Epicurus

(c. 341 BC - c. 270 BC)

The son of an Athenian schoolteacher who settled in Samos, Epicurus studied under leading Aegean philosophers before spending his twenties traveling and developing his signature philosophy, which combined an atomistic understanding of the natural world with an ethical code that prioritized simple pleasures and disinterest in politics. Around 306 bc he converted a house in Athens into a school, the Garden, where he instructed students of both sexes. His extant texts include three full letters preserved by his biographer Diogenes Laertius.