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For the author of the early Gospel synopsis please see Ammonius of
Alexandria.
Ammonius Saccas (/monis/; Greek: ; fl. 3rd century
AD) was a Greek philosopher from Alexandria who was often referred to as
one of the founders of Neoplatonism. He is mainly known as the teacher of
Plotinus, whom he taught for eleven years from 232 to 243. He was
undoubtedly the biggest influence on Plotinus in his development of
Neoplatonism, although little is known about his own philosophical views.
Later Christian writers stated that Ammonius was a Christian, but it is now
generally assumed that there was a different Ammonius of Alexandria who
wrote biblical texts.
Contents [hide]
1
Life
2
Philosophy
3
See also
4
Notes

5
References
6
External links

Life[edit]

Not much is known about the life of Ammonius Saccas.

His cognomen "Sakkas" has been interpreted to indicate that he was a porter
in his youth.[1] This seems to be a misreading of "Sakkas" for
"sakkophoros" (porter) which is grammatically incorrect. However Erich
Seeberg[2] argued that the cognomen refers to the "kyas" of India, the
ruling clan to which Gautama Buddha also belonged[unreliable source?]. The "kyas"
(related to Iranian Saka, Scythians and Indo-Scythians) were known in
antiquity.[3] The cognomen "Sakkas" therefore referred to India [4] as a marker
of ethnic identity. This is, according to this interpretation, supported by the
fact that Ammianus Marcellinus refers to him as "Saccas Ammonius", thus as
the "Sacian Ammonius",[5] which makes any reading as denoting "sakkos"
impossible. This interpretation of the name, which has subsequently been
contested,[6] would corroborate Porphyry's report that Plotinus, Ammonius'
foremost student, acquired his high esteem for Indian philosophy and his
eager desire to travel to India from Ammonius.[7]
The interpretation that "Saccas" denotes ethnic northern Indian origin, rather
than alluding to Gautama Buddha, supports the possibility that Ammonius
may have been raised a Christian, who reverted to paganism, as reported by
Eusebius,[8] drawing on Porphyry's Contra Christianos. In this case Ammonius
may have been a second-generation Indian who remained in contact with the
philosophy of his ancestral country. The intensity of commerce of goods and
ideas between Alexandria and India makes this a wholly possible option.
The link to India however is not only consistent with Plotinus' passion for
India, but also helps to explain the often noted substantial agreements and
shared ideas between Vedanta and Neoplatonism which are increasingly
attributed to direct Indian influence.[9]
Most details of his life come from the fragments left from Porphyry's writings.
The most famous pupil of Ammonius Saccas was Plotinus who studied under
Ammonius for eleven years. According to Porphyry, in 232, at the age of 28,
Plotinus went to Alexandria to study philosophy:
In his twenty-eighth year he [Plotinus] felt the impulse to study philosophy and
was recommended to the teachers in Alexandria who then had the highest
reputation; but he came away from their lectures so depressed and full of
sadness that he told his trouble to one of his friends. The friend,
understanding the desire of his heart, sent him to Ammonius, whom he had
not so far tried. He went and heard him, and said to his friend, "This is the
man I was looking for." From that day he stayed continually with Ammonius

and acquired so complete a training in philosophy that he became eager to

make acquaintance with the Persian philosophical discipline and that
prevailing among the Indians.[10]
According to Porphyry, the parents of Ammonius were Christians, but upon
learning Greek philosophy, Ammonius rejected his parents' religion for
paganism. This conversion is contested by the Christian writers Jerome and
Eusebius, who state that Ammonius remained a Christian throughout his
lifetime:
[Porphyry] plainly utters a falsehood (for what will not an opposer of
Christians do?) when he says that ... Ammonius fell from a life of piety into
heathen customs. ... Ammonius held the divine philosophy unshaken and
unadulterated to the end of his life. His works yet extant show this, as he is
celebrated among many for the writings which he has left.[11]
However, we are told by Longinus that Ammonius wrote nothing,[12] and if
Ammonius was the principal influence on Plotinus, then it is unlikely that
Ammonius would have been a Christian. One way to explain much of the
confusion concerning Ammonius is to assume that there were two people
called Ammonius: Ammonius Saccas who taught Plotinus, and an Ammonius
the Christian who wrote biblical texts. Another explanation might be that there
was only one Ammonius but that Origen, who found the Neo-Platonist views
of his teacher essential to his own beliefs about the essential nature of
Christianity, chose to suppress Ammonius' choice of Paganism over
Christianity. The insistence of Eusebius, Origen's pupil, and Jerome, all of
whom were recognized Fathers of the Christian Church, that Ammonius
Saccas had not rejected his Christian roots would be easier for Christians to
accept than the assertion of Prophyry, who was a Pagan, that Ammonius had
chosen Paganism over Christianity.
To add to the confusion, it seems that Ammonius had two pupils called
Origen: Origen the Christian, and Origen the Pagan.[11] It is quite possible that
Ammonius Saccas taught both Origens. And since there were two Origens
who were accepted as contemporaries it was easy for later Christians to
accept that there were two individuals named Ammonius, one a Christian and
one a Pagan. Among Ammonius' other pupils there were Herennius and
Cassius Longinus.

Philosophy[edit]

Hierocles, writing in the 5th century, states that Ammonius' fundamental

doctrine was that Plato and Aristotle were in full agreement with each other:[13]
He was the first who had a godly zeal for the truth in philosophy and despised
the views of the majority, which were a disgrace to philosophy. He
apprehended well the views of each of the two philosophers [Plato and
Aristotle] and brought them under one and the same nous and transmitted

philosophy without conflicts to all of his disciples, and especially to the best of
those acquainted with him, Plotinus, Origen, and their successors.[14]
According to Nemesius, a bishop and Neoplatonist c. 400, Ammonius held
that the soul was immaterial.[15]
Little is known about Ammonius's role in the development of Neoplatonism.
Porphyry seems to suggest that Ammonius was instrumental in helping
Plotinus think about philosophy in new ways:
But he [Plotinus] did not just speak straight out of these books but took a
distinctive personal line in his consideration, and brought the mind of
Ammonius' to bear on the investigation in hand.[10]
Two of Ammonius's students - Origen the Pagan, and Longinus - seem to
have held philosophical positions which were closer to Middle Platonism than
Neoplatonism, which perhaps suggests that Ammonius's doctrines were also
closer to those of Middle Platonism than the Neoplatonism developed by
Plotinus (see the Enneads), but Plotinus does not seem to have thought that
he was departing in any significant way from that of his master.

See also[edit]

Enneads
Neoplatonism
Origen
Origen the Pagan
Plotinus
Porphyry
Theodidaktos

Jump up
^ Mozley, J.R., "Ammonius Saccas", Dictionary of Early Christian Biography,
(Henry WAce, ed.), John Murrary & Co., London, 1911
Jump up
^ Seeberg, Erich, "Ammonius Sakas", in: Zeitschrift fr Kirchengeschichte,
vol. LX, 1941, pp. 136 - 170
Jump up
^ see art.: "India" in: Pauly-Wissova, col. 1924
Jump up
^ Benz, Ernst, "Indische Einflsse auf die frhchristliche Theologie" in:
Abhandlungen der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Klasse, Jahrgang
1951, no. 3, Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Mainz, pp. 1 34, pp. 30ff.
Jump up
^ ibidem
Jump up
^ Clifford Hindley: Ammonios Sakkas. His Name and Origin. In: Zeitschrift fr
Kirchengeschichte 75, 1964, pp. 332336.

Notes[edit]
2

3
4

5
6

7
8
9

10

11
12
13
14

15

Jump up
^ ibidem, cf. Porphyry's Vita Plotini, chapt. 3
Jump up
^ Eusebius, Historia eccl. VI, 9
Jump up
^ Harris, R. Baine (ed.), Neoplatonism and Indian Thought, Norfolk Va., 1982:
The International Society for Neoplatonic Studies
^ Jump up to:
a b Porphyry, Life of Plotinus, from Reale, G., (1990), A History of Ancient
Philosophy IV: The Schools of the Imperial Age. Page 298. SUNY Press.
^ Jump up to:
a b Eusebius, History of the Church, vi, 19.
Jump up
^ Longinus, quoted by Porphyry, Life of Plotinus, xx.
Jump up
^ Hierocles in Photius, Bibl. cod. 214, 251.
Jump up
^ Hierocles, in Photius, Bibl. cod. 251. from Karamanolis, G., (2006), Plato
and Aristotle in Agreement?: Platonists on Aristotle from Antiochus to
Porphyry, Page 193. Oxford University Press.
Jump up
^ Nemesius, On the Nature of Man, ii

References[edit]

Armstrong, A., (1967), The Cambridge History of Later Greek and Early
Medieval Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, pp.196200.
Karamanolis, G., (2006), Plato and Aristotle in Agreement?: Platonists
on Aristotle from Antiochus to Porphyry, Oxford University Press,
pp.191215.
Reale, G., (1990), A History of Ancient Philosophy IV: The Schools of
the Imperial Age, SUNY Press, pp.297303.

External links[edit]

Porphyry, Against the Christians (2004). Fragments.

The Reaction to the Bible in Paganism
Origen - Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
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Categories: 3rd-century Romans3rd-century
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