Syrianus

Life and Historical Context

Syrianus (c. 375–437 CE) was a prominent late Neoplatonist and head (scholarch) of the Athenian Platonic school, the institution that would later be closed by the emperor Justinian in 529. Ancient testimonies, especially those preserved by his student Proclus, indicate that Syrianus probably came from Alexandria, a major intellectual center of late antiquity, before relocating to Athens to study under Plutarch of Athens.

Relatively little is known about his early life. Sources suggest that he studied both Platonic and Aristotelian texts in depth, reflecting the late antique curriculum in which mastery of Aristotle’s logical and physical works was seen as a preparatory stage for the higher wisdom of Plato. After the death of Plutarch of Athens, Syrianus succeeded him as scholarch, probably in the early fifth century CE. In Athens he became the principal teacher of Proclus, who would become the most systematic and influential Neoplatonist of late antiquity.

Syrianus lived in a period marked by the Christianization of the Roman Empire and increasing tension between “Hellenic” pagan traditions and Christian institutions. While not a political figure, he belonged to the last generations of pagan philosophers who maintained ritual, theological, and philosophical traditions centered on Plato. His school functioned as a philosophical and religious community in which metaphysics, mathematics, and ritual practice were closely intertwined.

Works and Exegetical Method

Only a portion of Syrianus’ writings has survived, but the extant texts and reports allow a reconstruction of important elements of his thought. His best-preserved works are commentaries on Aristotle:

• A commentary on Aristotle’s Metaphysics (extant on books III, IV, XIII, and XIV),
• A commentary on Aristotle’s Hermeneutics (De Interpretatione).

Fragments and testimonies indicate that he also wrote commentaries on Plato, most notably on the Timaeus and Phaedrus, though these are now lost or survive only indirectly, partly through the writings of Proclus.

Syrianus’ exegetical method is characteristic of late Neoplatonism:

1. Harmonization of authorities: He seeks to show that Plato and Aristotle ultimately agree on essential philosophical truths, while insisting that Plato reaches a higher, theological level of insight. Apparent conflicts are explained as differences of level, focus, or terminology rather than fundamental contradiction.

2. Hierarchical reading of texts: Aristotelian works, especially logic and physics, are treated as propaedeutic to Platonic metaphysics and theology. Syrianus often interprets Aristotle’s doctrines as valid within the realm of nature and sensible being, but incomplete when applied to the higher intelligible and divine realms articulated by Plato.

3. Allegorical and symbolic interpretation: In line with other Neoplatonists, Syrianus allows that Platonic myths and images encode profound metaphysical and theological truths. While the surviving Aristotelian commentaries are more strictly analytical, reports about his Platonic exegesis emphasize a strong symbolic and theological dimension.

His commentary on the Metaphysics is especially remarkable for its critical stance toward Aristotle on certain key issues, notably the status of Platonic Forms and the nature of the first principle. While acknowledging Aristotle’s logical rigor, Syrianus defends specifically Platonic doctrines where he judges Aristotle to have offered only a partial or lower-level account.

Metaphysics and Theological System

Syrianus occupies a central place in the development of late Neoplatonic metaphysics, standing between Plutarch of Athens and Proclus. Although he does not present a single systematic treatise, his metaphysical views can be reconstructed from his commentaries and from Proclus’ testimony.

At the summit of reality he posits the One, or Good, an utterly transcendent first principle that is beyond being and knowledge. This follows the trajectory of Plotinus and Iamblichus, but Syrianus elaborates a more intricate hierarchical structure beneath the One, involving henads, intelligible, and intellective levels:

1. The One and the Henads:
   Syrianus maintains that between the utterly simple One and the intelligible realm there is a multiplicity of divine unities or henads—each a “one” that participates in the supreme One while serving as a principle of distinct orders of beings (gods, intelligences, and cosmic levels). This doctrine anticipates and informs the more elaborate henadology found in Proclus. The henads bridge the gap between an absolutely transcendent One and the manifold cosmos without compromising the One’s simplicity.

2. Intelligible–Intellective Orders:
   Below the henads Syrianus distinguishes intelligible and intellective strata, corresponding broadly to different modes of Nous (Intellect). The intelligible level includes the fully unified Forms or intelligible paradigms, while intellective levels articulate these paradigms into a structured multiplicity. This layered conception refines earlier Neoplatonic accounts by multiplying intermediate principles and emphasizing gradations of unity and multiplicity.

3. Defense of Platonic Forms:
   In his Metaphysics commentary, Syrianus strongly defends Platonic Forms against Aristotle’s criticisms, arguing that a purely immanent account of form within sensible substances cannot explain stable, universal intelligibility. Forms must exist as separate, intelligible entities in order to ground knowledge, mathematics, and the ordering of the cosmos. Aristotle’s theory of form is, in his view, correct for the level of sensible substances but insufficient to account for higher ontological and epistemic structures.

4. Emanation and Return:
   Syrianus accepts the Neoplatonic scheme of procession (proodos) and reversion (epistrophē): all things emanate from higher principles while retaining a relation of dependence and tending back toward their source. His interpretation stresses the continuity of causality across different levels of reality, while preserving strict hierarchy. Lower levels participate in higher ones without exhausting their power, allowing for a universe that is both causally unified and ontologically stratified.

5. Theological Platonism:
   Syrianus’ metaphysics is inseparable from a complex pagan theology, incorporating traditional Greek gods, Orphic and Chaldean elements, and a rich angelology or daimonology. The henads are often correlated with traditional deities, and philosophical discourse is intertwined with ritual and prayer. This synthesis exemplifies the late antique tendency to treat philosophy, theology, and cultic practice as mutually reinforcing rather than as separate domains.

Reception and Legacy

Although not as widely known as Plotinus or Proclus, Syrianus played a decisive role in shaping the final form of ancient Neoplatonism.

1. Influence on Proclus:
   Syrianus’ most direct and significant legacy lies in the work of Proclus, who repeatedly refers to him with reverence as “our master”. Many central features of Proclus’ system—including the doctrine of henads, the detailed hierarchy of intelligible and intellective levels, and the harmonizing strategy toward Plato and Aristotle—develop themes already present in Syrianus. In many respects, Syrianus can be viewed as the immediate architect whose designs Proclus expanded into a grander, more systematic edifice.

2. Transmission through the Athenian School:
   Through Proclus and later Athenian and Alexandrian Neoplatonists, Syrianus’ ideas contributed to the intellectual environment that would influence Byzantine philosophy, Islamic falsafa, and, indirectly, medieval Latin thought. Even where his name is not cited, patterns of hierarchical metaphysics and harmonizing exegesis often bear his imprint.

3. Later Assessments:
   Modern scholarship has generally regarded Syrianus as a pivotal but somewhat overshadowed figure, due to the fragmentary nature of his surviving writings and the fame of his student Proclus. Some historians emphasize his original contributions to henadology and metaphysical hierarchy, while others stress his role as a transmitter and consolidator of earlier Neoplatonic currents, especially those associated with Iamblichus.

   Critics of late Neoplatonism sometimes portray philosophers like Syrianus as excessively systematizing and theologizing, seeing in them a movement away from the more open-ended metaphysics of Plotinus toward a rigid, quasi-scholastic structure. Proponents argue that Syrianus’ complexity reflects a serious attempt to integrate diverse philosophical and religious traditions, to defend pagan Platonism in a changing world, and to articulate a comprehensive metaphysical account capable of explaining both unity and multiplicity.

Because much of Syrianus’ work is known only through indirect transmission and selective survival, scholarly interpretations remain tentative and open to revision. Nonetheless, he is widely recognized as one of the key figures in the Athenian Neoplatonic school and as a major contributor to the sophisticated metaphysical architecture that would characterize the final centuries of ancient Greek philosophy.