PORFIRIO. — Philosopher, born in 232–33 A.D., probably at Tyre (Vita Plotini, VII), or perhaps at Batanea, an obscure land of Syria or Palestine, as might be inferred from the contemptuous epithet given him by certain Christian writers (St. Giovanni Crisost., Homil., VI, 3 in I Cor.; St. Girolamo, Praef. in ep. ad Gal.: « Bataneates et sceleratus ille Porphyrius »). He died probably in Rome at the beginning of the fourth century.
A critical spirit, yet at the same time inclined to every form of superstitious credulity, he travelled in order to study, visiting Syria, Palestine, and perhaps Alessandra. Origene (v.), probably at Caesarea in Palestine, and for some time was his disciple. To what extent his relations with the great master went, and whether or not he was a Christian, cannot be affirmed or denied with certainty. In Athens P. had as friend and teacher the celebrated Longino. But it was his stay in Rome, Plotino (v.), that determined his vocation and his life: Plotino initiated him into metaphysical speculation and had him as a favourite disciple and almost a collaborator for six years. Dissuaded from an intention of suicide, perhaps caused by excessive intellectual tension, he went, on Plotino’s advice, to Lilybaeum in Sicily, where he remained until the death of his master (Vita Plotini, 11). He returned to Rome a second time and took over the direction of the school. To him we owe the edition of the 54 books left by Plotino, collected into 6 Enneads, or groups of 9 books each. He prefaced this edition with a Life of Plotino, a precious document Neoplatonism (v.).
Although strongly inclined toward philosophical and religious meditation, P. was not an original thinker, but a clear and learned writer, often a subtle investigator in almost every field of knowledge (St. Agostino calls him doctissimus). He inaugurated the series of Neoplatonic commentators on Aristotle, and his name has remained famous above all for the Εὐστινὴ ὁ Introduction to Aristotle’s Categories, which, translated into Latin by Boezio (v.), enjoyed great authority in the medieval schools and gave rise to the controversies concerning the problem of universals (v.).
In that critical period when the new religion was increasingly asserting itself against the old pagan world, P. was a bitter adversary of the Christians, against whom he wrote a polemical work in 15 books (Κατὰ Χριστιανῶν). This work was refuted by Metodio di Olimpo, Eusebio di Cesarea (v.), and by Apollinare di Lhodicea (v.). About ten edict of Milan (v.), it was proscribed for the first time by the Emperor Costantino, and in 448 Valentiniano III and Teodosio II again ordered its destruction. Of the Christian refutations, too, only scant fragments remain.