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Hermias (apologist)

Hermias (; sometimes Hermias Philosophus or Hermias the Philosopher; ) was an obscure Christian Apologist, presumed to have lived in 3rd century. Nothing is known of him, except his name. He wrote a Derision of gentile philosophers, a short parody on Greek philosophy themes (the nature of the body, the soul, the world). From Paul's statement in the First Epistle to the Corinthians that "all worldly knowledge is madness from God" he affirms that all philosophical doctrines come from the apostasy of the angels and therefore wrong and laughable. Hermias relies rather on cynical and skeptical culture critique and on philosophical biographies and anedoctes than in their real writings if he had ever read them.

Hermias

Hermias (; , Hermeias or , Hermias) is the name of:

  • Hermias of Atarneus
  • Hermeias, the minister of Seleucus III Ceraunus
  • Saint Hermias of Comana, an early saint and martyr of the Eastern Orthodox Church
  • Hermias (apologist), the Christian apologist
  • Hermias (philosopher)
Hermias (philosopher)
For Hermias philosophus, see Hermias (apologist).

Hermias (; Hermeias ek Phoinikes) was a Neoplatonist philosopher who was born in Alexandria c. 410 AD. He went to Athens and studied philosophy under Syrianus. He married Aedesia, who was a relative of Syrianus, and who had originally been betrothed to Proclus, but Proclus broke the engagement off after receiving a divine warning. Hermias brought Syrianus' teachings back to Alexandria, where he lectured in the school of Horapollo, receiving an income from the state. He died c. 450 AD, at a time when his children, Ammonius and Heliodorus, were still small. Aedesia, however, continued to receive an income from the state, in order to raise the children, enabling them to become philosophers.

A Commentary on the Phaedrus written by Hermias survives. It consists of notes based on the lectures conducted by Syrianus concerning Plato's Phaedrus.