ANCIENT ROME AUTHOR · ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY · EARLY WORKS TO 1800
Plotinus
Also known as: Plotin, Plotino
Plotinus (; Ancient Greek: Πλωτῖνος, Plōtînos; c. 204/5 – 270 AD) was an ancient Greek philosopher, born and raised in Roman Egypt. He is widely regarded by modern scholars as the founder of Neoplatonism. Plotinus was a student of the self-taught philosopher Ammonius Saccas, who belonged to the Platonic tradition. Historians in the 19th century coined the term "Neoplatonism" to describe Plotinus and his philosophy. This philosophical tradition was vastly influential during late antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance.
To those who approach Plato's philosophy for the first time, the most striking aspect of it perhaps is its distinctive way of seeing reality.
— from Plotinus
Most acclaimed
Ennead III.6
With the growth of interest in later Greek philosophy, the importance of Plotinus (AD 205-270) as a seminal influence on later thinkers, both pagan and Christian, is being increasingly recognized. The Enneads have been readily available for some time, both in Greek and in English translation, and there is no shortage of scholarly writing on the Enneads in general, and on particular aspects of Plotinus' thought. However, apart from Michael Atkinson's translation and commentary on Ennead V.1 (Clarendon Press, 1985), there has been no major commentary in English on any single treatise. Plotinus' Greek is notoriously obscure, and mere translation often sheds little light. Barrie Fleet's translation and commentary on Ennead III.6 elucidates the text of a major treatise in which Plotinus uses the concept of impassivity to shed light on three questions of importance to Platonists: the nature of change in the human soul; its analogue in the Sensible World; and the nature of Matter. Dr Fleet shows how texts of Plato and Aristotle, and Hellenistic commentaries on them, were central to the seminars held in Rome under the leadership of Plotinus. This treatise is the outcome of one such seminar. All Greek quotations in the commentary are translated into English, and all Greek terms are either translated or transliterated, making this edition fully accessible to readers with or without Greek.
Plotinus
Plotinus, the Roman philosopher (c. 204-270 CE) who is widely regarded as the founder of Neoplatonism, was also the creator of numerous myths, images, and metaphors. They have influenced both secular philosophers and Christian and Muslim theologians, but have frequently been dismissed by modern scholars as merely ornamental. In this book, distinguished philosopher Stephen R. L. Clark shows that they form a vital set of spiritual exercises by which individuals can achieve one of Plotinus's most important goals: self-transformation through contemplation. Clark examines a variety of Plotinus's myths and metaphors within the cultural and philosophical context of his time, asking probing questions about their contemplative effects. What is it, for example, to 'think away the spatiality" of material things? What state of mind is Plotinus recommending when he speaks of love, or drunkenness, or nakedness? What star-like consciousness is intended when he declares that we were once stars or are stars eternally? What does it mean to say that the soul goes around God? And how are we supposed to "bring the god in us back to the god in all"? Through these rich images and structures, Clark casts Plotinus as a philosopher deeply concerned with philosophy as a way of life.
[Opera]
The book introduces opera and analyzes eight masterpieces: "Don Giovanni" by Mozart, "Dido and Aeneas" by Purcell, "The Barber of Seville" by Rossini, "Rigoletto" by Verdi, "The mastersingers of Nuremberg" by Wagner, "Boris Godunov" by Mussorgsky, "Carmen" by Bizet, and "Tosca" by Puccini. The cd contains key songs from each opera that are broken into "timelines" in the text.