Epicurus was born in 342 BCE in Samos. An ancient Greek philosopher, Epicurus founded a school in Athens known as the Garden. He taught that the goal of life is a state of tranquility and freedom from fear, achieved through modest pleasures, friendship and the avoidance of unnecessary desires, and that pleasure in this sense is the highest good. Building on the atomism of Democritus, he held that the world is made of atoms and void, and that the gods do not interfere in human affairs and that death is nothing to us. Most of his many writings are lost, but his ideas survive in letters and in the Latin poem of Lucretius, On the Nature of Things.
Before and after
- 20 July 356 BCEBirth of Alexander the Great
- 4th century BCEOrigins of Servian Wall
- from 351 BCE to 1494Construction of Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
- from 343 BCE to 290 BCESamnite Wars
- 342 BCEBirth of Epicurus
- from 341 BCE to 338 BCESecond Latin War
- from 336 BCE to 323 BCEWars of Alexander the Great
- from 335 BCE to 86 BCEConstruction of Lyceum
- 335 BCERise of peripatetic school
More in Art, literature & culture
- from c. 776 BCE to 500 CEAncient Olympic Games
- c. 520 BCECarving of the Behistun inscription
- 2nd century BCEVenus de Milo
- c. 4 BCENativity of Jesus
- June 313 CEEdict of Milan
- 1 November 451 CECouncil of Chalcedon
The era
This moment belongs to the Ancient civilizations (3,200 BCE to 500 CE), writing, cities and empires. You can also browse everything in the 4th century BCE.