A Timeline of Ancient Epicurean History by N. H. Bartman (2023)

(This is an updated version.)

"I just wanted to reiterate how serendipitous it was that Joshua shared a timeline on which he had been working the other day. A year or two ago I intended on updating my study of Epicurean Philosophers into a visual format, but it seemed daunting and I happened to have some time lately. I have been quietly working on this project for the last month, so I was pleased to be reminded that great minds think alike.

I also wanted to share a few notes.

I chose to transliterate the ancient Greek names to English, rendering "Polyainos" instead of "Polyaenus" (etc.). You will notice that each instance of a "u" has been re-formatted into an "o" (and sometimes "ou"), each "c" has been changed to a "k", and other affectations that are a consequence of translating through Latin have been removed. I primarily did this because I have been mispronouncing some of these names for years. It never dawned on me that "Cineas" was "KEY..." and not "SEE..." ... for that matter, I just realized that Cicero would have been pronounced "KICK-arrow" ... anyway, for the sake of the Greek names, I wanted to try to express them with a hybrid authenticity, without using ancient characters.

Half (or slightly less than half) of the dates are certain. Many of them are approximations based on historical mentions of their contemporaries. Several of them are assumptions based on fragmentary evidence. Still, I mean to create a base against which further discoveries can be tested as the Herculaneum scrolls get decoded. It is possible that a few of these entries are fictional, but it is difficult to tell, and it is equally likely that they existed. One point I wanted to make is that I did not assume Epicureans' children to be Epicurean, themselves, nor the slaves to be Epicurean, without further attestation. Thus, Mys makes the list, but not Phaedrium, nor the others, nor the children of Polyainos and Metrodoros.

You will notice that the image contains a number of other philosophers and authors outside of the Epicurean tradition. I selectively added these to describe the historical context in which each Epicurean was writing (and against whom each was writing). Without scrutiny, a number of them are barely visible (this is just a consequence of spacing, mixed with a desire to express that they are not as important as Epicureans). You will also notice a disproportionate number of Messianic Jews, early Christians, Christian Heretics, Gnostics, and Neoplatonists. In doing so, I mean to express how these traditions eventually replaced the Epicurean presence throughout the population (and how Platonism is compatible with Christianity).

Regarding certain color schemas, you will note that some entries are multi-colored to represent their transition in contributing to different traditions. Two early Epicureans converted to Platonism, one Platonist converted to Epicureanism, St. Augustine on the other side of the timeline started life as a Manichaean (Persian Gnostic), advanced to Platonism, and then converted to Christianity. There are also no less than four Christian Saints and Church Fathers that were self-described followers or admirers of Plato, who fused the Middle Platonism of Plutarch, and the Neoplatonism of Plotinus and the gang with the narrative of Jesus of Nazareth. Again, I find it fascinating that these traditions all sort of ... merged.

What else ... Arcesilaus and Carneades are hidden, but there wasn't much room for them anyway (Someday it will be appropriate to re-format this, again, and include new Epicureans, and additional information from the Papyri). They are represented as Platonists that have same color as Pyrrhonism. Epictetus (Epiktetos) is sort of smudged in there, as are the Plinys, but you can see that. I tried to put the Christian names in their original Latin or Greek, depending on the language in which the author wrote. I did my best to associate all of this information, so please forgive any mistakes, as there is so much conflicting information and fragmentary attestation, much of this is the product of my best effort.

I also added a few points of personal interest, like 1st-century political Romans, astronomical events, historical context, mentions of the fact that Greek Skepticism and Neoplatonism are explicitly inspired (and/or blatantly appropriated) from Indian philosophies. Where there are familial relationships, marriages, teacher-student relationships, and, sometimes (when it would fit), the recipients of letters, there are lines. You will find the line of scholarchs descending horizontally, surrounded by their students and contemporaries. I am personally fascinated by Gnosticism and Christian heresy, so I sort of went down a rabbit hole ... still, I think it demonstrates the popularity of mysticism after the 1st-century.

I hope you find it to be useful and educational. I primarily generated this for my own study, but, I'm happy to share if it helps. The file is very large, and you can zoom in very close with the full file. I am not sure if you can do the same through a browser, but I can also add it to the File Database. Also, if you run across any issues locating these figures out of curiosity, I can point you to my sources (they are too numerous to list here).