The last great Neoplatonist — and he knew it. Proclus (c. 412–485 CE) turned Plato into a full-blown metaphysical system, complete with divine hierarchies, mathematical theology, and enough commentaries to keep scholars employed for centuries. Head of the Athenian school and master of the footnote-before-footnotes, he didn’t just read Plato — he unfolded him like a cosmic map. For Proclus, everything pointed upward — toward unity, intellect, and the One behind it all.