Synesius of Cyrene

Synesius of Cyrene was the philosopher-bishop (c. 370–413) who studied at Alexandria under Hypatia, to whom his warm and admiring letters survive — among the most personal records we possess of that famous teacher.

A landowner, orator, and reluctant statesman, he composed hymns of a markedly Neoplatonic cast, addressing the divine in language drawn from Plotinus and the Chaldaean theology. Even after accepting a bishopric he remained a Platonist at heart, his Christianity and his philosophy held in a characteristic late-antique union.