CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA (150?–215?), Christian theologian. Little is known about the life of Titus Flavius Clemens. A few details can be gathered from Clement's allusion to his education (Miscellanies 1.1, 2.2) and from the report of the fourth-century Christian writer Eusebius of Caesarea (Ecclesiastical History 5.10–11, 6.6, 6.11.5–6). Born in the mid-second century to pagan parents, perhaps in Athens, Clement traveled extensively as a young man, seeking an intellectual mentor. This he found in Pantaenus, who, according to Eusebius, served as head of a Christian school in Alexandria. Clement is said to have succeeded Pantaenus as chief of the school in the late second century, probably remaining a layperson after his conversion to Christianity. In 202 or 203, at the time of the emperor Septimius Severus's persecution of Christians, Clement left Alexandria for Asia Minor. Presumably he died before 215.

The following treatises of Clement are extant: Exhortation to the Greeks (Protrepticus); The...