Nemesius
late 4th century Greek philosopher and bishop of Emesa
Nemesius of Emesa (Ancient Greek: Νεμέσιος Ἐμέσης; Latin: Nemesius Emesenus; fl. c. AD 390) was a Christian philosopher, and the author of a treatise Περὶ φύσεως ἀνθρώπου or De natura hominis ("On Human Nature"). According to the title of his book, he was the bishop of Emesa (modern-day Homs, Syria). His book is an attempt to compile a system of anthropology from the standpoint of Christian philosophy; it was very influential in later Greek, Arabic and Christian thought.
Nemesius was also a physiological theorist. He based much of his writing on previous work of Aristotle and Galen, and it has been speculated that he anticipated William Harvey's discovery of the circulation of blood.
Other views included a five-theory hierarchy of divine providence. These theories are developed from an earlier Platonic theory.
Nemesius was one in a succession of advocates, from Herophilus and Erasistratus onward, of the idea that different cavities of the brain were responsible for different functions.
The public source identifies “Nemesius” as late 4th century Greek philosopher and bishop of Emesa. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Nemesius, late and century.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q960345. VIAF identifies the subject as 42630277. The Library of Congress control number is n82088706. 2 of 10 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Nemesius” 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.