Editing Ammonius Saccas (section)

==Philosophy==
[[Hierocles of Alexandria|Hierocles]], writing in the 5th century, states that Ammonius' fundamental doctrine was that [[Plato]] and [[Aristotle]] were in full agreement with each other:<ref>Hierocles in Photius, ''Bibl.'' cod. 214, 251.</ref>
<blockquote>He was the first who had a godly zeal for the truth in philosophy and despised the views of the majority, which were a disgrace to philosophy. He apprehended well the views of each of the two philosophers [Plato and Aristotle] and brought them under one and the same ''[[nous]]'' and transmitted philosophy without conflicts to all of his disciples, and especially to the best of those acquainted with him, Plotinus, Origen, and their successors.<ref>Hierocles, in Photius, ''Bibl.'' cod. 251. from Karamanolis, G., (2006), ''Plato and Aristotle in Agreement?: Platonists on Aristotle from Antiochus to Porphyry'', Page 193. Oxford University Press.</ref></blockquote>

According to [[Nemesius]], a [[bishop]] and [[Neoplatonist]] c. 400, Ammonius held that the [[Soul (spirit)|soul]] was immaterial.<ref>Nemesius, ''On the Nature of Man'', ii</ref>

Little is known about Ammonius's role in the development of [[Neoplatonism]]. Porphyry seems to suggest that Ammonius was instrumental in helping Plotinus think about philosophy in new ways:
<blockquote>But he [Plotinus] did not just speak straight out of these books but took a distinctive personal line in his consideration, and brought the mind of Ammonius' to bear on the investigation in hand.<ref name="porphyry1"/></blockquote>

Two of Ammonius's students – [[Origen the Pagan]], and [[Cassius Longinus (philosopher)|Longinus]] – seem to have held philosophical positions which were closer to [[Middle Platonism]] than Neoplatonism, which perhaps suggests that Ammonius's doctrines were also closer to those of Middle Platonism than the Neoplatonism developed by Plotinus (see the ''[[Enneads]]''), but Plotinus does not seem to have thought that he was departing in any significant way from that of his master. 
Like [[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]] (''The Life of Plotinus'', 3, 24–29),<ref>{{cite book|first1=Lynn Vivien|last1=Hubbard|url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/323892492.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/323892492.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=Bergson, Plotinus and the harmonics of evolution|page=17|publisher=The Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences, University of the West of England|location=Bristol|date=November 1, 2017|access-date=June 8, 2021|oclc=1063691221}}</ref> also [[Nemesius]] refers of Ammonius Saccas as the teacher or the master of Plotinus (Nemesius, ''Nature of Man'', 2.103).<ref>{{cite journal|author=M J Edwards|url=|title=God and Christ in Irenaeus. By Anthony Briggman |doi=10.1093/jts/flaa045|journal= The Journal of Theological Studies|date=June 13, 2000|volume=71|issue=2|pages=889–892|publisher=OUP|quote=...with incorporeals posited by Ammonius Saccas, the teacher of Plotinus (Nemesius, Nature of Man 2.103).}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=[[Nemesius]]|translator-first1=George|translator-last1=Wither|translator-link1= George Wither|url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A08062.0001.001/1:6.1?rgn=div2;view=fulltext|title=The Nature of man|publisher=Miles Flesher for Henry Taunton in St. Dunstans Churchyard in Fleetstreet|year=1636|chapter=2|access-date=June 8, 2021}}</ref>