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The Facial Expression of Epicurus

  • Kalosyni
  • December 14, 2023 at 6:38 PM
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  • TauPhi
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    • December 16, 2023 at 1:23 AM
    • #21

    This is the depiction of Epicurus I like the most from the ones I've seen so far. It comes from a Polish book 'Lukrecjusz' by Kazimierz Lesniak published in 1985. There's something in the eyes that captures my attention and I think it's the closest visual representation of Epicurus to the one I have in my mind.

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  • Kalosyni
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    • December 16, 2023 at 2:42 PM
    • #22

    Martin do you have any close-up (just the face) and straight-on photos of Epicurus from your museum tour?

  • Martin
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    • December 16, 2023 at 11:08 PM
    • #23

    The second photo in comment number 11 in the thread on my visit of the institute is the closest close-up I have. I did not take a straight-on close-up because one side of the nose is missing a piece.

  • Kalosyni
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    • December 18, 2023 at 9:49 AM
    • #24

    From Martin's photo we can see that it is a very straight look on the lips of Epicurus. Also he seems to be looking downward -- if you factor in that the statue is placed upon a pedestal then you see that that downward gaze is actually a place of power, as he is looking down at the viewer (the pedestal lifts up the form slightly higher than the viewer). So it seems that this seriousness conveys power.

    As for a smile, it can convey comraderie, affection, and enjoyment and as modern people I can see that we do need that conveyed at times, whether in one's imagination or in new artistic works.

    And as far as creating more graphics which show Epicurus extolling the teachings, I would appreciate anyone uploading images (both serious or slight smile) which you think would help convey wisdom and the aura of a great teacher. And specifically state those that you think would work in graphics.

  • Pacatus
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    • December 18, 2023 at 4:25 PM
    • #25

    Eikadistes

    I also really like Genevra's portrait of "Epicurus in the Garden" on page 114 of your book (paperback version arrived today! :) :thumbup: ). Any chance you could add that one to the thread here? Many thanks!

    "We must try to make the end of the journey better than the beginning, as long as we are journeying; but when we come to the end, we must be happy and content." (Vatican Saying 48)

  • Eikadistes
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    • December 18, 2023 at 6:22 PM
    • #26
    Quote from Pacatus

    Eikadistes

    I also really like Genevra's portrait of "Epicurus in the Garden" on page 114 of your book (paperback version arrived today! :) :thumbup: ). Any chance you could add that one to the thread here? Many thanks!

  • Pacatus
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    • December 18, 2023 at 6:24 PM
    • #27

    Eikadistes

    Thanks! What I like about this one is the sense of a relaxed serenity. :)

    "We must try to make the end of the journey better than the beginning, as long as we are journeying; but when we come to the end, we must be happy and content." (Vatican Saying 48)

  • Joshua
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    • December 21, 2023 at 12:39 AM
    • #28
    Epicurus in Frankston – PichiAvo
    www.pichiavo.com

    Quite an interesting project here!

  • Pacatus
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    • March 11, 2024 at 6:05 PM
    • #29

    Artists' renderings can certainly evoke a mood. Here is a painting of Zeno of Citium (I couldn't find the artist) and Genevra Catalano's Epicurus:

    "We must try to make the end of the journey better than the beginning, as long as we are journeying; but when we come to the end, we must be happy and content." (Vatican Saying 48)

  • Kalosyni
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    • June 3, 2024 at 8:22 AM
    • #30

    Just for fun I put into an AI image generator: "laughing Epicurus" and this is what I got, and these strike me as being not very photogenic. Others who posted here in this thread above have way much better stuff (especially those which are human made art), but I decided to post these anyway because these bring up the human quality of emotions. Even though we see and think of the stern face of Epicurus in carved busts, he was a human being with emotions.

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    Cassius
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    • June 3, 2024 at 8:30 AM
    • #31

    I agree that the result is not particularly flattering, but the overall look and feel of the AI generation is very impressive.

    We need a thread giving information on what AI generators are used, and listing the "instructions" given to the generator, so that more people can get experience in making these as foundations for new meme material.


    Update: We already have one. It would be highly desirable to get this conversation going with specific tips on how to do this.

    Thread

    Using New Technology To Produce More Effective Memes

    In addition to the new graphics that Nate's wife has been producing, I see that @Bryan has produced some new work that apparently also uses new technology.

    epicureanfriends.com/wcf/gallery/image/726/

    epicureanfriends.com/wcf/gallery/image/725/

    When I combine my reaction to these new images with Kalosyni's recent efforts towards "motivational posters" and "pamphlets" it seems like we ought to be able to combine the two to produce striking presentations not only of persons but also…
    Cassius
    November 27, 2023 at 10:54 AM
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    • September 29, 2024 at 5:44 PM
    • #32

    I came across this short but interesting article on the topic of Epicurus' appearance:

    'How the portrait of the Athenian philosopher Epicurus became known to us' by Takis Panagiotopoulos:

    https://www.epicuros.gr/pages/en/Panagiotopoulos_EpicurusPortrait.pdf

  • Kalosyni
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    • April 23, 2025 at 8:19 AM
    • #33

    This shows how important eyebrows are to the physical appearance of intelligence. (I did this digitally with my tablet and stylus pen). I changed the lips, but thinking that I could add back in some thickness. Also the forehead may need a bit more work.

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    Cassius
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    • April 23, 2025 at 8:38 AM
    • #34

    That gives a 100% improved result that is much more consistent with the other representations.

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    Cassius
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    • April 23, 2025 at 8:41 AM
    • #35

    After you've played with that for a while I'd like to post a version of that over on Facebook and make the revised version available in a reasonably high resolution, perhaps accompanied by colorized versions that reconstruct the idea that the ancient statues were painted.

  • vlasalv
    Guest
    • April 23, 2025 at 9:48 AM
    • #36

    Asked ChatGPT to work futher the 'after' image and it generated this:



    I love generative AI! :D

  • Eikadistes
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    • April 23, 2025 at 9:59 AM
    • #37

    I really, really, really want to recommend never using ChatGPT.

    I'm going to be a broken record and annoy everyone until it stops.

    There are thousands of artists out their who are HUNGRY for commissions, many of whom are friends, and can no longer work because of AI and other plagiarism programs.

    Please be reminded: everyone in here is so much smarter and more creative than AI.

    Don't defer to it for any reason, ever, under any circumstances.

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    Cassius
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    • April 23, 2025 at 12:44 PM
    • #38

    I am sympathetic to Eikadistes ' view and will solicit comments from the moderators about how we can balance competing interests.

    Even more than that, however, I need to review where we are on disk space and figure out a way to make sure that we keep image uploads that aren't long-term assets under control.

    On that point too I'll ask for comments (separate thread) as we need to consider recommending some sort of image-sharing site so that people know how to post large images and then just post the links here. That will show up the same way but won't permanently occupy disk space here.

    So far we have had no real issues but we are now in our tenth year and we probably need to reevaluate disk space issues.


    UPDATE: Image Sharing Alternatives

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