Further thoughts:
We might wonder how the writings of one of the most influential philosophers in ancient Greece almost completely disappear? Epicurus wrote hundreds of books and letters that were once widely read throughout Greece and Rome. Yet today, only a small portion of his own words survives. This raises an obvious question: what happened?
And, we might wonder if the high cost of papyrus was the reason. Since papyrus scrolls were expensive to produce, it is easy to imagine that only a few copies of Epicurus' books ever existed. However, historians have found that this was not the case. During the height of Epicurean philosophy, his writings were copied many times and circulated throughout the Mediterranean world.
One of the strongest pieces of evidence comes from the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum, a luxurious Roman villa that was buried when Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD 79. Archaeologists discovered an extensive library there that specialized in Epicurean philosophy. Even more remarkable, the library contained multiple copies of some of Epicurus' books. Different handwriting shows that these copies were produced by different scribes, demonstrating that copying his works was a regular and organized practice.
This makes sense because Epicureanism was one of the major philosophical schools of the ancient world. Unlike some other schools that encouraged constant debate and reinterpretation, Epicurus emphasized preserving his teachings accurately. His followers memorized his core doctrines and established communities, known as "Gardens," across Greece, Asia Minor, and Italy. These communities depended on reliable copies of his writings, helping spread his ideas far beyond Athens.
By the first century BC, Epicurean philosophy had become especially popular among many educated Romans. Wealthy patrons, politicians, and intellectuals collected Epicurean books, while commercial publishers copied scrolls for sale throughout the Roman world. The Roman statesman Cicero, although he disagreed with Epicurus' philosophy, complained about how common Epicurean books had become. This tells us that his writings were once widely available rather than rare.
But we might wonder, if so many copies existed, why did they almost all disappear?
The answer lies in events that unfolded centuries after Epicurus died. As the Roman world changed, writing materials changed as well. Beginning in the third and fourth centuries AD, books gradually shifted from papyrus scrolls to parchment codices—the early form of the modern book. Copying older scrolls into this new format required enormous amounts of time, money, and labor. Since it was impossible to preserve every ancient work, scribes had to choose which books were worth recopying.
By this time, Epicureanism had greatly declined in popularity. At the same time, Christianity had become the dominant religious and intellectual force throughout much of the Roman Empire. Epicurus' teachings—that the universe was made of atoms, that the soul did not survive death, and that the gods did not intervene in human affairs—stood in sharp contrast to Christian beliefs. Many Christian scholars and monastic scribes instead devoted their efforts to copying biblical texts, theological works, and selected classical authors they considered valuable or compatible with Christian education. As a result, Epicurus' writings were copied far less frequently and eventually disappeared from most libraries.
Natural decay also played an important role. Papyrus is made from plant fibers and deteriorates over time, especially in the damp climates of Europe. Unless old scrolls were continually recopied onto new materials, they simply wore out and disintegrated. Only in exceptionally dry places, such as the deserts of Egypt, or through unusual circumstances like the volcanic burial of Herculaneum, could papyrus survive for centuries.
Although most of Epicurus' own books have been lost, his ideas were not entirely forgotten. The third-century AD writer Diogenes Laërtius preserved three of Epicurus' letters along with a summary of his philosophy in his collection of biographies of Greek philosophers. Another important source is the Roman poet Lucretius, whose On the Nature of Things presents a detailed explanation of Epicurean philosophy. When this manuscript was rediscovered in a monastery in 1417, it helped renew interest in ancient philosophy during the Renaissance.
Unfortunately, what survives today offers only a small glimpse of what was once one of the largest and most influential collections of philosophical writing in the ancient world.
