PORPHYRY (ilopcOpcos) (A.D. 233—c. 304), Greek scholar, historian, and Neoplatonist, was born at Tyre, or Batanaea in Syria. He studied grammar and rhetoric under Cassius Longinus (q.v.). His original name was Malchus (king), which was changed by his tutor into Porphyrius (clad in purple), a jesting allusion to the colour of the imperial robes. In 262 he went to Rome, at tracted by the reputation of Plotinus, and for six years devoted himself to the study of Neoplatonism. Having injured his health by overwork, he went to live in Sicily for five years. On his return to Rome, he lectured on philosophy and endeavoured to render the doctrines of Plotinus intelligible to the ordinary understanding. His most distinguished pupil was Iamblichus. When advanced in years he married Marcella, a widow with seven children and an enthusiastic student of philosophy. Nothing more is known of his life, and the date of his death is uncertain.
Of his numerous works on a great variety of subjects the fol lowing are extant : Life of Plotinus and an exposition of his teach ing in the 'Actopµa1 rpen Ta varirec ( Sententiae ad intelligibilia ducentes, Aids to the study of the Intelligibles). The Life of Pythagoras, which is incomplete, probably formed part of a larger history of philosophy down to Plato. His work on Aristotle is represented by the Introduction (daaycoyi) to and Commentary (0-youts, in the form of questions and answers) on the Cate gories. The first, translated into Latin by Boetius, was extensively used in the middle ages as a compendium of Aristotelian logic ; of the second only fragments have been preserved. His Xpoviica, a chronological work, extended from the taking of Troy down to A.D. 27o. Other grammatical and literary works are `0/2npu
Eusebius preserved fragments of the IIEpc rijs EK Xoyi.cov
crocgas (De philosophia ex oraculis haurienda), in which he ex pressed his belief in the responses of the oracles of various gods as confirming his theosophical views. Porphyry is well known as a violent opponent of Christianity and defender of Paganism ; of his Kara
(Adversus Christianos) in I 5 books, per haps the most important of all his works, only fragments remain. Porphyry's view of the book of Daniel, that it was the work of a writer in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, is given by Jerome. There is no proof of the assertion of Socrates, the ecclesiastical historian, and Augustine, that Porphyry was once a Christian.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.—There is no complete edition of the works of Porphyry. Separate editions: Vita Plotini in the Enneades of Plotinus (edit. R. Volkmann, 1883) ; Scntentiae (edit. B. Mommert, Leipzig, 1907) ; Vita Pythagorae, De antro nympharum, De abstinentia, Ad. Marcellam (edit. A. Nauck, Leipzig, 1885) ; Isagoge et in Aristotelis tategorias commentarium in Commentaria in Aristotelem graeca (edit. A. Busse, 1887) ; Boethii in Isagogen Commenta (edit. S. Brandt, Vienna, 1906) ; fragments of the Chronica in Fragmenta historicorum graecorum (edit. C. W. Muller, ; Quaestiones hamericae (edit. H. Schrader, 188o, 1890) ; Letter to Anebo in Iamblichus, De mysteriis (edit. W. Pharthey, 1857) ; De philosophia ex oraculis Haurienda (edit. E. Wolff, 1856) ; fragments of the Adversus Christianos (edit. A. Georgiades, Leipzig, 1891) ; English trans., Thomas Taylor, De abstinentia, De antro nympharum and Sententiae (1823), De antro nympharum (new ed. 1917) ; T. Davidson, Sententiae, in Journal of Speculative Philosophy (vol. iii., 1869) ; S. Hibberd, De abstinentia (1857) , and A. Zimmern, Ad. Marcellam (1896) .
On Porphyry and his works generally, see J. A. Fabricius, Biblio theca Graeca (edit. Hailes, 1790-1809) ; article in Suiidas (edit. G. Bernhardy, 1853) ; Eurapius, Lives of the Philosophers (with Eng. trans. by W. C. Wright, 1922) ; Lucas Holstenius, De vita et Scriptis Porphyrii (Cambridge, 1655) ; M. N. Bouillet, Porphyre, son role dans l'ecole neoplatonicienne (1864) ; A. I. Kleffner, Porphyrius der Neuplatoniker (Paderborn, 1896) ; W. Christ, Geschichte der griech ischen Litteratur (1898) ; J. E. Sandys, History of Classical Scholar ship (1906) ; J. Bidey, Vie de Porphyre (Ghent, 1913). See also C. P. Mason in W. Smith, Diet. of Greek and Roman Biography (1849), and for philosophy, T. Whittaker, The Neo-Platonists (2nd ed., 1918) and NEO-PLATONISM.