Introduction

It is most likely that any late ancient philosopher who has made his primary occupation the study of Platonism in all of its late antique hues, including Christian, would subscribe to Plotinus’ conscious awareness of the highly hermeneutical nature of this philosophical enterprise. e statement is quite revealing but also deceptively simple. It is revealing in so far as it de nes the three key elements in building the Neoplatonist philosophical identity: the antiquity of the studied ideas; the obscurity of these ideas; and the need of interpretation. Neoplatonic philosophy is exegetic philosophy, but underneath the simplicity of the straightforward sequential linearity ( antiquity – obscurity – necessity of exegesis) there is a rich and complex matrix of dialectical analysis and synthesis, perspicacity, alacrity, originality and inventiveness.