Porphyry of Tyre

He wrote original works in the Greek language on a wide variety of topics, ranging from music theory to Homer to vegetarianism. His Isagoge or Introduction, an introduction to logic and philosophy, was the standard textbook on logic throughout the Middle Ages in its Latin and Arabic translations. Porphyry was, and still is, also well known for his anti-Christian polemics, and for arguing that the Book of Daniel was pseudepigrapha written during the Maccabean period. Through works such as Philosophy from Oracles and Against the Christians (which was banned by Constantine the Great), he was involved in a controversy with early Christians.

Life

The Suda (a 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia based on many sources now lost) reports that Porphyry was born in Tyre, however, other sources report that he was born in Batanaea, present-day Syria. His parents named him Malchus (Μάλχος; cf. Aramaic malkā 'king'). However, he changed it to "Basileus" "King", and into his nickname "Porphyrius" "[clad] in purple" later in his life. In his work The Life of Plotinus, he refers to Aramaic as his "native tongue." Under Cassius Longinus, in Athens, he studied grammar and rhetoric, and became acquainted with Middle Platonism.

In 262, he went to Rome, attracted by the reputation of Plotinus, and for six years devoted himself to the practice of Neoplatonism, during which time he severely modified his diet, at one point becoming suicidal. On the advice of Plotinus he went to live in Sicily for five years to recover his mental health. On returning to Rome, he lectured on philosophy and completed an edition of the writings of Plotinus (who had died in the meantime) together with a biography of his teacher. Iamblichus is mentioned in ancient Neoplatonic writings as his disciple, but this is most likely only meant to indicate that he was the dominant figure in the next generation of philosophers succeeding him. The two men differed publicly on the issue of theurgy.

In his later years, he married Marcella, a student of philosophy and a widow with seven children. The Theosophia Tubingensis, a late-antique Christian apologetic text, presents his wife as Jewish, though this claim may have originated from Porphyry's own positive statements about Judaism, according to Pieter W. van der Horst.

There are around sixty works connected to Porphyry's name, some in fragments or lost. Some pieces of his work are still being reconstructed today. Little more is known of his life, and the date of his death is uncertain.