A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

2. An Athenian, son of Nestorius, presided with distinction over the Neo-Platonic school at Athens in the early part of the fifth century, and was surnamed the Great. He was an Eclectic or Syncretist, and numbered among his disciples Syrianus of Alexandria, who succeeded him as head of the school, and Proclus of Lycia. He appears to have followed lamblichus in his doctrine of the efficacy of theurgic rites for bringing man into communion with God, herein illustrating what has been often remarked, that the Neo-Platonic system was the parhelion of the Catholic. Plutarchus wrote commentaries, which are lost, on the "Timaeus" of Plato, and on Aristotle's treatise "On the Soul." He died at an advanced age, about A. D. 430 (Suid. s. vv. Δομνῖνος, Ἡγίας, Νικόλαος, Ὀδαίναθος, Πρόκλος ὁ Λύκιος ; Marin. Vit. Procl. 12; Phot. Bibl. 242; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. iii. pp. 95, 183, 235, 632, v. p. 197, ix. p. 370.)