Kronios

Kronios was a Greek philosopher ( Platonist ). He lived around the middle of the 2nd century.

Life

Nothing is known about Kronios' origins. He is referred to in the sources as a Platonist and a Pythagorean . Apparently, like the influential philosopher Numenios , whose friend he was, he belonged to the direction of Middle Platonism and was influenced by New Pythagoreanism. Possibly he is identical with Kronios, to whom Lucian dedicated his work "The Death of Peregrinos" ( De morte Peregrini ), written in Greek in 165 ; this is supported by the introductory greeting, which Lukian himself calls platonic elsewhere.

Works and teaching

The works of Kronios are lost. Only one of them, “On Rebirth” ( Peri palingenesías ), is known the title, as Nemesius of Emesa calls it. Nemesios reports that Kronios commented there on the often discussed question of whether it is possible to incorporate human souls into animal bodies, that is, whether there is a fundamental difference between animal and human souls. The opinion of Kronios on this is controversial in research. Like Numenios, Kronios was convinced that every incarnation of the soul is an evil. He saw the cause of evil - also sharing Numenios' view on this point - not in an inadequacy of the soul itself, but in matter; from there, i.e. from outside, the evil enters the soul.

Kronios turned against the stoic doctrine of fire-induced destruction of the cosmos. In doing so, he argued that fire was incapable of destroying all other types of matter and that it was being held in check by counteracting forces. He held the world forever and - like numerous other Platonists - interpreted the world creation account in Plato's dialogue Timaeus not in the sense of a temporal beginning of the world, but as a description for an eternal causal relationship between the Creator ( Demiurge ) and creation.

The dialogue Politeia is one of the works of Plato on which Kronios commented at least in part . He also devoted himself to commenting on Homer . He showed a fondness for allegorical interpretation.

Aftermath

Kronios was one of the philosophers whose works were part of the curriculum in the Neo-Platonic school of Plotinus in Rome in the 3rd century . Origen , the father of the church , also dealt with it. Plotin's pupil Porphyry criticized Kronius' interpretation of Homer, which he considered arbitrary; he thought that Kronios was subordinate to the poet his own opinion.

Even in late antiquity the Neo-Platonists regarded Kronios as an authority; Syrianos counted him among the most important Platonists and Proclus referred to his views.

Source collections

• 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. 158–162, 580–595 (critical edition)
• Emiel A. Leemans: Study over den wijsgeer Numenius van Apamea met uitgave der fragen , Bruxelles 1937, pp. 153–157 (compilation of the Greek and Latin source texts on Kronios; the passage no. 3 cited there on p. 154 was erroneously related to Kronios )

literature

• Irmgard Männlein-Robert : Kronios. 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. 658 f., 702 f.
• Karl Praechter : Kronios. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XI, 2, Stuttgart 1922, Sp. 1978-1982.
• John Whittaker: Cronios . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques. Vol. 2, CNRS Editions, Paris 1994, ISBN 2-271-05195-9 , pp. 527-528

Remarks

1. ↑ John Whittaker: Cronios . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. 2, Paris 1994, pp. 527-528, here: 527.
2. ↑ See also Adriano Gioè: Marginalia medioplatonica . In: La Parola del Passato 54, 1999, pp. 201-208, here: 204 f.
3. ^ John Dillon : The Middle Platonists , London 1977, p. 380; Karl Praechter: Kronios . In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswwissenschaft (RE), Vol. XI, 2, Stuttgart 1922, Sp. 1978–1982, here: 1979.
4. ↑ John Whittaker: Cronios . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. 2, Paris 1994, pp. 527-528, here: 528; Robert Lamberton : Homer the Theologian. Neoplatonist Allegorical Reading and the Growth of the Epic Tradition , Berkeley 1986, pp. 121-132 and 318-324.