Crantor of Soli

Crantor of Soli, in Cilicia, came to Athens and studied in the Academy under Xenocrates and Polemo, becoming one of the most respected figures of the Old Academy. Only fragments of his work survive, but his importance to the tradition is large.

He was the first to write a commentary on Plato's Timaeus, inaugurating the long line of interpretation that runs through Plutarch to Proclus, who still cites him centuries later. On the vexed question of whether the world had a beginning in time, Crantor read the Timaeus's account of creation as a teaching device rather than a literal event — a reading that shaped the debate ever after.

His treatise On Grief, a consolation written for a bereaved friend, became a classic of its kind; Cicero drew on it heavily, and it was still being quoted long after. In Crantor the Academy's gift for joining metaphysical depth to humane moral counsel is clearly on display.