Memorial Calendar of Leading Epicureans

1. MEMORIAL CALENDAR OF LEADING EPICUREANS

2. SYLLABUS OF NAMES AND REFERENCES

1. Epicurus - "Epicurus, son of Neocles and Chaerestrata, was an Athenian of the deme of Gargettus, and the family of the Philaidae, as Metrodorus says in his work on Nobility of Birth. Heraclides in his epitome of Sotion and others say that the Athenians having colonized Samos, Epicurus was brought up there. In his eighteenth year, as they say, he came to Athens, when Xenocrates was at the Academy and Aristotle was living in Chalcis. After the death of Alexander of Macedon, when the Athenians were driven out of Samos by Perdiccas, he went to join his father in Colophon. Having stayed there some time and gathered disciples he returned again to Athens in the archonship of Anaxicrates. For a while he joined with others in the study of philosophy, but later taught independently, when he had founded the school called after him. He tells us himself that he first made acquaintance with philosophy at the age of fourteen. Apollodorus the Epicurean in the first book of his Life of Epicurus says that he took to philosophy because he despised the teachers of literature, since they were not able to explain to him the passage about Chaos in Hesiod. Hermippus says that Epicurus was at one time a schoolmaster and then after he met with the writings of Democritus, he took eagerly to philosophy." [Diogenes Laertius 01-02]
2. Metrodorus - "Epicurus had many disciples, but among the most distinguished was first Metrodorus, son of Athenaeus (or Timocrates) and Sande, of Lampsacus. From the time when he first came to know Epicurus he never left him, except when he went to his native city for six months, and then he came back. [23] He was a good man in all respects, as Epicurus too bears witness in prologues to his writings and in the third book of his Timocrates. Such was his character: his sister Batis he married to Idomeneus, and had for his own mistress Leontion the Athenian hetaera. He was imperturbable in the face of trouble and of death, as Epicurus says in the first book of his Metrodorus. They say that he died at the age of fifty-two, seven years before Epicurus, and of this Epicurus gives evidence, since in the will already quoted he makes provision for the care of his children, implying that he had already died. [He had also as a disciple Timocrates, Metrodorus’ brother, who has been mentioned already, an aimless person.] [24] Metrodorus’ writings were as follows: Three books Against the Physicians. About Sensations. To Timocrates. Concerning Magnanimity. About Epicurus’ Ill Health. Against the Logicians. Nine books Against the Sophists. Concerning the Path To Wisdom. Concerning Change. Concerning Wealth. Against Democritus. Concerning Nobility of Birth." [Diogenes Laertius 22-24]
3. Hermarchus -
4. Polyaenus - "There was also Polyaenus, son of Athenodorus, of Lampsacus, a modest and friendly man, as Philodemus and his followers say.' [ Diogenes Laertius 24] Polyaenus was the son of Athenodorus. His friendship with Epicurus started after the latter's escape from Mytilene in 307 or 306 BC when he opened a philosophical school at Lampsacus associating himself with other citizens of the town, like Pythocles, Colotes, and Idomeneus. With these fellow citizens he moved to Athens, where they founded a school of philosophy with Epicurus as head, or hegemon, while Polyaenus, Hermarchus and Metrodorus were kathegemones. A man of mild and friendly manners, as Philodemus refers, he adopted fully the philosophical system of his friend, and, although he had previously acquired great reputation as a mathematician, he now maintained with Epicurus the worthlessness of geometry.[1][2] But the statement may be at least doubted, since it is certain Polyaenus wrote a mathematical work called Puzzles (Greek: Aπoριαι) in which the validity of geometry is maintained. It was against this treatise that another Epicurean, Demetrius Lacon, wrote Unsolved questions of Polyaenus (Greek: Πρὸς τὰς Πoλυαίνoυ ἀπoρίας) in the 2nd century BCE. Like Epicurus, a considerable number of spurious works seem to have been assigned to him; one of these was Against the Orators, whose authenticity was attacked both by Zeno of Sidon and his pupil Philodemus. The works attributed to Polyaenus include: On Definitions, On Philosophy, Against Aristo, Puzzles (Aporiai), On the Moon, Against the Orators, His collected Letters. Wikipedia.
5. Polystratus - Scholarch (2nd): (c. 300 – 219/8 BCE) from 250 to 219/8 BCE. Polystratus (Greek: Πολύστρατος; 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. The second preserved work is entitled On Philosophy, of which only broken fragments can be deciphered. Wikipedia
6. Dionysius of Lamptrai - Scholarch (3rd): (c. 280 – 205 BCE) from 219/8 to 205 BCE Wikipedia
7. Zeno of Sidon - Scholarch (7th): (c. 166 – 75 BCE) Scholarch from 125 to 75 BCE
8. Colotes and Idomeneus of Lampsacus - "Also Colotes and Idomeneus, both of Lampsacus. They too were distinguished." [Diogenes Laertius 25]
9. Philodenes of Lampsacus - Wikipedia - DeWitt Reference
10. Leontium (wife of Metrodorus): wrote against Theophrastus https://en.wikisource.org/wiki…Female_Biography/Leontium
11. Antiochus IV Epiphanes
12. Diogenes of Oenoanda
13. Lucian of Samosata
14. Lucius Manlius Torquatus
15. Titus Pomponius Atticus
16. Siro of Naples - Siro (also Syro, Siron, or Syron; fl. c. 50 BC) was an Epicurean philosopher who lived in Naples. He was a teacher of Virgil, and taught at his school in Naples. There are two poems attributed to Virgil in the Appendix Vergiliana, which mention Siro, and where the author speaks of seeking peace in the company of Siro: I am setting sail for the havens of the blest to seek the wise sayings of great Siro, and will redeem my life from all care. Cicero also mentions Siro several times and speaks of Siro along with Philodemus as being "excellent citizens and most learned men." The 5th-century commentator Servius claimed that Siro was commemorated in Virgil's sixth Eclogue as the character Silenus.
17. Lucius Calpurnius Piso
18. Philodemus of Gadara
19. Gaius Cassius Longinus
20. Quintos Horatius Flaccus
21. Titus Lucretius Carus - As to memorializing in October, Donatus writes: "The first years of his life Virgil spent in Cremona until the assumption of his toga virilis on his 17th birthday [traditionally October 15th] (when the same two men held the consulate as when he was born), and it so happened that on the very same day Lucretius the poet passed away."
22. Rabirius and Catius Insuber
23. Gaius Velleius
24. Demetrius Lacon (1st-century BCE) Founded Milesian school; taught Philodemus - we have a number of his works mentioned and in fragmentary form. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demetrius_Lacon
25. Empress Pompeia Plotina
26. Leonteus and Themista of Lampsacus - "Likewise there was Leontius of Lampsacus and his wife Themista, to whom Epicurus addressed one of his letters." [Diogenes Laertius 25] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonteus_of_Lampsacus
27. Basilides of Tyrus - Scholarch (4th): (c. 245 – 175 BCE) from 205 to 175 BCE Basilides (or Basileides, Greek: Βασιλείδης; c. 250-c. 175 BC) was an Epicurean philosopher, who succeeded Dionysius of Lamptrai as the head of the Epicurean school at Athens c. 205 BC. It is not certain who succeeded Basilides: Apollodorus is the next Epicurean leader we can be certain about, but there may have been at least one intermediate leader, and the name Thespis has been suggested. PeoplePill
28. Protarchys of Barghilia - Scholarch (5th): (c. 225 – 150 BCE) from 175 to 150 BCE
29. Apollodorus of Athens - Scholarch (6th): (c. 200 – 125 BCE) from 147 to 125 BCE Wikipedia
30. Phaedrus - Scholarch (8th): (c. 138 – 70/69 BCE) Scholarch from 75 to 70/69 BCE
31. Patro - Scholarch (9th): (c. 100 – 25 BCE) Scholarch from 70/69 to 51 BCE
32. Popillius Theotimus - Scholarch (16ish): (early 2nd-century CE)
33. Heliodorus - Scholarch (17ish): (2nd-century CE) Hadrian writes him.

3. NOMINATIONS TO INCORPORATE

• Phaedrus - 8th scholarch, and known to Cicero and Atticus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaedrus_the_Epicurean "Cicero wrote to Atticus requesting Phaedrus' essay On gods (Greek: Περὶ θεῶν). Cicero used this work to aid his composition of the first book of the De Natura Deorum. Not only did he develop his account of Epicurean doctrine using it, but also the account of the doctrines of earlier philosophers."
• Patro (scholarch of the Garden): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patro_the_Epicurean Wrote to Cicero, asking that he intercede on behalf of saving Epicurus's house
• The unnamed Epicureans mentioned in Acts 17:18-34 who stood up to Paul:
  • A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.”... When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.”
    • I could see the Epicureans "sneering" about the resurrection of the dead!
• Palladas of Alexandria - epigrammatist and Epicurean (in the tradition of Philodemus??) (academic thesis: Death, Delight, and Destitution: What Sort of Epicurean was Palladas of Alexandria? Nikpour, Rodmanned Arya (Author). Within the vast array of classical literature, many authors still have not been thoroughly examined. Among these, Palladas of Alexandria, a prominent epigrammatist in the Palatine Anthology, seems to import Epicurean themes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palladas Could be jury still out on whether he was actually Epicurean... but if he was he was very late... one of the last holdouts!

4. NOTES OF POTENTIAL SUBSTITUTIONS

1 - Virtually nothing is known of [6] Dionysius of Lamptrai.