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Potamo of Alexandria and the Emergence of Eclecticism in Late Hellenistic Philosophy

This monograph re-defines the extremely complex concept of philosophical ‘eclecticism’, which is heavily used as a loose characterisation for many ancient authors’ intellectual attitudes, but is here explored from the point of view of Potamo, the only self-described Eclectic philosopher. This project required the collection and analysis of a very extensive range of material, because Potamo’s own views had to be compared with and judged against all the philosophical traditions he might have ‘selected’ from. The argument concerning the emergence of Eclecticism rests upon extensive critical work across a number of disciplines that flourished in Alexandria, including medicine and grammar.