29 - Synesius of Cyrene

Summary

LIFE

Synesius was born c. 370 ce in the Greek colony of Cyrene, in Libya, to an ancient Dorian aristocratic family. Since late antiquity, scholars have thought him to have been an aristocratic Hellene and a convert to Christianity. Around the time of his mission to Constantinople (c. 400 ce), he perhaps became a ‘fellow traveller’, attracted to the new religion. Subsequently, he became a catechumen, and was married to a Christian. Eventually, he was baptized, and accepted an episcopal appointment in 411 ce. More recently, a case has been made that he was born a Christian, but this has been challenged and evidence remains circumstantial. Synesius presented himself as a religious Hellene: the only early religious experience he emphasized was his typically Hellenic sense of the divine cosmos (Ep. 101.225). Religious Hellenism suffered setbacks in his lifetime, notably, the Christian destruction in 391 of the Serapeum at Alexandria, a major centre of mystical Hellenism. Triumphant Christian orthodoxy nervously continued to attack dissidents, including the post-Constantine philosopher-ideologues, who inspired the Emperor Julian’s (r. 360–3 ce) counter-Christian religious Hellenism.

Synesius had two sisters, and a brother he was close to, Euoptius. He was proud of his ‘Heraclean’ Dorian ancestry, all the way back to the founders of Cyrene in 630 bce (Ep. 41.49; Catas. 2.5). Literature and hunting remained major interests throughout his lifetime (De ins. 14.4). His work reflects a thorough classical education (Dion 18.1–4); he describes Cyrene as a place of respite, where the natives still believe the king is Agamemnon (Ep. 148, 297).