library and a walking museum” (Vit. Soph. 4.1.3), widely known as “the critic” (P In
Tim. 1.14.7), or “the greatest critic of his time” (Vit. Plot. 20.1–3). P maintained
that Longinus was “a lover of learning and speech (philologos) rather than a philosopher in
any way” (Vit. Plot. 14.19–20). Longinus, studying with Origen under Ammo ̄nios Saccas
(20.17–25), later opened his own school in Athens, where Porphurios studied before joining
Plo ̄tinos. Ca 267, Longinus left Athens to serve as advisor to queen Zenobia of Palmyra,
possibly bringing with him his rich library perhaps used later by Christians like E.
He was executed after Zenobia’s revolution failed.
A prolific author, his titles include On principles, read in Plo ̄tinos’ seminar (Vit. Plot. 14.18–20),
On impulse (17.10–12), On final end (20–21), On life in accordance with nature (Souda Lambda-645),
and a polemical work against the Stoics on the soul (Eusebios, PE 15.20.8–21.3). Addition-
ally, he wrote several works on language, style, and rhetoric, most famously the (extant) Art
of Rhetoric, and presumably also On the Sublime.
Longinus, concerned with interpreting P’s dialogues, focused more on the letter of
the Platonic text (Proklos, In Tim. 1.59.10–19, 1.94.4–14) as a way of finding the sense of
Plato’s words (1.83.19–25). As a philosopher, Longinus disagreed with Plo ̄tinos on two main
issues: 1) he denied the existence of any intelligible entity higher than the divine demiurge,
which he identified with the Form of the Good; 2) regarding how the Forms relate to the
Intellect (i.e., the divine demiurge), he maintained that the Forms exist outside the Intellect
and are subordinate to it (Proklos, In Tim. 1.322.18–26), thus upholding the absolute
metaphysical primacy of the divine intellect.
Ed.: M. Patillon and L. Brisson, Longin: Fragments, Art rhétorique, Rufus (CUF 2001).
M. Frede, “La teoria de las ideas de Longino,” Methexis 3 (1990) 183–190; L. Brisson and M. Patillon,
“Longinus Platonicus Philosophus et Philologus, I. Longinus Philosophus,” ANRW 2.36.7 (1994)
5214 – 5299; BNP 7 (2005) 808–810 (#1), M. Baltes and F. Montanari; OCD3 300, D.A. Russell; L.
Brisson and M. Patillon, “Longinus Platonicus Philosophus et Philologus, I. Longinus Philologus,”
ANRW 2.34.4 (1998) 3023–3108; P. Kalligas, “Traces of Longinus’ library in Eusebius’ Preparatio
Evangelica,” CQ 51 (2001) 584–598; DPA 4 (2005) 116–125, L. Brisson.
George Karamanolis
Castorius (480 – 520 CE?)
Wrote in Latin a geographical work giving a detailed treatment of the regions he covered.
It was the primary source cited by the R C on all of Asia (Book 2)
and much of Africa (3.1, 3.5–8, 3.11), as well as Burgundy (post 480 CE), Italy, and Spain
(4.26–30, 4.42) He covered all of Europe, and Asia east to India and Baktria, referring
not to Sasanians but to long-gone Parthians. The Ravenna Cosmography cites him with
A and L, but prefers L on regions around Constantinople (4.3,
4.6–7), A S on Macedon (4.9), and M on Pannonia (4.19).
See also A, “B,” H, H, I G.,
M G., M, M, M, P, P-
G., P, and S. The name is primarily Christian: A,
Epist. 69; C, Variae 3.20.2; PLRE 1 (1971) 185, 2 (1980) 271.
BNP 2 (2003) 1183, K. Brodersen.
PTK
CASTORIUS