Abstract
This study explores the concern in Epicureanism to create brief renderings of its philosophical tenets. It is argued that although the Epicureans were characteristically apprehensive about simplifying their philosophy so that it would appeal to a broad audience, they utilized literary formats such as epitomes to allow new students and well-disposed outsiders to gain an overview of the philosophy. From around 150–50 BCE evidence though emerges that some Epicureans produced heavily abridged and simplistic texts in order to promote the philosophy widely and to ease the induction of new recruits into the school. This study allows the character and intentions of this largely forgotten movement to emerge, and the potential this has for aiding our understanding of the dissemination of philosophy and intellectual ideas in antiquity to be highlighted.
Bibliography
Adler, Eve. Vergil’s Empire: political thought in the Aeneid. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2003.Search in Google Scholar
Angeli, Anna. Agli Amici di Scuola, La Scuola di Epicuro 7. Naples: Bibliopolis, 1998.Search in Google Scholar
Annas, Julia. Cicero: On Moral Ends. Cambridge: Cambridge U. P., 2001.Search in Google Scholar
Asmis, Elizabeth. “Philodemus’ Epicureanism.” In Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt Part II, Vol. 36.4, edited by W. Haase, 2369–2406. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1990.Search in Google Scholar
Asmis, Elizabeth. “Basic education in Epicureanism.” In Education in Greek and Roman Antiquity, edited by Y. L. Too, 209–239. Leiden: Brill, 2001.10.1163/9789047400134_008Search in Google Scholar
Asmis, Elizabeth. “Epicurean Economics.” In Philodemus and the New Testament World, edited by D. Obbink, J. T. Fitzgerald, G. Holland, 133–176. Leiden: Brill, 2003.Search in Google Scholar
Atkins, Jed. Cicero on Politics and the Limits of Reason: the Republic and Laws. Cambridge: Cambridge U. P., 2013.10.1017/CBO9781107338722Search in Google Scholar
Bachich, Thomas M. “Epitomizing tradition in Late-Antiquity.” In A Companion to Greek and Roman Historiography, edited by J. Marincola, 305–311. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2007.Search in Google Scholar
Bagnall, Roger S. Everyday Writing in the Graeco-Roman East. Berkley: University of California, 2010.10.1525/california/9780520267022.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Baraz, Yelena. A Written Republic: Cicero’s philosophical politics. Princeton: Princeton U. P., 2012.Search in Google Scholar
Barnes, Jonathan. Logic and the Imperial Stoa. Leiden: Brill, 1997.10.1163/9789004321007Search in Google Scholar
Bénatouïl, Thomas. “Philosophical schools in Hellenistic and Roman times.” In A Companion to Ancient Philosophy, edited by M. L. Gill and P. Pellegrin, 415–429. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2006.Search in Google Scholar
Betz, Hans D. “The Sermon on the Mount: its literary genre and function.” Journal of Religion 59.3 (1979): 285–297.10.1086/486705Search in Google Scholar
Brennan, Tad and Brittain, Charles. Simplicius. On Epictetus’ Handbook 1–26. Ancient Commentators on Aristotle. London: Continuum, 2002.Search in Google Scholar
Brookins, Timothy. “The wise Corinthians: their Stoic education and outlook.” Journal of Theological Studies 62.1 (2011): 51–76.10.1093/jts/flr033Search in Google Scholar
Brittain, Charles. Cicero: On Academic Scepticism. Indianapolis: Hackett, 2006.Search in Google Scholar
Brunt, Peter A. “On historical fragments and epitomes.” Classical Quarterly 30 (1980): 477–494.10.1017/S0009838800042403Search in Google Scholar
Chandler, C. Philodemus on Rhetoric: Books 1 and 2. Translation and Exegetical Essays. London: Routledge, 2007.Search in Google Scholar
Castner, Catherine J. Prosopography of Roman Epicureans from the Second Century B.C. to the Second Century A.D. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1998.Search in Google Scholar
Clay, Diskin. “Review of Bernard Frischer. The sculpted word: Epicureanism and philosophical recruitment in Ancient Greece.” The American Journal of Philology 105.4 (1984a): 484–489.10.2307/294843Search in Google Scholar
Clay, Diskin. Lucretius and Epicurus. Ithaca: Cornell U. P., 1984b.Search in Google Scholar
Clay, Diskin. Paradosis and Survival: three chapters in the history of Epicurean philosophy. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1998.10.3998/mpub.23166Search in Google Scholar
Clarke, M. L. Higher Education in the Ancient World. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1971.Search in Google Scholar
Culpepper, John. The Johannine School: An Evaluation of the Johannine-School Hypothesis Based on an Investigation of the Nature of Ancient Schools. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 1975.Search in Google Scholar
DeWitt, Norman. W. St. Paul and Epicurus. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1954.Search in Google Scholar
Dickson, John. P. Mission-Commitment in Ancient Judaism and in the Pauline Communities: the Shape, Extent and Background of Early Christian Mission. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2003.Search in Google Scholar
Dillon, John. “Philosophy as a profession in Late Antiquity.” In Approaching Late Antiquity: the Transformation from Early to Late Empire, edited by S. Swain and M. Edwards, 401–418. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 2003.Search in Google Scholar
Dorandi, Tiziano. “Organisation and structure of the philosophical schools.” In The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy, edited by J. Barnes, J. Mansfeld and M. Schofield, 54–62. Cambridge: Cambridge U. P., 1999.10.1017/CHOL9780521250283.004Search in Google Scholar
Dorandi, Tiziano. “Aspetti della tradizione ‘Gnomologica’ di Epicuro e degli Epicurei. In Aspetti di letteratura gnomica nel mondo antico, edited by M. S. Funghi II, 271–288. Florence: Olschki, 2004.Search in Google Scholar
Dubischar, Markus. “Survival of the most condensed? Auxiliary texts, communication theory, and condensation of knowledge.” In Condensing Texts–Condensed Texts, edited by M. Horster and C. Reitz, 69–90. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 2010.Search in Google Scholar
Erler, Michael. “Epicureanism in the Roman Empire.” In The Cambridge Companion to Epicureanism, edited by J. Warren, 46–64. Cambridge: Cambridge U. P., 2009.10.1017/CCOL9780521873475.004Search in Google Scholar
Fowler, Don. A Commentary on Lucretius ‘De Rerum Natura’. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 2002.Search in Google Scholar
Frischer, Bernard. The Sculpted Word: Epicureanism and philosophical recruitment in ancient Greece. Berkeley: University of California, 1982.10.1525/9780520312135Search in Google Scholar
Garnsey, Peter and Saller, Richard P. The Roman Empire: economy, society, and culture. Berkeley: University of California, 1987.Search in Google Scholar
Galdi, M. L’Epitome nella letteratura latina. Naples: P. Federico and G. Ardia, 1922.Search in Google Scholar
Gera, Dov. “Philonides the Epicurean at court: early connections.” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 125 (1999): 77–83.Search in Google Scholar
Gill, Christopher. Naturalistic Psychology in Galen and Stoicism. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 2010.Search in Google Scholar
Gigante, Marcello. Philodemus in Italy: the books from Herculaneum. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 1996.Search in Google Scholar
Glad, Clarence E. Paul and Philodemus: adaptability in Epicurean and early Christian psychagogy. Leiden: Brill, 1995.10.1163/9789004267275Search in Google Scholar
Glucker, John. Antiochus and the Late Academy. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck and Rupretch, 1978.Search in Google Scholar
Goodman, Martin. Mission and Conversion: proselytizing in the religious history of the Roman Empire. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 1994.Search in Google Scholar
Gordon, Pamela. Epicurus in Lycia: the second-century world of Diogenes of Oenoanda. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1996.10.3998/mpub.14312Search in Google Scholar
Graver, Margaret R. Cicero on the Emotions: Tusculan Dispuations 3 and 4. Berkeley: University of California, 2002.Search in Google Scholar
Gummere, Richard M. Seneca Epistles 1–65. LCL 75. Cambridge: Harvard U. P., 1917.Search in Google Scholar
Hadot, Pierre. Philosophy as a Way of Life: spiritual exercises from Socrates to Foucault. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 1995.Search in Google Scholar
Hadot, Pierre. What is Ancient Philosophy? Translated by Michael Chase. Cambridge: Harvard U. P., 2002.Search in Google Scholar
Hansen, William. “Introduction.” In Anthology of Ancient Greek Popular Literature, edited by W. Hansen, xi-xxix. Bloomington: Indiana U. P., 1998.Search in Google Scholar
Hardie, Philip. “Coming to terms with the empire: poetry between the death of Caesar and the death of Virgil.” In Literature in the Roman World, edited by O. Taplin, 119–153. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 2000.Search in Google Scholar
Harris, William V. Ancient Literacy. Cambridge: Harvard U. P., 1991.Search in Google Scholar
Hatzimichali, Mytro. Potamo of Alexandria and the Emergence of Eclecticism in Late Hellenistic Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge U. P., 2011.10.1017/CBO9780511895036Search in Google Scholar
Hicks, Richard D. Diogenes Laertius: lives of eminent philosophers, v. 1. LCL. Cambridge: Harvard U. P., 1925a.Search in Google Scholar
Hicks, Richard D. Diogenes Laertius: lives of eminent philosophers, v. 2. LCL. Cambridge: Harvard U. P., 1925b.Search in Google Scholar
Hill, Timothy. Ambitiosa Mors: suicide and the self in Roman thought and literature. London: Routledge, 2006.Search in Google Scholar
Inwood, Brad. Reading Seneca: stoic philosophy at Rome. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 2005.Search in Google Scholar
Inwood, Brad. Seneca Selected Philosophical Letters. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 2007.Search in Google Scholar
Inwood, Brad and Gerson, Lloyd P., editors. Hellenistic Philosophy: introductory readings. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1988.Search in Google Scholar
Kaster, Robert A. “Epitome (Latin).” In Oxford Classical Dictionary. 4th Edition, edited by S. Hornblower and A. Spawforth, 529. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 2012.Search in Google Scholar
Keith, Chris. The Pericope Adulterae, the Gospel of John, and the Literacy of Jesus. Leiden: Brill, 2009.10.1163/ej.9789004173941.i-320Search in Google Scholar
King, J. E. Tusculan Disputations. LCL. Cambridge: Harvard U. P., 1966.Search in Google Scholar
Klauck, Hans-Josef. Ancient Letters and the New Testament: a guide to context and exegesis. Waco, TX: Baylor U. P., 2006.Search in Google Scholar
Knorr, Wilburn R. The Ancient Tradition of Geometric Problems. Cambridge: Harvard U. P., 1985.Search in Google Scholar
König, Jason. Greek Literature in the Roman Empire. London: Routledge, 2009.Search in Google Scholar
Konstan, D., Clay, D., Glad, C., Thom, J., and Ware, J. Philodemus: On Frank Criticism. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 1998.Search in Google Scholar
Latham, Ronald E. and Godwin, John. Lucretius: On the Nature of the Universe. London: Penguin Books, 1994.Search in Google Scholar
Leigh, Matthew. “Oblique politics: epic of the Imperial period.” In Literature in the Roman World, edited by O. Taplin, 184–207. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 2001.Search in Google Scholar
Lintott, Andrew W. Cicero as Evidence: a historian’s companion. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 2008.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199216444.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Longo, Auricchio F. and Tepedino Guerra, A. “Aspetti e problemi della dissidenza epicurea.” Cronache Ercolanesi 1 (1981): 29–38.Search in Google Scholar
Lomas, Kathryn. “A Volscian mafia?: Cicero and his Italian clients in the forensic speeches.” In Cicero the Advocate, edited by J. G. Powell and J. Patterson, 96–166. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 2006.Search in Google Scholar
Long, Anthony A. Epictetus: a Stoic and Socratic guide to life. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 2004.Search in Google Scholar
Long, Anthony A. and Sedley, David N. The Hellenistic Philosophers. Cambridge: Cambridge U. P., 1987.10.1017/CBO9780511808050Search in Google Scholar
MacDonald, Michael C. A. “Literacy in an oral environment.” In Writing and Ancient Near Eastern Society: papers in honour of Alan R. Millard, edited by Piotr Benkowski, C. B. Mee, and E. A. Slatter, 49–118. London and New York: T and T Clark, 2005.Search in Google Scholar
MacMullen, Ramsay. Roman Social Relations, 50 B.C. to A.D. 284. New Haven: Yale U. P., 1974.Search in Google Scholar
Makridis, Odysseus. Letters and Sayings of Epicurus. New York: Barnes and Noble, 2005.Search in Google Scholar
Mansfeld, Jaap. “Quellen hellenistischer Philosophie.” In Condensing Texts–Condensed Texts, edited by M. Horster and C. Reitz, 91–134. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner,2010.Search in Google Scholar
Mansfeld, Jaap, J. and Runia, David T. Aёtiana: The method and intellectual context of a doxographer. Volume 1: the sources. Leiden: Brill, 1996.Search in Google Scholar
Mansfeld, Jaap, J. and Runia, David T. Aёtiana: The method and intellectual context of a doxographer. Volume 3: studies in the doxographical Traditions of Ancient Philosophy Leiden: Brill, 2008.Search in Google Scholar
Maxwell, Jaclyn L. Christianization and Communication in Late Antiquity. Cambridge: Cambridge U. P., 2006.Search in Google Scholar
McConnell, Sean. Philosophical Life in Cicero’s Letters. Cambridge: Cambridge U. P., 2014.10.1017/CBO9781139629379Search in Google Scholar
McNamee, Kathleen. “Schools notes.” In Proceedings of the 20th International Congress of Papyrologists, edited by A. Bülow-Jacobsen, 177–184. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum, 1994.Search in Google Scholar
Minyard, John D. Lucretius and the Late Republic: an essay in Roman intellectual history. Leiden: Brill, 1985.10.1163/9789004328259Search in Google Scholar
Morford, Mark O. The Roman Philosophers: from the time of Cato the Censor to the death of Marcus Aurelius. London: Routledge, 2000.Search in Google Scholar
Mülke, Markus. “Die Epitome–das bessere Original?” In Condensing Texts–Condensed Texts, edited by M. Horster and C. Reitz, 69–90. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 2010.Search in Google Scholar
Nagy, Gregory. Greek Literature in the Roman Period and in Late Antiquity: Greek literature in the Roman period and in Late Antiquity. Volume 8. London: Routledge, 2001.Search in Google Scholar
Nicgorski, Walter. Cicero’s Practical Philosophy. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame, 2012.Search in Google Scholar
Nussbaum, Martha, C. The Therapy of Desire: theory and practice in Hellenistic ethics. Princeton: Princeton U. P., 2004.Search in Google Scholar
Obbink, Dirk. Philodemus on Piety. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 1996.Search in Google Scholar
Opelt, Ilona. “Epitome.” RAC 5 (1962): 944–973.Search in Google Scholar
Platt, Michael. “Souls without longing.” Interpretation: Journal of Political Philosophy 18, 3 (1991): 415–465.Search in Google Scholar
Rawson, Elizabeth. Intellectual Life in the Late Roman Republic. London: Duckworth, 1985.Search in Google Scholar
Reale, Giovanna. A History of Ancient Philosophy. Albany: State University of New York, 1985.Search in Google Scholar
Reinhardt, Tobias, Lapidge, Michael and Adams, J. N. Aspects of the Language of Latin Prose. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 2005.10.5871/bacad/9780197263327.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Roskam, Geert. Live Unnoticed: on the vicissitudes of an Epicurean doctrine. Leiden: Brill, 2007.10.1163/ej.9789004161719.i-236Search in Google Scholar
Rothschild, Clare K. Luke-Acts and the Rhetoric of History: an investigation of early Christian historiography. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2004.Search in Google Scholar
Schnelle, Udo. “Das frühe Christentum und die Bildung.” New Testament Studies 61, 2 (2015): 113–143.10.1017/S0028688514000344Search in Google Scholar
Sedley, David. “Philosophical allegiance in the Greco-Roman world.” In Philosophia Togata, edited by M. Griffin and J. Barnes, 97–119. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 1989.Search in Google Scholar
Sedley, David. Lucretius and the Transformation of Greek Wisdom. Cambridge. Cambridge U. P., 1998.10.1017/CBO9780511482380Search in Google Scholar
Sedley, David. “Epicurus’ theological innatism.” In Epicurus and the Epicurean Tradition, edited by J. Fish and K. R. Sanders, 30–52. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 2011.10.1017/CBO9780511921704.003Search in Google Scholar
Sellars, John. The Art of Living: the Stoics on the nature and function of philosophy. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003.Search in Google Scholar
Sellars, John. Stoicism (Ancient Philosophies). London: Routledge, 2006.10.1017/UPO9781844653720Search in Google Scholar
Smith, Philippa R. “‘A self-indulgent misuse of leisure and writing?’ How not to write philosophy: did Cicero get it right?” In Cicero the Philosopher: twelve papers, edited by J. G. F. Powell, 301–324. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 1999.Search in Google Scholar
Snyder, H. Gregory. Teachers and Texts in the Ancient World: philosophers, Jews, and Christians. London: Routledge, 2000.Search in Google Scholar
Sorabji, Richard. Emotion and Peace of Mind: from Stoic agitation to Christian temptation. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 2000.Search in Google Scholar
Still, Simon. “Epitome (Greek).” In Oxford Classical Dictionary. 4th Edition, edited by S. Hornblower and A. Spawforth, 529. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 2012.Search in Google Scholar
Strootman, Rolf. “Literature and the kings.” In A Companion to Hellenistic Literature, edited by J. Clauss and M. Cuypers, 30–45. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.10.1002/9781118970577.ch3Search in Google Scholar
Strozier, Robert M. Foucault, Subjectivity and Identity: historical constructions of subject and self. Detroit: Wayne State U. P., 2002.Search in Google Scholar
Swain, Simon. Hellenism and Empire: language, classicism, and power in the Greek world, AD 50–250. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 1996.Search in Google Scholar
Tepedino Guerra, A. Polieno. Frammenti. Naples: Bibliopolis, 1991.Search in Google Scholar
Thom, Johan C. “Popular philosophy in the Hellenistic-Roman world.” Early Christianity 3.3 (2012): 279–295.10.1628/186870312803853674Search in Google Scholar
Thomas, Rosalind. “Writing, reading, public and private ‘literacies’: functional literacy and democratic literacy in Greece.” In Ancient Literacies: the culture of reading in Greece and Rome, edited by W. A. Johnson and H. N. Parker, 13–45. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 2009.Search in Google Scholar
Trapp, Michael B. “On the tablet of Cebes.” In Aristotle and After, edited by R. Sorabji, 159–178. London: Institute of Classical Studies, 1997.10.1111/j.2041-5370.1997.tb02269.xSearch in Google Scholar
Trapp, Michael B. Philosophy in the Roman Empire: ethics, politics and society. Surrey: Ashgate, 2007.Search in Google Scholar
Tsouna, Voula. “Philodemus on the therapy of vice.” Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 21 (2001): 233–258.Search in Google Scholar
Tsouna, Voula. The Ethics of Philodemus. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 2008.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199292172.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Wenda, Luis A. B. “Epicurus’ letter to Herodotus: some textual notes.” Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 104 (2008): 171–177.Search in Google Scholar
Whitmarsh, Tim. Greek Literature and the Roman Empire: the politics of imitation. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 2001.Search in Google Scholar
Wilson, Walter T. The Mysteries of Righteousness: the literary composition and genre of the sentences of Pseudo-Phocylides. Berlin: Mohr Siebeck, 1994.Search in Google Scholar
Wilson, M. “Rhetoric and the Younger Seneca.” In A Companion to Roman Rhetoric, edited by W. Dominik and J. Hall, 425–438. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2007.10.1002/9780470996485.ch31Search in Google Scholar
Woolf, G. “Literacy or literacies in Rome?” In Ancient Literacies: the culture of reading in Greece and Rome, edited by W. A. Johnson and H. N. Parker, 46–68. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 2009.Search in Google Scholar
© 2015 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/München/Boston
