AMMONIUS, surnamed Saccas, or “The Sack Carrier,” from the fact of his having been obliged in the early part of his life to gain his livelihood by acting as a porter in the market, lived at Alexandria during the 2d century a.d., and died there 241 a.d. Very little is known of the events of his life. He is said by Porphyry to have been born of Christian parents, and to have belonged originally to their faith, from which he afterwards apostatised. Eusebius (Church History, vi. 19) denies this apostasy, and affirms that Ammonius continued a Christian to the end of his life. It is clear, however, that Eusebius is referring to another Ammonius, a Christian who lived at Alexandria during the 3d century a.d. Ammonius, afteι long study and meditation, opened a school for philosophy in Alexandria. Among his pupils were Herennius, the two Origens, Longinus, and, most distinguished of all, Plotinus, who in his search for true wisdom found himself irresistibly attracted by Ammonius, remained his close companion for eleven years, and in all his later philosophy professed to be the mere exponent of his great master. Ammonius himself designedly wrote nothing, and the doctrines taught in his school were, at least during his life, kept secret, after the fashion of the old Pythagorean society. Thus, while all the later developments of neoPlatonism are in a general way referred to him as their originator, little is known of his special tenets. From the notices of Hierocles, a scholar of Plutarch, in the early part of the 5th century a.d., preserved in Photius, we learn that his fundamental doctrine was an eclecticism, or union of Plato and Aristotle. He attempted to show that a system of philosophy, common to both and higher than their special views, was contained in their writings. He thus, according to his admirers, put an end to the interminable disputes of the rival schools. What other elements Ammonius included in his eclectic system, and in particular how he stood related to the Jewish and Christian theosophies, are points on which no information can be procured. Few direct references to hin! exist, and even these are not of unquestionable authority. He undoubtedly originated the neo-Platonic movement, but it cannot be determined to what extent that philosophy, as known to us through Plotinus and Proclus, represents his ideas. Eusebius {Church History, vi. 19) mentions some Christian works by Ammonius. As Porphyry expressly tells us that Ammonius the philosopher wrote nothing, Eusebius must be referring to the later Christian of the same name. To this later Ammonius belongs the Diates-saron, or Harmony of the Four Gospels, sometimes ascribed to the philosopher. (See Fabricius, Bibliotheca Groeca, V. 701, 713; and Zeller, Phil. d. Griechen, 2d ed., iii. 2, 398, note 6.) On Ammonius the philosopher, besides general works on the Alexandrian school and the history of philosophy, see Rösler, De Commentitiis Philosophice Ammoniacce Fraudibus et Noxis, Tübingen, 1786; and Dehaut, Essai Historique sur la Vie et la Doctrine d’ Ammonius Saccas, Brussels, 1836.