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Proclus, Neoplatonist philosopher (410 ce or 412–485; see neoplatonism). Born in *Lycia of wealthy parents, he was destined for the law, but after some study in *Alexandria (1), came to Athens in search of philosophical enlightenment, where he spent the rest of his life. He studied with Plutarch of Athens and *Syrianus, whom he succeeded as head of the Platonic school (diadochos) in 437. His importance as a creative thinker has sometimes been exaggerated: most of the new features which distinguish his Neoplatonism from that of *Plotinus, such as the postulation of triadic ‘moments’ within each hypostasis, or of ‘henads’ within the realm of the One, are traceable, at least in germ, to *Iamblichus (2) or Syrianus. But he is the last great systematizer of the Greek philosophical inheritance, and as such exerted a powerful influence on medieval and Renaissance thought, and even, through Hegel, on German idealism. His learning was encyclopaedic and his output vast. Extant works include the following:1.