[Revised entry by Riccardo Chiaradonna and Eyjólfur Emilsson on November 10, 2026.
Changes to: Main text, Bibliography]
Porphyry (234? – 305? C.E.) was a Neoplatonist philosopher, born in Tyre in Phoenicia. He studied with Longinus in Athens and then, from 263 to 268 C.E., with Plotinus in Rome, whose version of Platonism he adopted. Although he wrote on almost every branch of learning of his day, only a small part of his work survives. Notably, Porphyry edited Plotinus’ Enneads, establishing the form in which they have been read ever since. He also wrote the Isagoge, for centuries the standard introduction to logic in…