Olympius (correspondent of Isidore of Pelusium)

Olympius is known only as a correspondent of Isidore of Pelusium, the ascetic letter-writer active in Pelusium and the eastern Nile Delta in the early-to-mid fifth century. The five surviving letters address him under shifting honorifics - "scholasticus" (an advocate or lawyer), "the Count" (comes, a high imperial official), and "the deacon" - so it is uncertain whether one man held successive roles or whether more than one Olympius has been collected under the name; Isidore writes to him as an educated layman, urging him to dig into Scripture rather than idle eloquence, sparring over a Platonic dialogue he "always has on his lips" (the Alcibiades), and answering his questions on the star of the Magi and on Christ's saying "In the world you shall have tribulation." The tenor throughout is that of a learned teacher correcting and instructing a cultivated, philosophically-minded reader fond of Plato. Beyond these letters he is otherwise unattested, and no dates, career, or identity can be securely established.