Gaios

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Gaios ( Greek  Γάϊος , Latin Gaius ; * probably around 75; † probably after 130) was an ancient philosopher . He was a Platonist and was one of the leading representatives of Middle Platonism .

Life

Research has suggested that Gaios was born around 75, but this assumption is very uncertain. Nothing is known about his origins, youth and training, as well as his place of work. Since his student Albinos was already a famous teacher around the middle of the 2nd century and other students gave lessons earlier, it can be assumed that Gaios' teaching activity falls into the first half of the century.

An inscription from Delphi , made in the late twenties or early thirties of the 2nd century, testifies that a philosopher Gaios, son of Xenon, was given citizenship and other honors and rights there; his children were also granted citizenship. It is probably the well-known Middle Platonist. Another inscription, dating from around the middle of the 2nd century, tells of the granting of Delphic citizenship to a group of four Platonists, including Bakchios of Paphos , who is referred to as the adopted son of Gaios. The assumption that this Gaios is to be equated with the teacher of the albino is obvious; If it is true, it can be assumed that the adopted son was not already included in the granting of civil rights to Gaios and his (biological) children at the time.

Works and teaching

No works by Gaios have been preserved and no titles have survived. His student Albinos made a collection of transcripts from his lessons, which are lost. A part of this collection, consisting of eleven books, was entitled “ Basic features ( hypotypóseis ) of the Platonic teachings”. Albinos' received “Introduction to Plato's Dialogues ” can be a post-writing from a course given by Gaios. The fact that Gaios wrote Plato commentaries can possibly be inferred from a remark by the Neo-Platonist Porphyrios , which may however refer to Albinos' collection of postcripts and in this case cannot serve as evidence for the existence of such commentaries. In general, references to Gaios in later ancient literature are not evidence of direct use of his own works, since they can also be based on knowledge of the postcript collection; it is possible that Gaios left no writings at all.

The hypothesis put forward by Tadeusz Sinko in 1905 that the teachings of a “school of Gaios” can be reconstructed from surviving works by Platonists of this direction was well received in older research. At that time one not only counted - historically correct - albinos among the disciples of Gaios, but one also erroneously identified the author of the Middle Platonic textbook Didaskalikos with albinos and therefore wrongly regarded this work as a source for the teachings of the school of Gaios. In an anonymously transmitted commentary on Plato's dialogue Theaetetos and in the text De Platone et eius dogmate des Apuleius one believed to be able to recognize the influence of this school. According to the prevailing view today, however, there is no direct connection between Didaskalikos , whose real author was the Middle Platonist Alcinous , and the teaching of Gaios, and there is also no convincing classification of the works of Theaetetus -commentator and Apuleius in the teaching tradition of Gaios Supporting documents.

From an only fragmentary explanation of the albino it emerges that Gaios classified Plato's statements partly as assertions of fact, partly only as approximations to the truth. Gaios believed that the degree of accuracy and clarity of Plato's utterances depends on the nature of the subject.

reception

Gaios' adopted son Bakchios of Paphos is probably to be equated with the philosopher of the same name, who was the first philosophy teacher of the future emperor Marcus Aurelius .

The famous doctor Galenus received his training in Platonic philosophy from two students of Gaios: first in the forties of the 2nd century with an unidentified philosopher in his hometown of Pergamon and later with Albinos in Smyrna .

In the school of Plotinus , the founder of Neoplatonism , in Rome, Gaios was one of the Middle Platonists whose teachings were part of the curriculum.

Even in late antiquity , Gaios' name sounded good; the famous Neo-Platonist Proclus counted him among the most important Platonists. An anonymously handed down late antique list ( canons ) of recommended authors names him in the first place in the list of the "particularly useful" explaners of Plato's philosophy. Even in the 6th century, the albino's records from Gaios' lessons were accessible: the Neo-Platonist Priskianos Lydos mentioned that he used them.

Source collections

  • Heinrich Dörrie , Matthias Baltes (ed.): The Platonism in antiquity , Volume 3: The Platonism in the 2nd and 3rd centuries after Christ . Frommann-Holzboog, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1993, ISBN 3-7728-1155-8 , pp. 14-21, 28 f. (Source texts with translation) and pp. 145, 151–153, 161 f., 182–184, 205, 213 (commentary)
  • Adriano Gioè (Ed.): Filosofi medioplatonici del II secolo d. C. Testimonianze e frammenti . Bibliopolis, Napoli 2002, ISBN 88-7088-430-9 , pp. 45–76 (source texts with Italian translation and commentary)
  • Marie-Luise Lakmann (Ed.): Platonici minores. 1st century BC - 2nd century AD. Prosopography, fragments and testimony with German translation (= Philosophia antiqua , volume 145). Brill, Leiden / Boston 2017, ISBN 978-90-04-31533-4 , pp. 117–121, 468–473 (critical edition)

literature

  • Franco Ferrari: Gaios and his 'school'. In: Christoph Riedweg et al. (Hrsg.): Philosophy of the imperial era and late antiquity (= outline of the history of philosophy . The philosophy of antiquity. Volume 5/1). Schwabe, Basel 2018, ISBN 978-3-7965-3698-4 , pp. 604–606, 690
  • Tryggve Göransson: Albinus, Alcinous, Arius Didymus . Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis, Göteborg 1995, ISBN 91-7346-282-9 , pp. 28-76
  • John Whittaker: Gaius . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques . Volume 3, CNRS Éditions, Paris 2000, ISBN 2-271-05748-5 , pp. 437-440

Remarks

  1. ^ Willy Theiler : Research on Neo-Platonism , Berlin 1966, p. 83; John Whittaker: Gaius . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. 3, Paris 2000, pp. 437-440, here: 437.
  2. ^ Greek text and German translation by Heinrich Dörrie, Matthias Baltes: Der Platonismus in der Antike , Vol. 3, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1993, pp. 14-17 (and commentary on pp. 144 f.). See John Whittaker: Gaius . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. 3, Paris 2000, pp. 437–440, here: 438. For dating, see Bernadette Puech: Prosopographie et chronologie delphique sous le Haut-Empire . In: Topoi. Orient - Occident 8, 1998, pp. 261−266, here: 261 f.
  3. ^ John Whittaker: Gaius . In: Richard Goulet (Ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. 3, Paris 2000, pp. 437–440, here: 438 f .; Bernadette Puech: Bacchios de Paphos . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. 2, Paris 1994, p. 47 f., Here: 48.
  4. ↑ See on this John Whittaker: Studies in Platonism and Patristic Thought , London 1984, No. XX p. 329 f.
  5. ^ Heinrich Dörrie, Matthias Baltes: The Platonism in the Antike , Vol. 3, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1993, pp. 28 f., 182-184.
  6. ↑ Tryggve Göransson: Albinus, Alcinous, Arius Didymus , Göteborg 1995, p. 51 f .; Burkhard Reis: The Platonist Albinos and his so-called Prologos , Wiesbaden 1999, pp. 147-149; Heinrich Dörrie, Matthias Baltes: Platonism in antiquity , Vol. 3, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1993, p. 183.
  7. ^ Adriano Gioè (ed.): Filosofi medioplatonici del II secolo d. C. Testimonianze e frammenti , Napoli 2002, p. 61 f.
  8. ↑ Tryggve Göransson: Albinus, Alcinous, Arius Didymus , Göteborg 1995, pp. 43, 60−68, 71−75; John Dillon : The Middle Platonists , London 1977, p. 267; for Gaios reception at Proklos see Karl Praechter : On the Platonist Gaios . In: Clemens Zintzen (Ed.): Der Mittelplatonismus , Darmstadt 1981, p. 67−88, here: 68−72 and John Whittaker: Studies in Platonism and Patristic Thought , London 1984, No. XX p. 327 f.
  9. ^ John Whittaker: Gaius . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. 3, Paris 2000, pp. 437-440, here: 438; John Dillon: The Middle Platonists , London 1977, pp. 266-340; Tryggve Göransson: Albinus, Alcinous, Arius Didymus , Göteborg 1995, pp. 14-23.
  10. ↑ See Heinrich Dörrie, Matthias Baltes: Der Platonismus in der Antike , Vol. 4, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1996, pp. 98 f., 357 f.
  11. ^ Karl Praechter: Kleine Schriften , Hildesheim 1973, p. 103 f .; Bernadette Puech: Bacchios de Paphos . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. 2, Paris 1994, p. 47 f., Here: 48; cautious Tryggve Göransson: Albinus, Alcinous, Arius Didymus , Göteborg 1995, p. 38.
  12. ↑ Porphyrios, Vita Plotini 14: 10-14.
  13. ^ Proklos, In Platonis rem publicam II, p. 96, line 11 f. Kroll; Greek text and German translation by Heinrich Dörrie, Matthias Baltes: Der Platonismus in der Antike , Vol. 3, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1993, pp. 18-20 (and commentary on pp. 152 f.).
  14. ^ Greek text and German translation by Heinrich Dörrie, Matthias Baltes: Der Platonismus in der Antike , Vol. 3, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1993, pp. 20-21 (and commentary pp. 153-155); see. Tryggve Göransson: Albinus, Alcinous, Arius Didymus , Göteborg 1995, pp. 60-68.
  15. ↑ See on this John Whittaker: Studies in Platonism and Patristic Thought , London 1984, No. XX pp. 326 f. and p. 328 note 50; on doubts about the credibility of Priskianos' assertion see Tryggve Göransson: Albinus, Alcinous, Arius Didymus , Göteborg 1995, p. 48 f.
personal data
SURNAME Gaios
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gaius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION ancient philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH uncertain: around 75
DATE OF DEATH uncertain: after 130