Epicurus

Epicurus (Epikouros or 'Eπίκουρος in Greek) (born Samos 341 BC–died Athens, 270 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosopher who was the founder of Epicureanism, one of the most popular schools of Hellenistic Philosophy.

The School

Epicurus' school had a small, but devoted following in his lifetime. The primary members were Hermarchus, the financier Idomeneus, Leonteus and his wife Themista, the satirist Colotes, the mathematician Polyaenus of Lampsacus, and Metrodorus, the most famous popularizer of Epicureanism. This original school was based in Epicurus' home and garden. An inscription on the gate to the garden is recorded by Seneca in his Epistle XXI:

Related Topics:
Hermarchus - Idomeneus - Leonteus - Themista - Colotes - Polyaenus of Lampsacus - Metrodorus - Seneca

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:Stranger, here you will do well to tarry; here our highest good is pleasure.

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The school's popularity grew and it became, along with Stoicism and Skepticism, one of the three dominant schools of Hellenistic Philosophy, lasting strongly through the later Roman Empire. In Rome, Lucretius was the school's greatest proponent, composing On the Nature of Things, a poem designed to recruit new members. The other major Roman source is Diogenes of Oenoanda, who composed a large inscription at Oenoanda in Lycia.

Related Topics:
Stoicism - Skepticism - Roman Empire - Lucretius - On the Nature of Things - Diogenes of Oenoanda - Oenoanda - Lycia

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A library, dubbed the Villa of the Papyri, in Herculaneum, owned by Julius Caesar's father-in-law, Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, was preserved by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 BC, and was found to contain a large number of works by Philodemus, a late Hellenistic Epicurean, and Epicurus himself, attesting to the school's enduring popularity.

Related Topics:
Villa of the Papyri - Herculaneum - Julius Caesar's - Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus - Vesuvius - 79 BC - Philodemus

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After the official approval of Christianity by Constantine, Epicureanism was repressed. Epicurus' theory of gods unconcerned with human affairs had always clashed strongly with the Judeo-Christian God and the philosophies were essentially irreconcilable. For example, the word for a heretic in the Talmudic literature is "Apikouros". Lactantius criticizes Epicurus at several points throughout his Divine Institutes. The school endured a long period of obscurity and decline. However, there was a resurgance of atomism among scientists in the 18th and 19th Centuries, and in the late 20th Century, the school was revived. A directory of contemporary followers of Epicurus can be found on gardenofepicurus.com.

Related Topics:
Christianity - Constantine - Lactantius - Atomism - 18th - 19th

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