Editing Simplicius of Cilicia (section)

==Life==
Little is known about Simplicius' life. Based on his education, it's likely he was born some time around 480.{{sfn|Baltussen|2013|p=12-14}} His commentary on Aristotle's [[On the Heavens]] can be definitively dated to 538, which is the latest known definitive evidence for his life, making it likely he died some time around 540.{{sfn|Baltussen|2013|p=12-14}} An older source dates his life to c. 490 – c. 560.<ref>Donald J. Zeyl, Daniel Devereux, Phillip Mitsis, (1997), ''Encyclopedia of classical philosophy''. Greenwood Press</ref>

Simplicius was a disciple of [[Ammonius Hermiae]],<ref>Simplicius, ''in Phys. Ausc.'' f. 42, 43, etc.</ref> and [[Damascius]],<ref>Simplicius, ''in Phys. Ausc.'' f. 150, a. b., 183, b., 186, etc.</ref> and was consequently one of the last members of the [[Neoplatonism|Neoplatonist school]]. The school had its headquarters in [[Athens]]. It became the centre of the last efforts to maintain [[Hellenistic religion]] against the encroachments of [[Christianity]].  Imperial edicts enacted in the 5th century against paganism gave legal protection to pagans against personal maltreatment.<ref>Cod. Theod. 16. tit. 10.</ref> We know little about where Simplicius lived and taught. That he not only wrote, but taught, is proved by the address to his hearers in the commentary on the ''Physica Auscultatio'' of [[Aristotle]],<ref>Simplicius, ''in Arist. Phys. Ausc.'' f. 173.</ref> as well as by the title of his commentary on the ''Categories''. He had received his training partly in [[Alexandria]], under [[Ammonius Hermiae|Ammonius]],<ref>see especially Simplicius ''in ll. de Caelo'', f. 113.</ref> partly in [[Athens]], as a disciple of [[Damascius]]; and it was probably in one of these two cities that he subsequently took up his abode; for, with the exception of these cities and [[Constantinople]], it would have been difficult to find a town which possessed the collections of books he needed, and he is unlikely to have gone to Constantinople. One claim at least asserts that Simplicius went to [[Harran]], in what is modern-day south-eastern Turkey.<ref>{{Cite book| last=Sorabji| first=Richard| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GqFqAlrpNvgC| title=The Philosophy of the Commentators, 200–600 AD: Psychology (with ethics and religion)| date=2005| publisher=Cornell University Press| isbn=978-0-8014-8987-7|language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Mosaic of Justinianus I - Basilica San Vitale (Ravenna).jpg|thumb|The Emperor Justinian ordered the closure of the Neoplatonic academy.]]
In the year 528 the emperor [[Justinian]] ordered that pagans should be removed from government posts.  Some were robbed of their property, some put to death.  The order specified that if they did not within three months convert to Christianity, they were to be banished from the [[Byzantine Empire|Empire]]. In addition, it was forbidden any longer to teach philosophy and jurisprudence in Athens.<ref>529 AD; Malalas, xviii.; comp. Theophanes, i. 276.</ref>{{page needed|date=October 2024}}{{quotation needed|date=October 2024}} Probably also the property of the Platonist school, which in the time of [[Proclus]] was valued at more than 1000 gold pieces,<ref>Damascius ap. Photius.</ref> was confiscated; at least, Justinian deprived the physicians and teachers of the liberal arts of the provision-money which had been assigned to them by previous emperors, and confiscated funds which the citizens had provided for spectacles and other civic purposes.<ref>Procopius, ''Arcan.'' c. 26.</ref>  Seven philosophers, among whom were Simplicius, [[Eulamius]], [[Priscian of Lydia|Priscian]], and others, with [[Damascius]], the last president of the Platonist school in Athens at their head, resolved to seek protection at the court of the famous [[Sassanid Empire|Persian]] king [[Khosrau I|Chosroes]], who had succeeded to the throne in 531.  But they were disappointed in their hopes. Chosroes, in a peace treaty concluded with Justinian c. 533 stipulated that the philosophers should be allowed to return without risk and to practise their rites, after which they returned.<ref>Agathias, ii. 30.</ref> Of the subsequent fortunes of the seven philosophers we learn nothing. As to his personal history, especially his migration to [[Sassanid Empire|Persia]], no definite allusions are to be found in the writings of Simplicius. Only at the end of his explanation of the treatise of [[Epictetus]], Simplicius mentions, with gratitude, the consolation which he had found under tyrannical oppression in such ethical contemplations; which might suggest that it was composed during, or immediately after, the above-mentioned persecutions.