Gaius the Platonist (2nd century) was a Greek or Roman philosopher, and a representative of
Middle Platonism
Middle Platonism is the modern name given to a stage in the development of Platonic philosophy, lasting from about 90 BC – when Antiochus of Ascalon rejected the scepticism of the new Academy – until the development of neoplatonis ...
. Very little is known about him except that he was the teacher of
Albinus, who is known to have published a lost nine-volume summary of Gaius' lectures on
Plato
Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
. He taught
Platonism
Platonism is the philosophy of Plato and 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 thought. Platonism at l ...
in the first half of the 2nd century, but almost nothing is known about his philosophical opinions. It has been speculated that the ''On Plato and His Doctrine'' written by
Apuleius
Apuleius (; also called Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis; c. 124 – after 170) was a Numidian Latin-language prose writer, Platonist philosopher and rhetorician. He lived in the Roman province of Numidia, in the Berber city of Madauros, modern- ...
may have been taken from the lectures of Gaius, but this assertion is now seen as dubious. It has also been thought that the anonymous commentary on the ''
Theaetetus'' of Plato, which is partially extant, may have come from his school.
Porphyry mentions that his works were read in the school of
Plotinus
Plotinus (; grc-gre, Πλωτῖνος, ''Plōtînos''; – 270 CE) was a philosopher in the Hellenistic tradition, born and raised in Roman Egypt. Plotinus is regarded by modern scholarship as the founder of Neoplatonism. His teacher wa ...
.
[Porphyry, ''Life of Plotinus'', 14]
References
{{reflist
2nd-century philosophers
Middle Platonists
Roman-era philosophers