  Olympiodorus’ wider influence is somewhat less tangible than that of the other great Alexandrians. The Syrians and the Arabs certainly knew and read him, but not extensively. Neither did the Latin west. The commentary on the Categories has come down to us in only one manuscript (Codex Mutinensi 69), and there are only a handful of manuscripts of the Meteorology commentary.  Manuscripts of his commentaries on Plato are equally rare, with the exception of those containing the Phaedo commentary. Yet, to medieval alchemists Olympiodorus’ illustrious name sounded arcane enough to deserve induction into the fictitious canon of ancient alchemists.