ABSTRACT
The ultimate development of a pagan philosophical religion in the Roman era was Neo-Platonism, but it was preceded by Middle Platonism and Neo-Pythagoreanism, which provided some of the concepts that were employed by Neo-Platonism. There are two well-known representatives of Middle Platonism, Plutarch and Philo of Alexandria. Plutarch was an eclectic thinker, influenced especially by ideas of the Platonists and Aristotelians, but opposed to the Skepticism of the New Academy and generally against the Stoics, possibly because, as R. H. Barrow holds, he did not understand the Stoicism current in his time. Philo Judaeus attempted a reconciliation of Jewish scripture and Greek philosophy, especially Plato, as interpreted by Middle Platonism, and some Stoic ideas. Samuel Sandmel says that Philo's basic religious ideas were Jewish, but he explained them in terms of Greek philosophy, largely Platonic and Stoic. Plotinus's aesthetic theory is closer to Aristotle's than to Plato's.
