History of Middle Platonism

Middle Platonism can obviously traced back to Platonism and Plato (341-270 B.C.E.). With Platonism emphasizing the idea of duality between forms of reality and the essence of things, we are left with a philosophy emphasizing rationality as a key to unlocking the secrets of the world. With this period, the first and second century C.E., we are looking at the shift from Platonism to Neo-Platonism
	Library of Celsus at Ephesus

The reason that this shift took place is that other philosophers (Eudorus, Philo Judaeus, Plontinus of Alexandria, and others) decided to incorporate ideas from outside philosophies into the traditional Platonic teachings. This incorporation from other beliefs, primarily Stoicism and Pythagoreanism, was done to varying degrees and therefore brought about a whole mess of variations of Platonism. In this way, an individual could find an interest something like mathematics and incorporate that into their philosophy for life. Eventually, all these variations are done away with when Plotinus instigates Neo-Platonism.