Epicurus
341 BC – 270 BC · 71 years · Athens (the Garden) · Europe
Taught that the goal of life is pleasure, understood as freedom from bodily pain and mental distress, reached through friendship, simple living and freedom from fear of death. His school met in a garden.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 4th century BC
Portrait: Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Contemporaries around the world
Europe
- Aristotle — ancient Greek philosopher and scientist, 43 years older
- Archimedes — mathematician, physicist and engineer, 54 years younger
- Zeno of Citium — ancient Greek philosopher, founder of Stoicism, 7 years younger
- Pytheas — Greek navigator and geographer, 9 years older
- Olympias — queen of Macedon, mother of Alexander, 34 years older
- Diogenes of Sinope — ancient Greek Cynic philosopher, 71 years older
Middle East
- Alexander the Great — king of Macedon and conqueror, 15 years older
Africa
- Euclid — ancient Greek mathematician, 16 years younger
- Ptolemy I Soter — founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty, 26 years older
- Arsinoe II — queen of Ptolemaic Egypt, 25 years younger
Asia
- Mencius — Chinese Confucian philosopher, 31 years older
- Chandragupta Maurya — founder of the Maurya Empire, 1 year younger
- Ashoka — Maurya emperor, 37 years younger
- Qu Yuan — Chinese poet and minister, 1 year younger
- Zhuangzi — Chinese Taoist philosopher, 28 years older
- Xunzi — Chinese Confucian philosopher, 31 years younger
The world in their lifetime
- 331 BC Battle of Gaugamela — aged 10, Middle East
- 331 BC Founding of Alexandria — aged 10, Africa
- 323 BC Death of Alexander the Great — aged 18, Middle East
- c. 322 BC Founding of the Maurya Empire — aged 19, Asia
- c. 300 BC Maya script — aged 41, Americas
- c. 300 BC–150 El Mirador, capital of the Preclassic Maya — aged 41, Americas
- c. 285 BC Library of Alexandria — aged 56, Africa
- c. 280 BC–247 BC Lighthouse of Alexandria — aged 61, Africa