SINESIO. – Born c. 370 in the Pentapolis of Cyrenaica, he died in 413; he came from an old family of Greek landowners, which prided itself on Lacedaemonian origins.
Educated in Greek traditions and a passionate hunter, he came to Alexandria in 395, where he attended the scientific lectures of the Neoplatonist professor Ipazia. In this milieu he became acquainted with Isidoro di Pelusio. Through the esoteric initiation imparted by his teacher, he came into contact with the works of Porphyry and the Chaldaean Oracles. He was sent from Cyrene to Constantinople in 399–402 to obtain protection against the attacks of the Berber tribes. In 410 he was elected bishop of Ptolemais, but he hesitated for six months before accepting that see (Epist., 105); owing to doubts concerning Christian doctrine, a Christian interpretation of the doctrines of Porphyry finally prevailed in him, as in s. Agostino, and this facilitated his solution of the problem of the resurrection of the bodies (v. C. Lacombrade, op. cit. in bibl., p. 169). That he was never deeply imbued with a true Christianity, as B. Altaner (Patrologie, 2nd ed., Freiburg im Br. 1950, p. 241) maintains, is an assertion of very doubtful validity. His hymns place him among the greatest Neoplatonic Christian poets. The beauty of these hymns is comparable
only to that of Boethius’s De consolatione. Of his other works, the following should be mentioned: Racconti egiziani sulla Provvidenza; Dione; Lode della calvizie. Important is his treatise on dreams, and courageous is his Discorso sulla regalità. His 56 Epistole are appealing and indispensable for the history of his age.