The Nicene Age · AD 313–400 · External witness
Maximus of Ephesus
c. AD 310 – 372 (executed) · Neoplatonist theurgist · Mentor of Julian · Ephesus → Constantinople
External witness
Who Maximus of Ephesus was
The theurgist who made statues smile and torches kindle in Hecate's temple — and who, more consequentially, initiated the young Julian and stood beside the throne when his pupil ruled the world. Summoned to court by Julian's breathless letters, he heard the emperor's dying philosophy in the Persian tent; under Valens the reckoning came, and he was beheaded at Ephesus for a treasonous oracle. The last act of pagan philosophy as imperial power.
Also listed in non-christian witnesses.
Common questions
When did Maximus live?
Maximus of Ephesus is dated c. AD 310 – 372 (executed) in the archive, which places Maximus in the Nicene Age (AD 313–400). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.
Which early sources mention Maximus?
Maximus of Ephesus is named in 3 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Emperor Julian, Ammianus Marcellinus and Eunapius of Sardis. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Maximus from?
The archive associates Maximus of Ephesus with Ephesus, Constantinople. The sources record more than one location, so the places are listed in the order the record moves through them.
Who were Maximus’ contemporaries?
The archive links Maximus of Ephesus to 2 other figures, including Emperor Julian the Apostate and Libanius of Antioch. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.
Primary-source mentions (3)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
The Letters of Julian (to Maximus the philosopher)
c. AD 362Everything crowds into my mind at once and chokes my utterance… when I heard that you had come as far as my own Galatia, I leapt for joy — come, in the gods' name, come.Emperor Julian · source text
Res Gestae XXIX.1 (the theurgist executed under Valens)
c. AD 390Eunapius, Lives of the Sophists (the pagan memorial of Maximus)
c. AD 400[Eunapius memorialises the theurgist who taught Julian, and records his execution under Valens.]Eunapius of Sardis · Lives of the Philosophers and Sophists
Eunapius of Sardis's Lives of the Philosophers and Sophists, written in Greek c. AD 396 — a pagan counter-history of the Neoplatonist teachers, and the fullest account of Maximus of Ephesus. Standard text with facing translation: Wilmer Cave Wright, Philostratus and Eunapius: The Lives of the Sophists, Loeb Classical Library 134 (1921), public domain.
Connected in the archive
People
Events in this lifetime
- AD 303 · The Great Persecution begins, AD 303
- AD 303 · The search of the church at Cirta, AD 303
- AD 306 · The Council of Elvira, AD 306
- AD 311 · Galerius’ edict of Serdica, AD 311
- AD 313 · The Edict of Milan, AD 313
- AD 314 · The Council of Arles, AD 314
- AD 320 · Silvanus tried before Zenophilus, AD 320
- AD 325 · The Council of Nicaea, AD 325
- AD 339 · The persecution of Shapur II, AD 339
- AD 343 · The Council of Serdica, AD 343
- AD 361 · Julian’s pagan restoration, AD 361
- AD 366 · Damasus and the catacomb epigrams, AD 366
- AD 367 · Athanasius lists the 27 NT books, AD 367
- AD 372 · The martyrdom of Sabbas the Goth, AD 372
Place
Places served
The 2 places the sources put Maximus, in the order the record moves through them. This is what the sources attest, not a reconstructed route.