Author: SYNESIUS of Cyrene
Biography:
SYNESIUS of Cyrene (c. 373-c. 414: Encyclopaedia Britannica)
Hugh Stuart Boyd (q.v.) explained some of the circumstances attending his translations of Synesius and Gregory. Though he was suffering from “ophthalmic disease” and could not see to read, he believed so strongly that these two late Greek writers were undeservedly neglected that he translated from memory, drawing on parts of their works that he remembered well enough and committing others to memory for the purpose. The poems taken from Synesius are all hymns. Synesius was born into a noble Greek family in Cyrene, North Africa (present-day Libya). In 393 on an extended visit to Alexandria, he adopted a Neoplatonist philosophy that is apparent in some of his letters, later treatises, and philosophical fictions. In 397 he took part in a successful mission to Constantinople to win support for his province; in 402 he visited Athens. In 403 he was married in Alexandria. But he seems to have spent most of the decade 400-410 on his country estate near Cyrene, farming, hunting, and pursuing his literary and scientific interests. In 409 he hesitantly accepted the position of Bishop of Ptolemaïs: it is not clear that he was baptised, he was not a devout Christian, and he had a wife. Concessions were made by his superiors and he remained married. He died at Cyrene about 414. (Encyclopaedia Britannica [1911] 26: 294; NBG 44, cols. 740-45) HJ