Calcidius

Calcidius (or Chalcidius) was a 4th-century philosopher who translated the first part (to 53c) of Plato's Timaeus from Greek into Latin around the year 321 and provided with it an extensive commentary.

Interpreting it in the light of the Christian faith, the academics in the School of Chartres understood the dialogue to refer to creatio ex nihilo.

[4] He certainly paraphrases or directly quotes from a range of Greek sources, including Homer, Hesiod, and Euripides,[5] in addition to Latin ones such as Terence and Virgil, suggesting a bilingual education.

[6] Multiple features of his commentary have been traced to Theon of Smyrna,[5] Alcinous’ Didaskalikos, works attributed to the Pseudo-Plutarch, Philo of Alexandria, Origen, as well as the Neopythagorean Numenius.

[4] In his commentaries, Calcidius makes no explicit link between the Christian creation narrative found in Genesis and the Platonic one in the Timaeus dialogue.

The date of the work appears to be around the first half of the 4th century A.D.[5] The impetus for producing the translation and commentary could have arisen from an invitation by Osius (or Hosius), Bishop of Cordoba, who participated in the ecumenical councils of Nicea and Serdica in 325 and 343 A.D.[4] Calcidius' opening dedicatory epistle seems to be addressed to an 'Osius' although there are at least five different historical figures to whom this name could be ascribed.

Others doubt this claim, as in Ratkowitsch, who argues that not just single lexical items but also entire clauses from Cicero's version are echoed in Calcidius' translation.