PHILOSOPHERS from Lebanon

Top 5

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Lebanese Philosophers of all time. This list of famous Lebanese Philosophers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Porphyry (233 - 305)

With an HPI of 71.21, Porphyry is the most famous Lebanese Philosopher.  His biography has been translated into 53 different languages on wikipedia.

Porphyry of Tyre (; ‹See Tfd›Greek: Πορφύριος, Porphýrios; c. 234 – c. AD 305) was a Neoplatonic philosopher born in Tyre, Roman Phoenicia during Roman rule. He edited and published The Enneads, the only collection of the work of Plotinus, his teacher. He wrote original works in the Greek language on a wide variety of topics, ranging from music theory to Homer to vegetarianism. His Isagoge or Introduction, an introduction to logic and philosophy, was the standard textbook on logic throughout the Middle Ages in its Latin and Arabic translations. Porphyry was, and still is, also well-known for his anti-Christian polemics. Through works such as Philosophy from Oracles and Against the Christians (which was banned by Constantine the Great), he was involved in a controversy with early Christians.

2. Zeno of Sidon (-150 - -75)

With an HPI of 58.98, Zeno of Sidon is the 2nd most famous Lebanese Philosopher.  His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Zeno of Sidon (‹See Tfd›Greek: Ζήνων ὁ Σιδώνιος; c. 150 – c. 75 BC) was a Greek Epicurean philosopher from the Seleucid city of Sidon. His writings have not survived, but there are some epitomes of his lectures preserved among the writings of his pupil Philodemus.

3. Maximus of Tyre (200 - 200)

With an HPI of 56.50, Maximus of Tyre is the 3rd most famous Lebanese Philosopher.  His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Maximus of Tyre (Greek: Μάξιμος Τύριος; fl. late 2nd century AD), also known as Cassius Maximus Tyrius, was a Greek rhetorician and philosopher who lived in the time of the Antonines and Commodus, and who belongs to the trend of the Second Sophistic. His writings contain many allusions to the history of Greece, while there is little reference to Rome; hence it is inferred that he lived longer in Greece, perhaps as a professor at Athens. Although nominally a Platonist, he is really a sophist rather than a philosopher, although he is still considered one of the precursors of Neoplatonism.

4. Bahāʾ al-dīn al-ʿĀmilī (1547 - 1621)

With an HPI of 56.09, Bahāʾ al-dīn al-ʿĀmilī is the 4th most famous Lebanese Philosopher.  His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Baha al-Din Muhammad ibn Husayn al-Amili (Arabic: بهاء الدين محمد بن حسين العاملي; 18 February 1547 – 1 September 1621), also known as Bahāddīn ʿĀmilī, or just Sheikh Bahāʾi (Persian: شیخ بهایی) in Iran, was a Levantine Arab Shia Islamic scholar, poet, philosopher, architect, mathematician and astronomer, who lived in the late 16th and early 17th centuries in Safavid Iran. He was born in Baalbek, Ottoman Syria (present-day Lebanon) but immigrated in his childhood to Safavid Iran with the rest of his family. He was one of the earliest astronomers in the Islamic world to suggest the possibility of the Earth's movement prior to the spread of the Copernican theory. He wrote over 100 treatises and books in different topics, in Arabic and Persian. A number of architectural and engineering designs are attributed to him, but none can be substantiated with sources. These may have included the Naqsh-e Jahan Square and Charbagh Avenue in Isfahan. He is buried in Imam Reza shrine in Mashad in Iran.

5. Antoun Saadeh (1904 - 1949)

With an HPI of 52.84, Antoun Saadeh is the 5th most famous Lebanese Philosopher.  His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Antoun Saadeh (Arabic: أنطون سعادة, romanized: ʾAnṭūn Saʿādah; 1 March 1904 – 8 July 1949) was a Lebanese politician, sociologist, philosopher and writer who founded the Syrian Social Nationalist Party.