Also known as:
German: Ammonius Sakkas;
Greek: Ammonios Sakkas;
the Sack-bearer, Ammonius Saccas
AMMONIUS SACCA. - Philosopher who lived in Alexandria between 175 and 242 A.D.: he is the founder of Neoplatonism. As a young man he earned his bread as a porter of sacks, whence the name "Saccas." Born of Christian parents, he soon followed the worship of pure philosophy and abandoned the religion of his fathers: Eusebius's assertion that A. remained a Christian is due to a case of homonymy. The tone of his school is indicated by the appellation "inspired by God" with which he was called.
Since he left no writings, the surest guide to consult for his teaching is Porphyry, in the Life of Plotinus. A. drew on a sound eclecticism in order to reconcile earlier doctrines, especially those of Plato and Aristotle. Nemesius states that A. taught the immateriality of the soul; Hierocles speaks of his way of conceiving the union of the soul with the body; probably the Neoplatonic theories of the One and of emanationism go back to him. One must not believe, however, that the whole Neoplatonic doctrine owes its paternity to A., as though Plotinus were merely its popularizer. He had many disciples, among them Plotinus and Herennius; and since the antagonism between Christianity and Neoplatonism did not appear at once, some Christians also followed A.'s courses.
Bibliography3 worksJ. Dehaut, Essai histor. sur la vie et la doctrine d'A. S., Bruxelles 1836; E. Vacherot, Histoire critique de l'école d'Alexandrie, Parigi 1
BIBL.: J. Dehaut, Essai histor. sur la vie et la doctrine d'A. S., Bruxelles 1836; E. Vacherot, Histoire critique de l'école d'Alexandrie, Parigi 1846; E. Zeller, A. S. und Plotinus, in Arch. f. Gesch. d. Philos., 7 (1894), pp. 293-312.
Scola, Alberto. “Ammonio Sacca.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. I, coll. 1087–1088. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1948. https://azioneromana.com/article/ammonio-sacca.
MLA
Scola, Alberto. “Ammonio Sacca.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. I, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1948, coll. 1087–1088. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/ammonio-sacca.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec1_ammonio_sacca,
author = {Scola, Alberto},
title = {Ammonio Sacca},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {I},
pages = {1087--1088},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1948},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/ammonio-sacca}
}
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