Editing Proclus (section)

== Works ==

===Commentaries on Plato===
The majority of Proclus's works are commentaries on dialogues of [[Plato]] (''Alcibiades'', ''[[Cratylus (dialogue)|Cratylus]]'', ''[[Parmenides (dialogue)|Parmenides]]'', ''[[Republic (Plato)|Republic]]'', ''[[Timaeus (dialogue)|Timaeus]]'').{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} In these commentaries, he presents his own philosophical system as a faithful interpretation of Plato, and in this he did not differ from other Neoplatonists, as he considered that "nothing in Plato's corpus is unintended or there by chance", that "Plato's writings were divinely inspired" (ὁ θεῖος Πλάτων ''ho theios Platon''—the divine Plato, inspired by the gods), that "the formal structure and the content of Platonic texts imitated those of the universe",<ref>{{Citation|last=Calian|first=Florin George|title="Clarifications" of Obscurity: Conditions for Proclus's Allegorical Reading of Plato's Parmenides|date=2013|url=https://memo.imareal.sbg.ac.at/wsarticle/maq-sonderband/ciarifications-of-obscurity-conditions-for-procluss-allegorical-reading-of-platos-parmenides/|work=Obscurity in medieval texts|pages=15–31}}</ref> and therefore that they spoke often of things under a veil, hiding the truth from the philosophically uninitiated. Proclus was however a close reader of Plato, and quite often makes very astute points about his Platonic sources.

====Commentary on Timaeus====
In his commentary on Plato's ''[[Timaeus (dialogue)|Timaeus]]'' Proclus explains the role the Soul as a principle has in mediating the Forms in Intellect to the body of the material world as a whole. The Soul is constructed through certain proportions, described mathematically in the ''Timaeus'', which allow it to make Body as a divided image of its own arithmetical and geometrical ideas.

===Systematic works===
In addition to his commentaries, Proclus wrote two major systematic works.{{sfn|Helmig|Steel|2020|loc=A}} The ''[[Elements of Theology]]'' (Στοιχείωσις θεολογική) consists of 211 propositions, each followed by a proof, beginning from the existence of the One (divine Unity) and ending with the descent of individual souls into the material world. The ''Platonic Theology'' (Περὶ τῆς κατὰ Πλάτωνα θεολογίας) is a systematization of material from Platonic dialogues, showing from them the characteristics of the divine orders, the part of the universe which is closest to the One.

We also have three essays, extant only in Latin translation: ''Ten doubts concerning providence'' (''De decem dubitationibus circa providentiam''); ''On providence and fate'' (''De providentia et fato''); ''On the existence of evils'' (''De malorum subsistentia'').{{sfn|Helmig|Steel|2020|loc=A}}

=== Other works ===

====Commentary on Euclid's Elements====
Proclus, the scholiast to Euclid, knew  [[Eudemus of Rhodes]]' ''History of Geometry'' well, and gave a short sketch of the early history of geometry, which appeared to be founded on the older, lost book of Eudemus. The passage has been referred to as "the Eudemian summary," and determines some approximate dates, which otherwise might have remained unknown.{{sfn|Gow|1884}} The influential commentary on the first book of [[Euclid]]'s ''Elements'' is one of the most valuable sources we have for the history of ancient mathematics,{{sfn|Heath|1908}} and its Platonic account of the status of mathematical objects was influential.

In this work, Proclus also listed the first mathematicians associated with Plato: a mature set of mathematicians ([[Leodamas of Thasos]], [[Archytas|Archytas of Taras]], and [[Theaetetus (mathematician)|Theaetetus]]), a second set of younger mathematicians ([[Neoclides]], [[Eudoxus of Cnidus]]), and a third yet younger set ([[Amyntas of Heraclea|Amyntas]], [[Menaechmus]] and his brother [[Dinostratus]], [[Theudius of Magnesia]], [[Hermotimus of Colophon]] and [[Philip of Opus]]). Some of these mathematicians were influential in arranging the ''Elements'' that Euclid later published.

====Theology of Plato====
Proclus authored a theology of Plato, which is text concerned with the divine hierarchies and their complex ramifications.

====Others====
A commentary on the ''[[Works and Days]]'' of [[Hesiod]] (incomplete); some scholia on [[Homer]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

===Lost works===
A number of his Platonic commentaries are lost. In addition to the Alcibiades, the Cratylus, the Timaeus, and the Parmenides, he also wrote commentaries on the remainder of the dialogues in the Neoplatonic curriculum.{{sfn|Helmig|Steel|2020|loc=B}} He also wrote a commentary on the [[Organon]], as well as prolegomena to both Plato and Aristotle.{{sfn|Helmig|Steel|2020|loc=B}}