Epicurus. Delivering the human soul from suffering
Epicurus was born in January or February 341 BC, and lived in his youth on Samos and Teos. His father was most likely a school teacher. Epicurus turned to philosophy at the age of 14, when, as a teacher of literature, he read the works of Democritus. His teacher in philosophy was the Democritus follower Nausiphanes. Epicurus became a teacher of philosophy at the age of 32, first in Mytilene and Lampsacus, then, beginning in 307, in Athens, where he founded his own school. The school was located in Epicurus’ garden, which is why it was called “the Garden”, and Epicurus’ followers “philosophers from the gardens”.
Philosophy of the Hellenistic era. The life of a private person
With the death of Alexander the Great, a new era of Greek history begins, the Hellenistic era, which significantly changes the face of the social and spiritual life of Greece. Its main cultural centers, the policies, lose their political independence and become subordinate elements within the huge monarchies of the Diadochi. A citizen of a policy, who previously, according to Aristotle, “decided and judged” all issues of the policy structure, becomes simply a private person. This political fact changes the self-awareness of the Greek, and the philosophy of this era expresses this changed self-awareness.