Origen the Pagan
3rd century Alexandrian Platonist philosopher
b. 1st millennium · d. 3rd century
Origen the Pagan was a Platonist philosopher who lived in Alexandria. He was a student of Ammonius Saccas and a contemporary of Plotinus in Ammonius's philosophy school in Alexandria. Some researchers posit that this Origen is the very same famous Christian philosopher and theologian Origen of Alexandria, who was educated by Ammonius Saccas. The pagan philosopher is sometimes referred to as Origenes to distinguish him more easily from the Christian Origen.
Related people
- Ammonius Saccas disciple of · traditional
Places
- Alexandria birth
How we know
Recorded as a historical figure.
Glosses
- The two Ammonii Origen had a teacher named Ammonius and so did Plotinus, and for seventeen centuries nobody has been able to say for certain whether that is one sentence or two. Porphyry, writing against the Christians, said that…