Epicurus

341–270 BCE · Greek (Samos/Athens) · Hellenistic Period

Known for: Invented the philosophy of pleasure — though his actual idea of pleasure was bread, water, and good conversation, not orgies

Epicurus founded one of the ancient world's most influential philosophical schools, teaching that the purpose of life is pleasure — specifically, the absence of pain (ataraxia) and the enjoyment of simple pleasures. He established the Garden in Athens, a community where students — including women and slaves, radical for the time — lived and studied together.

His philosophy was materialist and atomist: the universe is made of atoms and void, the gods exist but don't care about humans, and death is simply the dissolution of atoms — nothing to fear. He wrote over 300 works, but almost all are lost. His ideas were systematically attacked by Christians and Stoics for centuries, but survived through Lucretius's poem De Rerum Natura.

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