Unraveling Roman Philosophy

Philosophy in the Roman World: A Summary

• Ancient Roman philosophy includes philosophy written in both Latin and Greek in the late Republic and Roman empire.
• Roman philosophy was influenced by Hellenistic philosophy, but unique developments in philosophical schools of thought also occurred during the Roman period.
• The Sabinian and Proculean schools of law, the two largest schools of legal thought in the Roman period, derived their understanding of ethics heavily from Stoicism and Epicureanism, respectively.
• During the autocratic rule of the Flavian dynasty, a group of philosophers vocally and politically protested against imperial actions, resulting in Vespasian banishing all philosophers from Rome, save for Gaius Musonius Rufus.
• Hadrian held philosophy in high regard, something unusual for Roman emperors, who were often indifferent, if not oppositional to it as a practice.
• With the spread of Christianity inside the Roman Empire came the Christian philosophy of Saint Augustine of Hippo.
• Middle Platonism fused Platonism with certain Peripatetic and many Stoic dogmas.
• The School of the Sextii was an eclectic Ancient Roman school of philosophy that blended elements of Pythagorean, Platonic, Cynic, and Stoic thought together.
• Pythagorean views were revived by Nigidius Figulus during the Hellenistic period, when pseudo-pythagorean writings began circulating.
• Cynic philosophy survived into the Imperial period, and even became "fashionable," though its adherents were criticized for not being fully committed.
• Neoplatonism, or Plotinism, is a school of religious and mystical philosophy founded by Plotinus in the 3rd century AD and based on the teachings of Plato and the other Platonists.
• Early Christian philosophy was influenced by Platonism, but with the addition of the concept of divine revelation and a savior.