Epicurus

Lore & Background

Epicurus was born in the Athenian settlement on Samos in February 341 BC. His parents, Neocles and Chaerestrate, were Athenian-born, and his father was an Athenian citizen. He studied under a Samian Platonist named Pamphilus and later under Nausiphanes, who followed Democritus. After military service, he joined his family in Colophon. He began teaching in Mytilene around 311 BC but was forced to leave due to strife, then founded a school in Lampsacus before returning to Athens around 306 BC, where he established The Garden. He taught that gods exist but have no involvement in human affairs, and that all natural occurrences result from atoms moving in empty space, with an atomic 'swerve' allowing free will. He died in 270 BC at age seventy-two from a stone blockage of his urinary tract, remaining cheerful and teaching until the end.

Reader's Guide

Epicurus's significance lies in founding Epicureanism, a philosophy that reached its height during the late Roman Republic but died out by late antiquity. During the Middle Ages, he was inaccurately remembered as a patron of drunkards, whoremongers, and gluttons. His teachings became more widely known in the fifteenth century with the rediscovery of important texts, but only became acceptable in the seventeenth century, when the French Catholic priest Pierre Gassendi revived a modified version, promoted by Walter Charleton and Robert Boyle. His influence grew considerably during and after the Enlightenment, impacting thinkers such as John Locke and Karl Marx. Most of his over 300 works are lost; only a few letters and the Principal Doctrines survive, along with fragments like On Nature. Much of what is known comes through later authors like Lucretius and Diogenes of Oenoanda.

Did You Know?

• Epicurus was born in the Athenian settlement on Samos in February 341 BC.
• He proposed the idea of atomic 'swerve' to permit free will in an otherwise deterministic universe.
• His school, The Garden, welcomed many female students during his tenure.
• He died at age seventy-two from a stone blockage of his urinary tract, remaining cheerful until the end.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"ἄφοβον ὁ θεός, ἀνύποπτον ὁ θάνατος, καὶ τἀγαθὸν μὲν εὔκτητον, τὸ δὲ δεινὸν εὐεκκαρτέρητον." — Epicurus "The Tetrapharmakos, or "four-part cure", a summary of the first four Principal Doctrines. Composed by an unidentified Epicurean philosopher (Usener 1887:69); reported by Philodemus, P.Herc. 1005, IV.10–14." — Epicurus "The greatest reward of righteousness is peace of mind." — Epicurus "τὸ φρικωδέστατον οὖν τῶν κακῶν ὁ θάνατος οὐθὲν πρὸς ἡμᾶς͵ ἐπειδήπερ ὅταν μὲν ἡμεῖς ὦμεν͵ ὁ θάνατος οὐ πάρεστιν͵ ὅταν δὲ ὁ θάνατος παρῇ͵ τόθ΄ ἡμεῖς οὐκ ἐσμέν." — Epicurus