίτης; born c. 440 AD) was a Neoplatonist philosopher, mathematician and rhetorician born in Flavia Neapolis (modern Nablus), Palestine. He was a student of Proclus in Athens. His surviving w ...

was

scholarch A scholarch ( grc, σχολάρχης, ''scholarchēs'') was the head of a school in ancient Greece. The term is especially remembered for its use to mean the heads of schools of philosophy, such as the Platonic Academy in ancient Athens. Its fir ...

after the death of

Proclus Proclus Lycius (; 8 February 412 – 17 April 485), called Proclus the Successor ( grc-gre, Πρόκλος ὁ Διάδοχος, ''Próklos ho Diádokhos''), was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major classical philosophers ...

(c. 485).Suda, ''Agapios'', (Damascius, ''Life of Isidore'' fr. 277, Zintzen) He was admired for his love of learning and for putting forward difficult problems. He may be the Agapius under whom

John Lydus John the Lydian or John Lydus ( el, ; la, Ioannes Laurentius Lydus) (ca. AD 490 – ca. 565) was a Byzantine administrator and writer on antiquarian subjects. Life and career He was born in 490 AD at Philadelphia in Lydia, whence his cognomen ...

heard some lectures on

Platonist Platonism is the philosophy of Plato and school of thought, philosophical systems closely derived from it, though contemporary platonists do not necessarily accept all of the doctrines of Plato. Platonism had a profound effect on Western though ...

philosophy, while he was studying Aristotelian doctrines in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

in 511, and of whom the poet

Christodorus Christodorus ( el, Χριστόδωρος), a Greek epic poet from Coptos in Egypt, flourished during the reign of Anastasius I (491–518). His father was named Paniskos (Πανίσκος). According to Suidas, he was the author of ''Patria'' (Gr ...

in his work ''On the Disciples of the Great Proclus'' stated that "Agapius is assuredly the last but the first of all."John Lydus, ''De Mag.'' iii. 26.

Notes

References

*Arnold Hugh Martin Jones, John Robert Martindale, J. Morris, (1971), ''The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'', pages 32–3. Cambridge University Press *Michael Maas, (2000), ''Readings in Late Antiquity: A Sourcebook'', page 48. Routledge {{DEFAULTSORT:Agapius 5th-century philosophers Neoplatonists in Athens Roman-era philosophers 5th-century Byzantine people