Synesius of Cyrene

Mosaic depicting an angel. Museum of Ptolemais

Synesius of Cyrene (c.370-c.413) was a Neo-Platonic philosopher who became bishop of Ptolemais in the Cyrenaica. He left behind a small corpus of texts that offer much information about daily life in Late Antiquity, and about the christianization of the Roman world.

The text of Letter 39, dated to c.401, is offered here in the translation by A. Fitzgerald.

Letter 39: Announcing One's Arrival

To his Brother

Longing and necessity draw me to you. I should like to know, then, whether you will await me if I come.

Online 2007
Revision: 13 August 2007