 The praenom "Flavius" is given in "The Lives of the Sophists" and Tzetzes.Eunapius and Synesius call him a Lemnian; Photius a Tyrian; his letters refer to him as an Athenian.It is probable that he was born in Lemnos, studied and taught at Athens, and then settled in Rome (where he would naturally be called "Atheniensis") as a member of the learned circle with which empress Julia Domna surrounded herself.