Epicurus in Lycia: The Second-century World of Diogenes of OenoandaEpicurus in Lycia is the first full-length study of this eccentric second-century C.E. philosopher from Oenoanda, a small city in the mountains of Lycia (now Turkey). Toward the end of his life, Diogenes presented his town with a large limestone inscription that proclaimed the wisdom of the Greek philosopher Epicurus, who had lived five centuries earlier. This unique text, which was discovered in the late nineteenth century, has attracted many modern readers. Previous work on Diogenes, however, has concentrated on the reconstruction of Diogenes' fragmentary Greek text and on the information he offers on lost teachings of Epicurus. Gordon's study offers a new approach to Diogenes and to the history of ancient Epicureanism in general. Rather than considering Diogenes simply as an orthodox Epicurean, Gordon draws attention to his engagement with the bustling world of second-century Roman Asia Minor and demonstrates that his historical setting shaped the way he understood and promoted Epicurean philosophy. Gordon shows that Diogenes participated in the fashionable revival of traditional Greek erudition, but that he parted company with his contemporaries regarding popular religion and the general notoriety of Epicureanism. |
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Aelius Aristides Alexander ancient ANRW antiquity Aristides Artemidorus Asia Minor Athens Attic attributed biography Bowie C.P. Jones Cambridge Ch frr chapter Chilton Chion Chion of Heraclea Christians Cicero cites classical Clay contemporaries cultural curean curus Cynic Epistles declamation Democritus Dio Chrysostom Diogenes Laertius Diogenes of Oenoanda discussion divine dreams Epicu Epicurean Epicurean Inscription Epicurean texts Epicurus epistolary Epistolographi epitome example extant Fragments of Diogenes G.W. Bowersock gods Greek Hadrian handbooks Hellenistic Hercher Hermarchus Herodotus hetairai Kyriai Doxai Leontion Letter to Mother Lucian Lucretius Lycia M.F. Smith Malherbe maxims ogenes oracles oracular Oxford Pausanias Philodemus Philosophical Inscription Philostratus Plato Plutarch polemic Principal Doctrines Pythocles Rerum Natura revival rhetorical Roman Empire sayings second century C.E. Second Sophistic second-century seems Sententiae Vaticanae Socrates sources stoa Stoic suggested tion traditional Usener writes γὰρ δὲ εἰ καὶ μὲν μὴ οὖν τὰ τὴν τῆς τὸ τοῦ τῶν ὡς