I've recently been intrigued by online timelines that translate historical dates into more relatable contemporary chronologies to get a better handle on context of historical figures. So, my little project today was putting some Epicurean history into our own timeline.
Since I'm more familiar with American history, I picked 1492 CE as Epicurus's birthdate and put everything in reference to that. So, for example, in 2020, Diogenes Laertius just turned 7 or 8 years old. It'll be awhile until her writes his Lives. I plan to expand this with more dates and people but thought I'd share the work in progress:
If Epicurus was born the year that Christopher Columbus "discovered" North America, then...
- Socrates (1363-1434)
Democritus (b.1373) - Plato (1405-1485)
Aristotle (1449-1511)
Pyrrho (1472-1562)
Chrysippus (1483-1556)
Epicurus (1492-1562)
Zeno of Citium (1499-1571) - Metrodorus of Lampsacus (1502-1556)
Hermarchus (1508-1583) - Apollodorus fl. mid-1600s (succeeded by Zeno as Scholarch of the Athenian Garden)
Zeno of Sidon (1683-1758) - Philodemus (1723-1798)
Marcus Tullius Cicero (1727-1790)
Titus Lucretius Carus (b. 1739-)
Quintus Horatius Flaccus ("Horace") (1768-1825) - Epictetus (1888-1968)
- Diogenes of Oenoanda (wall dated 1950 to 1990)
Marcus Aurelius (1954-2013)
Lucian of Samosata (1958-after 2013) - Diogenes Laërtius (b. 2013) would now be around 8 years old. He will begin writing his famous Lives within the next 20-30 years.