Plotinus

Plotinus was a philosopher of the ancient world who founded Neoplatonism, one of the last great philosophical schools of antiquity. Born in Egypt and educated in Alexandria, he studied under Ammonius Saccas before establishing his own school in Rome. His major work, the Enneads — edited and published after his death by his student Porphyry — presents a systematic metaphysical vision of reality as an emanation from the One, a principle of absolute unity beyond all being.

The Enneads describe a hierarchy of being: from the One, Intellect (nous) emanates, and from Intellect, Soul, from which the material world proceeds. Plotinus saw philosophy as a spiritual practice aimed at the soul's return to union with the One. His thought shaped Christian theology, Islamic philosophy, and Renaissance Platonism.