Ammonius of Athens

{{Short description|1st century AD Greek philosopher}}

Ammonius of Athens ({{IPAc-en|ə|ˈ|m|oʊ|n|i|ə|s}}; {{langx|el|Ἀμμώνιος}}), sometimes called Ammonius the Peripatetic, was a philosopher who taught in Athens in the 1st century AD. He was a teacher of Plutarch, who praises his great learning,Plutarch, Symp., iii. 1. and introduces him discoursing on religion and sacred rites.Plutarch, Symp., ix. 15. Plutarch wrote a biography of him, which is no longer extant, and also mentioned Ammonius master in other works like the De E apud Delphos{{cite journal|author=C. P. Jones|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/310764|title=The Teacher of Plutarch|journal=Harvard Studies in Classical Philology|volume= 71 |year=1967|pages=205–213|publisher=Department of the Classics, Harvard University|doi=10.2307/310764|jstor=310764|oclc=5548753408|issn=0073-0688|access-date=June 8, 2021}}{{cite book|author=Plutarch|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0243|title= De E apud Delphos|language=Greek, English|chapter=2|translator-first1=Frank|translator-last1=Cole Babbitt}} within the collection of treatises known as Moralia. From the information supplied by Plutarch, Ammonius was clearly an expert in the works of Aristotle, but he may have nevertheless been a Platonist philosopher rather than a Peripatetic.

He may be the Ammonius of Lamprae (in Attica) quoted by AthenaeusAthenaeus, Deipnosophists, xi. as the author of a book on altars and sacrifices ({{langx|el|Περὶ βωμῶν καὶ Θυσιῶν}}). Athenaeus also mentions a work on Athenian courtesans ({{langx|el|Περὶ τῶν Ἀθηνσινῆ Ἑταιρίδων}}) as written by an Ammonius.Athenaeus, Deipnosophists, xiii.