Olympiodorus The Younger

Olympiodorus The Younger (flourished 6th century ad) was a Neoplatonist philosopher who is famous for having maintained the Platonic tradition in Alexandria after the Byzantine emperor Justinian had suppressed the Greek Academy at Athens and other pagan schools in ad 529. Olympiodorus’ extant works include lucid and valuable commentaries on Plato’s Phaedo, Gorgias, Philebus, and Alcibiades; a biography of Plato; an introduction to Aristotle’s philosophy; and commentaries on Aristotle’s Categories and Meteora. Significant information about the thought and writings of such earlier Neoplatonist philosophers as Iamblichus and Damascius can also be gleaned from Olympiodorus’ works.