Marinos of Neapolis

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Marinos von Neapolis (* probably around 440 in Neapolis, today Nablus in Palestine , † after 486) was a late antique philosopher of the Neoplatonic direction and head of the philosophy school in Athens .

Life

Marinos came from the city of Neapolis in the Samaria region , today's Nablus in Palestine . His family belonged to the Samaritan religious community , which had its religious center in his hometown; Shechem had been nearby , one as early as the 2nd century BC. City destroyed by the Samaritans. The followers of this belief belonged to the people of Israel . In his youth Marinos got into a conflict with his co-religionists, whom he accused of innovations; so he took a conservative position. Later (probably around 460) he moved to Athens, where numerous Samaritans lived at that time, and turned away from the Samaritan faith. He joined the Neoplatonic school, which in Athens since its foundation (around 410) endeavored to revive the tradition of the Platonic Academy . The head of this school at that time was the famous philosopher Proclus .

Marinos soon gained a high reputation in school. Proklos dedicated his commentary on the myth of the Er in Plato's Dialogue Politeia to him and considered him as a possible successor in the office of headmaster, but hesitated because of the poor health of the Marinos. When Proclus died in 485, Marinos succeeded him.

Isidoros , Damascios and Agapios were among the students of Marinos . There were differences of opinion between Marinos and Isidoros on individual points of the Platonic doctrine. Nevertheless, Marinos valued Isidorus and wanted him as his successor. Damascios received lessons in geometry and arithmetic from Marinos, but thought little of the abilities of his teacher. He said that Marinos owed his reputation more to his indefatigable diligence than to his talent. According to Damascius, Marinos failed to maintain the high standard of the school that had existed under Proclus. The unfavorable opinion Damascius and his friend Isidorus had of Marinos' achievements apparently related to philosophical differences of opinion.

Since the Athenian Neoplatonists continued to openly admit to the old pagan religion at that time , they were in a constant tension with their Christian environment; the public practice of non-Christian cults was already illegal at that time. In addition, there was an estrangement between Marinos and the wealthy citizen Theagenes, who had been a benefactor of the Neoplatonic school, but later turned away from it - presumably under Christian influence. Finally, Marinos no longer felt safe of his life, probably because of threats from the Christians, and fled to Epidaurus , from where he never returned. In 486 he was last attested to be alive, the place and time of his death are unknown.

Works

Marinos wrote a commentary on the data of Euclid ; only the preface has survived. He also wrote a long commentary on Plato's Dialogue Philebos , which he burned himself after Isidorus, whom he had asked for comment, criticized the work and expressed the opinion that the already existing Philebos commentary by Proclus was sufficient. The Marinos commentary on Plato's dialogue Parmenides is also lost. What has been preserved, however, is his obituary for Proklos under the title Proklos or About Luck . This is a speech he gave on the first anniversary of Proclus' death. It is an important source for the history of the Neoplatonic school in Athens. Marinos was of the opinion there that Proclus had been the happiest of famous men for a long time because he had perfected himself in virtues. In the research literature, this work is often imprecisely referred to as the “Biography of Proclus” (Latin Vita Procli ), but it is actually not a biography, but a commemorative speech. According to an entry in the Suda , a Byzantine encyclopedia, Marinos also wrote a biography of Proclus in verse. This work, lost today, was probably a versification of the obituary.

Furthermore, in later philosophical works and scholias, views are passed down that Marinos had expressed about passages in works by Aristotle ( De anima , Analytica priora ), as well as his comments on passages in the Almagest of Claudius Ptolemy and in the Almagest commentary by Theon of Alexandria . However, it cannot be concluded with certainty that Marinos left written comments on these works; possibly references to oral statements he made in class.

swell

  • Jan Radicke (Ed.): Felix Jacoby 'The Fragments of the Greek Historians' continued , Part IV A: Biography , Fasc. 7: Imperial and undated authors. Brill, Leiden 1999, ISBN 90-04-11304-5 , pp. 268-273 (No. 1083)

Text editions and translations

  • Irmgard Männlein-Robert (Ed.): About happiness. Marinos, Das Leben des Proklos (= SAPERE - Scripta Antiquitatis Posterioris ad Ethicam REligionemque pertinentia 34). Mohr-Siebeck, Tübingen 2019, ISBN 978-3-16-157638-6 (Greek text with German translation and interpretive essays by several authors)
  • Rita Masullo (Ed.): Marino di Neapoli: Vita di Proclo . D'Auria, Napoli 1985 (critical edition with Italian translation and commentary)
  • Maurice Michaux: Le commentaire de Marinus aux Data d'Euclide . Louvain 1947 (French translation of the preface to the commentary and investigation)
  • Alexandre N. Oikonomides (Ed.): Marinos of Neapolis: The Extant Works, or The Life of Proclus and the Commentary on the Dedomena of Euclid . Ares, Chicago 1977, ISBN 0-89005-218-2 (Greek text with English and French translations)
  • Henri Dominique Saffrey, Alain-Philippe Segonds (eds.): Marinus: Proclus ou Sur le bonheur . Les Belles Lettres, Paris 2001, ISBN 2-251-00496-3 (critical edition with French translation and commentary)

literature

  • Udo Hartmann : Marinos. In: Christoph Riedweg et al. (Ed.): Philosophy of the Imperial Era and Late Antiquity (= Outline of the history of philosophy . The philosophy of antiquity. Volume 5/3). Schwabe, Basel 2018, ISBN 978-3-7965-3700-4 , pp. 1971–1981, 2152–2154
  • Udo Hartmann: The late antique philosopher. The lifeworlds of the pagan scholars and their hagiographic design in the philosophers' lives from Porphyrios to Damascios (= Antiquitas , series 1, volume 72). 3 volumes. Habelt, Bonn 2018, ISBN 978-3-7749-4172-4
  • Henri Dominique Saffrey: Marinus de Néapolis . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Volume 4, CNRS Editions, Paris 2005, ISBN 2-271-06386-8 , pp. 282-284
  • Elżbieta Szabat: Marinos. In: Paweł Janiszewski, Krystyna Stebnicka, Elżbieta Szabat: Prosopography of Greek Rhetors and Sophists of the Roman Empire. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2015, ISBN 978-0-19-871340-1 , p. 231

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ The differing view of Alexandre N. Oikonomides, according to which Marinos came from a long-established Greco-Roman family of Neapolis, is insufficiently justified; see Karin Hult: Marinus the Samaritan. A Study of Damascius Vit. Isid. CHF 141 . In: Classica et Mediaevalia 43, 1992, pp. 163-178.
  2. ↑ Damascios, Vita Isidori 141.
  3. ↑ For the dating see Henri Dominique Saffrey, Alain-Philippe Segonds (ed.): Marinus: Proclus ou Sur le bonheur , Paris 2001, p. XI f.
  4. ↑ Shmuel Sambursky: Proklos, President of the Platonic Academy, and his successor, the Samaritan Marinos (= session reports of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences, Math.-Naturwiss. Class, year 1985, 2nd paper ), Berlin 1985, pp. 15-20 suspects that Marinos was more of an Aristotelian than a Neoplatonist and was therefore an isolated outsider in the Neoplatonic school.
  5. ↑ Damascios, Vita Isidori 42.
  6. ^ Henri Dominique Saffrey, Alain-Philippe Segonds (ed.): Marinus: Proclus ou Sur le bonheur , Paris 2001, pp. IX-XI.
personal data
SURNAME Marinos of Neapolis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION late ancient Greek philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH around 440
PLACE OF BIRTH Neapolis, today Nablus , Palestine
DATE OF DEATH after 486