Society
The Neoplatonic School
The late-antique philosophical school that taught the soul’s ascent through emanation back to the One.
Society · Founded 244 · Alexandria, Rome & Athens · Dissolved
Founded by Ammonius Saccas, Plotinus
What it was
Growing from Ammonius Saccas’s circle in Alexandria and crystallised in Plotinus’s school in Rome around 244 CE, Neoplatonism became the last great philosophical school of antiquity.
Through Porphyry, Iamblichus and the Athenian head Proclus it developed a complete metaphysics of the One, the emanation of reality, and the contemplative return of the soul — until Justinian closed the Academy in 529.
Its place in the lineage
The fountainhead of Western mysticism: its scheme of emanation and inner ascent flows into Christian, Islamic and Renaissance esotericism alike.
Founders & leaders
Its tradition
Connected orders
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The circle · 5 in the Atlas
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