Marinus of Neapolis

For the Italian saint, see Saint Marinus.

Marinus (Ancient Greek: Μαρίνος ὁ Νεαπολίτης; born c. 440 AD) was a Neoplatonist philosopher born in Flavia Neapolis (modern Nablus), Palestine. He was a student of Proclus in Athens. His surviving works are an introduction to Euclid's Data; a Life of Proclus; and two astronomical texts.

Life

He was probably a Samaritan, or possibly a Jew.[1] He came to Athens at a time when, with the exception of Proclus, there was a great dearth of eminent men in the Neoplatonist school.[2] It was for this reason rather than for any striking ability of his own that he succeeded to the headship of the school on the death of Proclus in 485.[2] During this period, the professors of the old Greek religion suffered persecution at the hands of the Christians and Marinus was compelled to seek refuge at Epidaurus.[2] The year of his death is not known.

Works

His chief work was a biography of Proclus,[2] the chief source of information on Proclus' life. The publication of the biography is fixed by internal evidence to the year of Proclus's death; for he mentions an eclipse which will happen when the first year after that event is completed. It was first published with the works of Marcus Aurelius in 1559; it was republished separately by Fabricius at Hamburg in 1700, and re-edited in 1814 by Boissonade with emendations and notes.[2] He is also the author of a commentary (or introduction) on the Data of Euclid, and a commentary on Theon's Little Commentary.[3] There is also a surviving astronomical text which discusses the Milky Way.[3]

His lost works included commentaries on Aristotle and on the Philebus of Plato.[2] It is said that he destroyed the latter because Isidore, his successor, expressed disapproval of it.[2]

References

  1. O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Marinus of Neapolis", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews.. Accessed: November 22, 2008. "Marinus of Neapolis was probably a Samaritan, but just possibly a Jew. He became a convert to the Greek way of life and joined the Academy in Athens where he was a pupil of Proclus who was head of the Academy. In fact when Proclus wrote a commentary on the Myth of Er, he dedicated it to Marinus."
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Marinus (philosopher)". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
  3. 3.0 3.1 O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Marinus of Neapolis", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews. Accessed: November 22, 2008.