HIEROCLES OF ALEXANDRIA

flourished c. 430 Neoplatonist philosopher who, after studying under the Greek philosopher Plutarch of Athens and visiting Constantinople, spent the rest of his life in Alexandria, where he won a reputation as a teacher of philosophy. His commentary on the Chrysa epe ("Golden Words"; 71 hexameters ascribed to Pythagoras) is written in a clear and simple style. His other work, Peri pronoias ("On Providence"), is known only from the summary and fragments in the 9th-century Byzantine scholar Photius' Bibliotheca. Hierocles rejected the multiplicity of entities introduced by the Athenian school of Neoplatonism. His teachings on morals and psychology are a mixture of Platonic, Aristotelian, and Stoic elements. His theory of creation seems to show Christian influence. The Neoplatonist Hierocles should not be confused with the Stoic Hierocles of Alexandria, who lived in the 1st or 2nd century AD.