The intelligible-intellectual gods (being/essence-life-mind). Proclus, one of the last great thinkers of Neoplatonic philosophy and 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, Athens. There, he came into contact with the Athenian Neoplatonic Academy, which captivated him completely, and he became its director after the death of his teacher, Syrianus.

He died in Athens on April 17, 485 AD and was buried near Lycabettus. Living in an era of syncretic chaos, he would consolidate the entire preceding Neoplatonic philosophical tradition into a unified and complex system, influenced by Pythagorean, Aristotelian, and Stoic elements. In his system, he would amalgamate the one god, the intelligible and intellectual substances, magic, and various demonic beings, and in this form, he would hand it over to the scholastic Middle Ages.

His work is a fundamental source for anyone studying Neoplatonic philosophy, as well as for Plato himself, for whom he often proposes original and highly interesting interpretations.