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Polystratus The Epicurean
Polystratus (; fl. 3rd century BC) ; died 219/18 BCE) was an Epicurean philosopher, and head (''scholarch'') of the Epicurean school in Athens. He succeeded Hermarchus as head of the sect c. 250 BC, and was himself succeeded by Dionysius of Lamptrai when he died 219 or 218 BC. Valerius Maximus relates that Polystratus and Hippoclides were born on the same day, followed the sect of the same master Epicurus, shared their patrimony in common, and supported the school together, and at last died at the same moment in extreme old age. Fragments of two of his works survive among the scrolls found at the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum. The first is ''On Irrational Contempt'', which is a polemic directed "against those who irrationally despise popular beliefs." His opponents in the work may be the Cynics or the Skeptics Skepticism ( US) or scepticism ( UK) is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epicurean
Epicureanism is a system of philosophy founded 307 BCE based upon the teachings of Epicurus, an ancient Greek philosopher. Epicurus was an atomist and materialist, following in the steps of Democritus. His materialism led him to religious skepticism and a general attack on superstition and divine intervention. Epicureanism was originally a challenge to Platonism, and its main opponent later became Stoicism. It is a form of hedonism insofar as it declares pleasure to be its sole intrinsic goal. However, the concept that the absence of pain and fear constitutes the greatest pleasure, and its advocacy of a simple life, make it very different from hedonism as colloquially understood. Following the Cyrenaic philosopher Aristippus, Epicurus believed that the greatest good was to seek modest, sustainable pleasure in the form of a state of '' ataraxia'' (tranquility and freedom from fear) and ''aponia'' (the absence of bodily pain) through knowledge of the workings of the world an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scholarch
A scholarch (, ''scholarchēs'') was the head of a school in ancient Greece. The term is especially remembered for its use to mean the heads of schools of philosophy, such as the Platonic Academy in ancient Athens. Its first scholarch was Plato himself, the founder and proprietor. He held the position for forty years, appointing his nephew Speusippus as his successor. The members of the Academy elected later scholarchs. A list of scholarchs of the four main philosophy schools during the Hellenistic period, with the approximate dates they headed the schools, is as follows:Diogenes Laërtius Diogenes Laërtius ( ; , ; ) was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Little is definitively known about his life, but his surviving book ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a principal source for the history of ancient Greek ph ..., 'Lives of the Eminent Philosophers', Book 9, Chapter 12, Section 116 Notes {{Reflist Education in ancient Greece * Ancient Greek titles [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Athens
Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southernmost capital on the European mainland. With its urban area's population numbering over 3.6 million, it is the List of urban areas in the European Union, eighth-largest urban area in the European Union (EU). The Municipality of Athens (also City of Athens), which constitutes a small administrative unit of the entire urban area, had a population of 643,452 (2021) within its official limits, and a land area of . Athens is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, world's oldest cities, with its recorded history spanning over 3,400 years, and its earliest human presence beginning somewhere between the 11th and 7th millennia BCE. According to Greek mythology the city was named after Athena, the ancient Greek goddess of wisdom, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hermarchus
Hermarchus or Hermarch (, ''Hermarkhos''; c. 325-c. 250 BC), sometimes incorrectly written Hermachus (), was an Epicurean philosopher. He was the disciple and successor of Epicurus as head of the school. None of his writings survives. He wrote works directed against Plato, Aristotle, and Empedocles. A fragment from his ''Against Empedocles'', preserved by Porphyry, discusses the need for law in society. His views on the nature of the gods are quoted by Philodemus. Life Hermarchus was a son of Agemarchus, a poor man of Mytilene (in insular Greece), and was at first brought up as a rhetorician, but afterwards became a faithful disciple of Epicurus, who left to him his garden, and appointed him his successor as the head of his school, about 270 BC. He died in the house of ''Lysias'' at an advanced age, and left behind him the reputation of a great philosopher. Cicero has preserved a letter of Epicurus addressed to him. Diogenes Laërtius mentioned from a letter written by Epicurus, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dionysius Of Lamptrai
Dionysius of Lamptrai (; ) was an Epicurean philosopher, who succeeded Polystratus as the head ('' scholarch'') of the Epicurean school at Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ... . He died and was succeeded by Basilides. References 3rd-century BC Greek philosophers Epicurean philosophers Hellenistic-era philosophers in Athens Year of birth unknown 200s BC deaths {{AncientGreece-philosopher-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valerius Maximus
Valerius Maximus () was a 1st-century Latin writer and author of a collection of historical anecdotes: ' ("Nine books of memorable deeds and sayings", also known as ''De factis dictisque memorabilibus'' or ''Facta et dicta memorabilia''). He worked during the reign of Tiberius (14 AD to 37 AD). During the Middle Ages, Valerius Maximus was one of the most copied Latin prose authors, second only to Priscian. More than 600 medieval manuscripts of his books have survived as a result.Briscoe, ''Valerius Maximus'', p. 15. Biography Nothing is known of his life except that his family was poor and undistinguished, and that he owed everything to Sextus Pompeius (consul AD 14),H J Rose, ''A Handbook of Latin Literature'' (London 1966) p. 356 proconsul of Asia, whom he accompanied to the East in 27. Pompeius was the center of a literary circle to which Ovid belonged; he was also an intimate friend of the most literary prince of the imperial family, Germanicus. Although he shared the same n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hippoclides The Epicurean
Hippocleides (also Hippoclides) (), the son of Teisander (Τείσανδρος), was an Athenian nobleman, who served as Eponymous Archon for the year 566 BC – 565 BC. He was a member of the Philaidae, a wealthy Athenian family that was opposed to the Peisistratos family. During his term as archon, he set up the statue of Athena Promachos (πρὀμαχος) in Athens and oversaw a reorganization of the Panathenaia festival. "Hippocleides doesn't care" As a young man, he competed for the hand of Agariste, the daughter of Cleisthenes, the tyrant of Sicyon. By the end of the competitions, only Hippocleides and Megacles remained. According to Herodotus (6.129-130), Hippocleides became intoxicated during a dinner party with Cleisthenes, and began to act like a fool; at one point he stood on his head and kicked his legs in the air, keeping time with the flute music. When Hippocleides was informed by Cleisthenes "Oh son of Teisander, you have just danced away your marriage," his respo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Villa Of The Papyri
The Villa of the Papyri (, also known as ''Villa dei Pisoni'' and in early excavation records as the ''Villa Suburbana'') was an ancient Roman Empire, Roman villa in Herculaneum, in what is now Ercolano, southern Italy. It is named after its unique library of papyri scrolls, discovered in 1750. The Villa was considered to be one of the most luxurious houses in all of Herculaneum and in the Roman world.Amedeo Maiuri, Maiuri, Amedeo. ''Herculaneum and the Villa of the Papyri.'' Italy (1974): 35–39. Its luxury is shown by its exquisite architecture and by the large number of outstanding works of art discovered, including frescoes, Bronze (art), bronzes and marble sculpture which constitute the largest collection of Greek sculpture, Greek and Roman sculptures ever discovered in a single context. It was situated on the ancient coastline below the volcano Vesuvius with nothing to obstruct the view of the sea. It was perhaps owned by Julius Caesar's father-in-law, Lucius Calpurnius P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herculaneum
Herculaneum is an ancient Rome, ancient Roman town located in the modern-day ''comune'' of Ercolano, Campania, Italy. Herculaneum was buried under a massive pyroclastic flow in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Like the nearby city of Pompeii, Herculaneum is famous as one of the few ancient cities to be preserved nearly intact, as the solidified material from the volcano that blanketed the town protected it against looting and the elements. Although less known than Pompeii today, it was the first and, for a long time, the only discovered Vesuvian city (in 1709). Pompeii was revealed in 1748 and identified in 1763. Unlike Pompeii, the mainly Pyroclastic rock, pyroclastic material that covered Herculaneum carbonization, carbonized and preserved more wooden objects such as roofs, beds, and doors, as well as other organic-based materials such as Herculaneum loaf, food and papyrus. According to the traditional tale, the city was rediscovered by chance in 1709 during the dri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cynicism (philosophy)
Cynicism () is a school of thought in ancient Greek philosophy, originating in the Classical Greek philosophy, Classical period and extending into the Hellenistic philosophy, Hellenistic and Ancient Roman philosophy, Roman Imperial periods. According to Cynicism, people are reasoning animals, and the purpose of life and the way to gain happiness is to achieve virtue, in agreement with nature, following one's natural sense of reason by Simple living, living simply and shamelessly free from social constraints. The Cynics (, ) rejected all conventional desires for wealth, power, Glory (honor), glory, Recognition (sociology), social recognition, conformity, and worldly possessions and even flouted such conventions openly and derisively in public. The first philosopher to outline these themes was Antisthenes, who had been a pupil of Socrates in the late 400s BC. He was followed by Diogenes, who lived in a ceramic jar on the streets of Athens. Diogenes took Cynicism to its logical ext ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philosophical Skepticism
Philosophical skepticism (UK spelling: scepticism; from Ancient Greek, Greek σκέψις ''skepsis'', "inquiry") is a family of philosophical views that question the possibility of knowledge. It differs from other forms of skepticism in that it even rejects very plausible knowledge claims that belong to basic common sense. Philosophical skeptics are often classified into two general categories: Those who acatalepsy, deny all possibility of knowledge, and those who advocate for the Suspension_of_judgment, suspension of judgment due to the inadequacy of evidence. This distinction is modeled after the differences between the Academic skepticism, Academic skeptics and the Pyrrhonian skeptics in ancient Greek philosophy. Pyrrhonian skepticism is a practice of suspending judgement, and skepticism in this sense is understood as a way of life that helps the practitioner achieve inner peace. Some types of philosophical skepticism reject all forms of knowledge while others limit this rej ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dirk Obbink
Dirk D. Obbink (born 13 January 1957 in Lincoln, Nebraska) is an American papyrologist and classicist. He was Lecturer in Papyrology and Greek Literature in the Faculty of Classics at Oxford University until 6 February 2021, and was the head of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri Project until August 2016. Obbink was also a fellow and tutor in Greek at Christ Church Oxford, from which role he was suspended in October 2019, as a result of allegations that he had stolen some of the Oxyrhynchus papyri and sold them to the Museum of the Bible. Early life and education Obbink is of Dutch ancestry. Obbink's father Jack was director of the Federal Housing Administration office in Omaha; his mother worked for the state government. He attended Lincoln Southeast high school in Lincoln, Nebraska, and took a BA in English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1979, before earning an MA in Classical Studies and Papyrology there in 1984. In 1987, he received his PhD in Classics at Stanford University wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
