Editing Plotinus (section)

== Biography ==
[[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]] reported that Plotinus was sixty-six years old when he died in 270 [[Common Era|CE]], the second year of the reign of the [[Roman Emperor]] [[Claudius II]], thus giving us the year of his birth as around 204. [[Eunapius]] reported that Plotinus was born in Lyco, which could either refer to the modern [[Asyut]] in [[Upper Egypt]] or [[Lycopolis (Delta)|Deltaic Lycopolis]], in [[Lower Egypt]].<ref name="Gerson 2017"/><ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="Stanford1"/><ref name="Siorvanes 2018"/> This has led to speculations that his family was either ([[Hellenization|Hellenized]]) [[Egyptians|Egyptian]],<ref>Bilolo, M.: ''La notion de « l’Un » dans les Ennéades de Plotin et dans les Hymnes thébains. Contribution à l’étude des sources égyptiennes du néo-platonisme.'' In: D. Kessler, R. Schulz (Eds.), "Gedenkschrift für Winfried Barta ''ḥtp dj n ḥzj''" (Münchner Ägyptologische Untersuchungen, Bd. 4), Frankfurt; Berlin; Bern; New York; Paris; Wien: Peter Lang, 1995, pp. 67–91.</ref> [[Greeks|Greek]],<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Gerson |first=Lloyd P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=359nRoAU4iEC |title=Plotinus |date=1999 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-415-20352-4 |pages=XII (12) |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Rist |first1=John M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n49OAAAAIAAJ |title=Plotinus: Road to Reality |last2=Rist |date=1967 |publisher=CUP Archive |isbn=978-0-521-06085-1 |pages=4 |language=en}}</ref> or [[Roman citizenship|Roman]].<ref>"Plotinus." The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. [[Columbia University Press]], 2003.</ref> Historian [[Lloyd P. Gerson]] states that Plotinus was "almost certainly" a Greek.<ref name=":1" /> [[A. H. Armstrong|A.H. Armstrong]], one of the foremost authorities on the philosophical teachings of Plotinus, writes that: "All that can be said with reasonable certainty is that [[Greek language|Greek]] was his normal language and that he had a [[Greek education]]".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Armstrong |first=A.H. |author-link=A. H. Armstrong |date=20 July 1998 |title=Plotinus |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Plotinus |access-date=2023-01-22 |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |language=en}}</ref> Plotinus himself was said to have had little interest in his ancestry, birthplace, or that of anyone else for that matter.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Enneads of Plotinus: Porphyry: On the Life of Plotinus and the Arrangement of his Work |url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/plotenn/enn001.htm |access-date=2022-10-30 |website=www.sacred-texts.com}}</ref> His native language was [[Greek language|Greek]].<ref>McGroarty, Kieran (2001) ''The Ethics of Plotinus.'' In: [https://books.google.com/books?id=hKNfAAAAMAAJ Eklogai: Studies in Honour of Thomas Finan and Gerard Watson]. Department of Ancient Classics, National University of Ireland Maynooth, p. 20. ISBN 0901519340 "His [Plotinus'] language was certainly Greek."</ref><ref>Castel, Toni Leigh. (2014) "[https://ujcontent.uj.ac.za/esploro/outputs/graduate/The-Plotinian-first-hypostasis-and-the/999907407691 The Plotinian first hypostasis and the Trinity: points of convergence and of divergence in Augustine's De doctrina Christiana liber primus]." (thesis). [[University of Johannesburg]]. p. 15 "Plotinus' name may be Roman but his native tongue was certainly Greek"</ref>

Plotinus had an inherent distrust of materiality (an attitude common to [[Platonism]]), holding to the view that phenomena were a poor image or mimicry (''[[mimesis]]'') of something "higher and intelligible" (VI.I) which was the "truer part of genuine Being". This distrust extended to the [[Human body|body]], including his own; it is reported by Porphyry that at one point he refused to have his portrait painted, presumably for much the same reasons of dislike. Likewise, Plotinus never discussed his ancestry, childhood, or his place or date of birth.<ref name=":0" /> From all accounts his personal and social life exhibited the highest moral and spiritual standards.

Plotinus took up the study of [[philosophy]] at the age of twenty-eight, around the year 232, and travelled to [[Alexandria]] to study.<ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="Stanford1"/><ref name="Siorvanes 2018"/> There he was dissatisfied with every teacher he encountered, until an acquaintance suggested he listen to the ideas of the [[Autodidact|self-taught]] Platonist philosopher [[Ammonius Saccas]].<ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="Stanford1"/><ref name="Siorvanes 2018"/> Upon hearing Ammonius' lecture, Plotinus declared to his friend: "this is the man I was looking for",<ref name="Britannica"/> began to study intently under his new instructor, and remained with him as his student for eleven years.<ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="Stanford1"/><ref name="Siorvanes 2018"/> Besides Ammonius, Plotinus was also influenced by the philosophical works of [[Aristotle]],<ref name="Gerson 2017"/> the [[Pre-Socratic philosophy|pre-Socratic]] philosophers [[Empedocles]] and [[Heraclitus]],<ref name="Stamatellos 2007">{{cite book |last=Stamatellos |first=Giannis |year=2007 |chapter=Matter and Soul |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0r0yH93JWOIC&pg=PA161 |title=Plotinus and the Presocratics: A Philosophical Study of Presocratic Influences on Plotinus' Enneads |location=[[Albany, New York]] |publisher=[[State University of New York Press]] |pages=161–172 |isbn=978-0-7914-7061-9 |lccn=2006017562}}</ref> the [[Middle Platonism|Middle Platonist]] philosophers [[Alexander of Aphrodisias]] and [[Numenius of Apamea]], along with various [[Stoicism|Stoics]]<ref name="Gerson 2017"/> and [[Neopythagoreanism|Neopythagoreans]].<ref name="Stamatellos 2007"/>

=== Expedition to Persia and return to Rome ===
After having spent eleven years in Alexandria, he then decided, at the age of around thirty-eight, to investigate the philosophical teachings of the [[Iranian philosophy|Persian]] and [[Indian philosophy|Indian philosophers]].<ref name="Britannica"/><ref>Porphyry, ''On the Life of Plotinus and the Order of His Books'', Ch. 3 (in Armstrong's Loeb translation, "he became eager to make acquaintance with the Persian philosophical discipline and that prevailing among the Indians").</ref> In the pursuit of this endeavor he left Alexandria and joined the army of the Roman emperor [[Gordian III]] as it marched on [[Sassanid Empire|Persia]] (242–243).<ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="Siorvanes 2018"/> However, [[Battle of Misiche|the campaign]] was a failure, and on Gordian's eventual death Plotinus found himself abandoned in a hostile land, and only with difficulty found his way back to safety in [[Antioch]].<ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="Siorvanes 2018"/>

At the age of forty, during the reign of Emperor [[Philip the Arab]], he came to [[History of Rome#Roman Empire|Rome]], where he stayed for most of the remainder of his life.<ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="Siorvanes 2018"/><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Beauty and the mystic : Plotinus and Hawkins|last=Leete, Helen, 1938–|date=23 December 2016|isbn=9780987524836|location=Epping, N.S.W|oclc=967937243}}</ref> There he attracted a number of students. His innermost circle included [[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]], [[Amelius|Amelius Gentilianus]] of [[Tuscany]], the Senator [[Castricius Firmus]], and [[Eustochius of Alexandria]], a doctor who devoted himself to learning from Plotinus and attending to him until his death. Other students included: [[Zethos the Arab|Zethos]], an [[Arab]] by ancestry who died before Plotinus, leaving him a legacy and some land; [[Disciples of Plotinus|Zoticus]], a critic and poet; [[Paulinus (follower of Plotinus)|Paulinus]], a doctor of [[Beit She'an|Scythopolis]]; and [[Serapion (follower of Plotinus)|Serapion]] from Alexandria. He had students amongst the [[Roman Senate]] beside Castricius, such as [[Marcellus Orontius]], [[Sabinillus]], and [[Rogantianus]]. Women were also numbered amongst his students, including Gemina, in whose house he lived during his residence in Rome, and her daughter, also Gemina; and Amphiclea, the wife of Ariston, the son of [[Iamblichus]].<ref>Porphyry, ''Vita Plotini'', 9. See also Emma C. Clarke, [[John M. Dillon]], and Jackson P. Hershbell (1999), ''Iamblichus on The Mysteries'', page xix. SBL. who say that "to gain some credible chronology, one assumes that Ariston married Amphicleia some time after Plotinus's death"</ref> Finally, Plotinus was a correspondent of the philosopher [[Cassius Dionysius Longinus|Cassius Longinus]].

=== Later life ===
[[File:Roman sarcophagus of a reader identified to Plotinus and disciples.jpg|thumb|240px|right|Presumed depiction of Plotinus and [[Disciples of Plotinus|his disciples]] on a [[Ancient Roman sarcophagi|Roman sarcophagus]] in the Museo Gregoriano Profano, [[Vatican Museums]], Rome]]

While in Rome, Plotinus also gained the respect of the Emperor [[Gallienus]] and his wife [[Cornelia Salonina|Salonina]]. At one point Plotinus attempted to interest Gallienus in rebuilding an abandoned settlement in [[Campania]], known as the 'City of Philosophers', where the inhabitants would live under the constitution set out in [[Plato]]'s ''Laws''. An Imperial subsidy was never granted, for reasons unknown to Porphyry, who reports the incident.

Plotinus subsequently went to live in [[Sicily]]. He spent his final days in seclusion on an estate in Campania which his friend Zethos had bequeathed him. According to the account of Eustochius, who attended him at the end, Plotinus' final words were: "Try to raise the divine in yourselves to the divine in the all."<ref>Mark Edwards, ''Neoplatonic Saints: The Lives of Plotinus and Proclus by Their Students'', Liverpool University Press, 2000, p. 4 n. 20.</ref> Eustochius records that a snake crept under the bed where Plotinus lay, and slipped away through a hole in the wall; at the same moment the philosopher died.

Plotinus wrote the essays that became the ''[[Enneads]]'' (from Greek ἐννέα (''ennéa''), or group of nine) over a period of several years from c. 253 until a few months before his death seventeen years later. Porphyry makes note that the ''Enneads'', before being compiled and arranged by himself, were merely the enormous collection of notes and essays which Plotinus used in his lectures and debates, rather than a formal book. Plotinus was unable to revise his own work due to his poor eyesight, yet his writings required extensive editing, according to Porphyry: his master's handwriting was atrocious, he did not properly separate his words, and he cared little for niceties of spelling. Plotinus intensely disliked the editorial process, and turned the task to Porphyry, who polished and edited them into their modern form.