Medieval · c. 5th–6th c.
Who influenced Pseudo-Dionysius?
Influences and legacy
Anonymous mystic of apophatic theology whose celestial hierarchy ruled medieval thought.
Pseudo-Dionysius was influenced by Proclus, and went on to influence Maximus the Confessor, John Scotus Eriugena, Hildegard of Bingen, Bonaventure and Meister Eckhart. That is 6 lines of the 448 documented lines of influence between the 279 thinkers on this map.
Who was Pseudo-Dionysius?
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite is the name given to an unknown Syrian or Greek monk and Neoplatonist of around 500 who wrote the Corpus Areopagiticum. He presented himself as Dionysius the Areopagite, the Athenian converted by Paul in the Acts of the Apostles.
Since 1895 scholars have agreed that the texts adapt the Neoplatonism of Proclus and were written in Syria around 485–528. His Mystical Theology makes him the father of apophatic, or negative, theology.
Summarized from the lead of the Wikipedia article.
Who influenced Pseudo-Dionysius?
1 direct influence on this map, earliest first.
- Proclus AD 412–485
Who did Pseudo-Dionysius influence?
5 thinkers on this map draw directly on Pseudo-Dionysius.
- Maximus the Confessor c. 580–662
- John Scotus Eriugena c. 815–877
- Hildegard of Bingen 1098–1179
- Bonaventure 1221–1274
- Meister Eckhart c. 1260–1328
The line of teachers behind Pseudo-Dionysius
The longest documented line of influence ending at Pseudo-Dionysius runs 10 generations back, to Thales of Miletus.
Two steps away from Pseudo-Dionysius
Indirect influences
- Through Proclus: Iamblichus
The second generation
- Through Maximus the Confessor: John of Damascus
- Through John Scotus Eriugena: Nicholas of Cusa
- Through Bonaventure: Duns Scotus
Contemporaries of Pseudo-Dionysius
Thinkers on this map born within 25 years of Pseudo-Dionysius, with no direct line between them.
- Boethius AD 477–524
Pseudo-Dionysius by the numbers
- Direct influences
- 1
- Direct followers
- 5 — #17 of 279 on this map
- Thinkers upstream
- 19
- Thinkers downstream
- 122
- Wikipedia languages
- 35 — #50 of 58 among medieval philosophers
- Card rarity
- Rare
Schools and lineages
- Church Fathers: Origen, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Irenaeus, Augustine of Hippo, Gregory of Nyssa, Pseudo-Dionysius, Maximus the Confessor, John of Damascus
Questions about Pseudo-Dionysius
- Who influenced Pseudo-Dionysius?
- Proclus.
- Who did Pseudo-Dionysius influence?
- Maximus the Confessor, John Scotus Eriugena, Hildegard of Bingen, Bonaventure and Meister Eckhart.
- When did Pseudo-Dionysius live?
- c. 5th–6th c.. The map files Pseudo-Dionysius under the medieval period.
- How rare is the Pseudo-Dionysius card?
- Wikipedia carries an article on Pseudo-Dionysius in 35 languages, which makes it a Rare card. Legendary starts at 100 languages, Epic at 50 and Rare at 25.
More medieval philosophers
- Augustine of Hippo AD 354–430
- Thomas Aquinas 1225–1274
- Avicenna 980–1037
- Ibn Khaldun 1332–1406
- Al-Ghazali c. 1058–1111
- Averroes 1126–1198
- Erasmus 1466–1536
- Hypatia c. 355–415