Heliodorus of Alexandria
ancient Greek philosopher and astronomer
Heliodorus of Alexandria (Greek: Ἡλιόδωρος) was a Neoplatonic philosopher who lived in the 5th century AD. He was the son of Hermias and Aedesia, and the younger brother of Ammonius. His father, Hermias, died when he was young, and his mother, Aedesia, raised him and his brother in their home city of Alexandria until they were old enough to go to philosophy school. Aedesia took them to Athens where they studied under Proclus. Eventually they returned to Alexandria, where they both taught philosophy. Damascius, who was taught by Heliodorus, describes him as less gifted than his elder brother, and more superficial in his character and studies.
He cannot be the author of a commentary on the Astrology of Paulus Alexandrinus which was written after 564, which is ascribed to another Heliodorus.
References
Jones, A., Martindale, J., Morris, J., (1992), The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, page 532. Cambridge University Press.
“Heliodorus of Alexandria” enters the record as ancient Greek philosopher and astronomer. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Heliodorus, Alexandria and ancient can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4135021. VIAF identifies the subject as 237144782952037367955. The Library of Congress control number is no2020096162. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1992.
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This entry incorporates text from “Heliodorus of Alexandria” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.