Eustathios (philosopher)

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Eustathios (* probably end of the 3rd century; † after 362) was a late antique philosopher of the Neoplatonic direction. It is sometimes called Eustathios of Cappadocia after its region of origin .

swell

The main source is the writing biographies of the philosophers and the sophists of Eunapius of Sardis , who praises Eustathius exuberantly. In addition to a letter that Eustathios wrote to the Emperor Julian , three letters addressed to him have survived; two of them are from Julian, one from the speaker Libanios . A letter from the church father, Basil of Caesarea, to a philosopher Eustathios, who was evidently a Cappadocian, has also survived. Basil writes that he wanted to visit Eustathios (apparently to study with him). For this purpose he had traveled from Athens to Cappadocia, then to Syria and from there to Egypt, but he had never found the philosopher he was looking for, only learned that Eustathius had gone to the Persian Empire. In research it is debatable whether the addressee of this letter is the Neoplatonic philosopher or - as is mostly assumed today - another Eustathius.

Life

Eustathios came from Cappadocia; he was a relative of the philosopher Aidesios . Both received their philosophical training in Syria in the school of the famous Neoplatonist Iamblichus , which was very probably in Apamea on the Orontes . Iamblichus dedicated a pamphlet on music to a Eustathius, who may be the Cappadocian of that name. After the death of Iamblichus (around 320/325) Aidesios stayed in Syria for a while and then withdrew to his Cappadocian homeland. Later he entrusted his Cappadocian goods to Eustathios and founded his own philosophy school in Pergamon .

Although Eustathios was not a Christian, he enjoyed the trust of Emperor Constantius II , who in 358 sent him, together with another civil diplomat and an officer, as an envoy to Ctesiphon to the Persian king Shapur II . Eustathios owed this commission to his exceptional oratorical talent and a recommendation from the praefectus praetorio Orientis Musonianus. The aim of the diplomatic efforts was to dissuade Shapur from his territorial claims and his threat of attack. Eustathios is said to have impressed the king deeply with his appearance, but the embassy was unsuccessful. After a long stay in Ctesiphon, the ambassadors returned.

Eustathios was married to the philosopher Sosipatra , with whom he had three sons. One of the sons named Antoninos later lived in Canopus in Egypt; he is said to have predicted the destruction of the Serapeum of Alexandria , which occurred after his death in 391.

After some time - at least before the middle of the century - Sosipatra moved to Pergamon and began to teach philosophy there; Aidesios, with whom she was friends, took care of the upbringing of her three sons. In older research it was assumed that this happened after the death of Eustathios, as a puzzling passage in the work of Eunapios seems to indicate. However, since Eustathios was certainly still alive in 362, this passage is interpreted differently today; apparently Sosipatra left her husband with the children and settled in Pergamon while he was still alive.

A letter written by the famous orator Libanios in the winter of 355/356 shows that Eustathios had recently been to Antioch , the hometown of Libanios, in the vicinity. In a letter to Eustathios in 359/360, Libanios referred to attacks to which the philosopher was exposed.

In 362 the Emperor Julian invited Eustathios to his court in Constantinople , because the Emperor, who was himself a Neoplatonist, wanted to surround himself with like-minded philosophers. Eustathios accepted the invitation, but soon asserted health reasons in order to obtain permission to return home. Julian agreed and wanted to provide him with a vehicle from the state post office, but Eustathios had already set off on foot. With reference to this, the philosopher praised the advantages of hiking over driving in a short letter to the emperor. This letter is the last source in which Eustathios is testified to be living. Nothing is known about the time and circumstances of his death.

Works

Only Eustathios' letter to Emperor Julian is certainly authentic. It is uncertain whether he wrote philosophical writings; in any case, nothing has survived. Eustathios is attested as the author of a (lost) commentary on the categories of Aristotle ; It is unclear whether this author is the Neoplatonist Eustathios. In addition, a rhetorician named Eustathios wrote a commentary on the text Peri tōn stáseōn by Hermogenes of Tarsus , of which only fragments have survived . This rhetor Eustathios is possibly identical with the Neoplatonist, but this equation remains hypothetical, especially since the name Eustathios was common at the time.

Source editions

  • Giuseppe Giangrande (ed.): Eunapii vitae sophistarum . Istituto poligrafico dello stato, Rome 1956.
  • Richard Förster (Ed.): Libanii opera . Teubner, Leipzig 1921, pp. 124–125 (letter 123 to Eustathios), p. 447 (letter 463 with mention of Eustathios).
  • Bertold K. Weis (Ed.): Julian: Briefe . Heimeran, Munich 1973, pp. 16-21, 247-248, 250.

literature

  • Richard Goulet: Eustathe de Cappadoce . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques . Vol. 3, CNRS, Paris 2000, ISBN 2-271-05748-5 , pp. 369-378.
  • Ariel Lewin: Il filosofo Eustazio nelle Vitae Sophistarum di Eunapio di Sardi . In: Scripta Classica Israelica 7, 1983/84, pp. 92-100.
  • Robert J. Penella: Greek Philosophers and Sophists in the Fourth Century AD Studies in Eunapius of Sardis . Francis Cairns, Leeds 1990, ISBN 0-905205-79-0 , pp. 49-62.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ See the research report by Richard Goulet: Eustathe de Cappadoce . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. 3, Paris 2000, pp. 369–378, here: 374–377.
  2. ^ Richard Goulet: Eustathe de Cappadoce . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. 3, Paris 2000, pp. 369–378, here: 371.
  3. ↑ Ammianus Marcellinus , Res gestae 17,5,15; Eunapios of Sardis, Vitae philosophorum et sophistarum 6.5.
  4. ↑ Ammianus Marcellinus, Res gestae 17,14,1-2; Eunapios of Sardis, Vitae philosophorum et sophistarum 6.5.
  5. ↑ Eunapios of Sardis, Vitae philosophorum et sophistarum 6,10,6–6,11,12. See Richard Goulet: Antoninus . In: Richard Goulet (Ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. 1, Paris 1989, pp. 257 f. (No. 221).
  6. ↑ For the presumed course of these events see Robert J. Penella: Greek Philosophers and Sophists in the Fourth Century AD Studies in Eunapius of Sardis , Leeds 1990, pp. 53–56 and Richard Goulet: Eustathe de Cappadoce . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. 3, Paris 2000, pp. 369–378, here: 370 f. See Garth Fowden: The Platonist philosopher and his circle in late antiquity . In: ΦΙΛΟΣΟΦΙΑ 7, 1977, pp. 359-383, here: 375-377.
  7. ^ Richard Goulet: Eustathe de Cappadoce . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. 3, Paris 2000, pp. 369–378, here: 372 f.
  8. ^ Richard Goulet: Eustathe de Cappadoce . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. 3, Paris 2000, pp. 369–378, here: 377.
personal data
SURNAME Eustathios
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Eustathios of Cappadocia
BRIEF DESCRIPTION late antique philosopher (neo-platonist)
DATE OF BIRTH 3rd century
DATE OF DEATH after 362