As a boy he studied philosophy for four years under the Platonist teacher Pamphilus. His parents, Neocles and Chaerestrate, both Athenian citizens, had immigrated to the Athenian settlement on the Aegean island of Samos about ten years before Epicurus' birth in February 341 BCE. He taught that pleasure and pain are the measures of what is good and bad, that death is the end of the body and the soul and should therefore not be feared, that the gods do not reward or punish humans, that the universe is infinite and eternal, and that events in the world are ultimately based on the motions and interactions of atoms moving in empty space. Much of what is known about Epicurean philosophy derives from later followers and commentators.įor Epicurus, the purpose of philosophy was to attain the happy, tranquil life, characterized by aponia, the absence of pain and fear, and by living a self-sufficient life surrounded by friends. Only a few fragments and letters remain of Epicurus's 300 written works. Epicurus (Greek: Ἐπίκουρος, Epikouros, "upon youth" Samos, 341 BCE – Athens, 270 BCE 72 years) was an ancient Greek philosopher and the founder of the school of philosophy called Epicureanism.
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