Proclus, one of the last great thinkers of Neoplatonic philosophy and of ancient Greek philosophical thought in general, was born in Constantinople on February 8, 412 AD. Born into a wealthy family from Lycia, he studied at the best educational centers of his time, Alexandria, Constantinople, and Athens.

There, he came into contact with the Athenian Neoplatonic Academy, which captivated him permanently and of which he became the director after the death of his teacher, Syrianus. He died in Athens on April 17, 485 AD and was buried near Lycabettus.

Living in a time of syncretic chaos, he synthesized the entire preceding Neoplatonic philosophical tradition into a unified and complex system, influenced by Pythagorean, Aristotelian, and Stoic elements. In his system, he grouped the one God, the intelligible and the intellectual substances, magic, and various entities of a demonic nature, and in this form, he passed it on to the scholastic Middle Ages.

His work is a key source for any student of Neoplatonic philosophy, but also of Plato himself, whose original and extremely interesting interpretations he often proposes.