Proclus

Proclus of Lycia (412-485) was one of the greatest philosophers of antiquity producing the most systematic version of late Neoplatonic thought. He exercised enormous influence on Byzantine medieval Renaissance and German Classical philosophy ranking among the top five of ancient philosophers in terms of the number of preserved works. Despite this he is rarely studied now the enormous intricacy of his system making the reading of his treatises difficult for beginners. This book provides the first comprehensive introduction to all the basic areas of Proclus'' thought. It carefully guides the reader through his metaphysics theology epistemology and theory of evil as well as his sophisticated philosophy of religion. It also sets Proclus in the historical social and religious context of late antiquity offering a synthetic account that will appeal to historians and students of ancient religion.