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Today is the birthday of Epicurus (341-270BCE).

Epicurus was an Greek philosopher who advocated simple living, building strong friendships, and enjoying good food and pleasant outdoor living. His school in Athens, called The Garden, was open to women and slaves.

He asked his friends to remember him on his birthday, 10 Gamelion on the Attic Calendar. Today is that day.

If you want to have more and better friendships, and mindfully appreciate good simple things, today is a good day to start.
Evan Prodromou
Evan Prodromou  
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One Epicurean saying I like is the Tetrapharmakos - the fourfold medicine. It goes like this:

- Don't fear gods
- Don't fear death
- Good things are easy to get
- Bad things can be endured

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principal_Doctrines?wprov=sfla1

Principal Doctrines - Wikipedia

Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)
Deus
Deus  
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Since he lived before the times of Epictetus, Seneca, or Marcus Aurelius, can it be said that the Stoics borrowed a couple (or a lot) of ‘stuff’ from him?
Evan Prodromou
Evan Prodromou  
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@Deus probably. But Romans at least considered the two schools of Epicureanism and Stoicism as opposite.

Stoicism emphasizes public service even if it causes personal misery and harm.

Epicureanism emphasizes a withdrawal from public engagement and concentration on personal relationships and enjoyment.
@Deus
ThatAuntie
ThatAuntie  
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I love everything about this. I'm also not to be trusted with facts like this being the year 10 Gamelion on the Attic Calendar. I'll try to use this power for good. 😁
Evan Prodromou
Evan Prodromou  
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@ThatAuntie 10 Gamelion is the day of the year! I'm not sure what the year is, or if they even kept track.
@ThatAuntie
ThatAuntie
ThatAuntie  
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Thank you for the clarification. It's still a flex because of the Gamelion, I think. Definitely memorable because food and friendship pair so well
nekojet
nekojet  
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Big cheesehead, that one. 🤓
Joseph Zitt
Joseph Zitt  
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One curious sidenote: Apparently someone in Talmudic days didn't like him. The standard Hebrew word for "heretic" is "Apikoros."
Pauline von Hellermann
Pauline von Hellermann  
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@donmelton “His school in Athens, called The Garden”, was ooen to women ans slaves” - this school sounss womderful! I would love to know more. Do you have any books on Epicurus you recommend?
@Don Melton
Poor 'Possum
Poor 'Possum  
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Epicurus was easily the philosopher with the biggest quality of life impact on my life from school. I was never going to be the best at anything, but suddenly I was able to be satisfied with what I had. My academic fall from grace was inevitable, but it didn't destroy my sense of self worth, largely because my ideas of what was important in life shifted to relationships and simple pleasures.

Years later, as work started to feel just as fruitless a pursuit as academia, the #IWW and #antiwork notion that we all deserve lives that support "leisure and the pursuit of the finer things in life" Epicurus seemed like an obvious core influence. What good is toil if it doesn't allow you to enjoy yourself from time to time? To idle away an afternoon in a scene plucked from Wind in the Willows: you and a close friend on a lazy bike ride to a picnic spot on a river bank where you can idle away an afternoon with a good, simple spread, perhaps a line in the water or a kite in the sky, just watching the world move around you as you engage in pleasant conversation?
#IWW #antiwork
@faktoider
@faktoider  
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And a good day to remind people that epicureanism is misunderstood; it's not about excesses and decadence but quite the opposite.
Keeper of the orb
Keeper of the orb  
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a fav comic artist of mine worked on a book about epicurus and his life! highly fictionalized, obviously, meeting with the gods and monsters as he was

it's called Epicurus the Sage, by Sam Kieth (artist) and Willian Messner-Loebs (writer)

its a lot of fun!
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