1. New
  2. Home
    1. Get Started - Activities
    2. Posting Policies
    3. Community Standards
    4. Terms of Use
    5. Moderator Team
    6. Member Announcements
    7. Site Map
    8. Quizzes
    9. Articles
      1. Featured Articles
    10. All Blog Posts
      1. Elli's Blog / Articles
  3. Wiki
    1. Wiki Home
    2. FAQ
    3. Classical Epicureanism
    4. Physics
    5. Canonics
    6. Ethics
    7. Search Assistance
    8. Not NeoEpicurean
    9. Foundations
    10. Navigation Outlines
    11. Key Pages
  4. Forum
    1. New Activity
    2. New Threads
    3. Welcome
    4. General Discussion
    5. Featured
    6. Activism
    7. Shortcuts
    8. Dashboard
    9. Full Forum List
    10. Level 3+
    11. Most Discussed
  5. Podcast
    1. Lucretius Today Podcast
    2. Episode Guide
    3. Lucretius Today At Youtube
    4. EpicureanFriends Youtube Page
  6. Texts
    1. Overview
    2. Diogenes Laertius
    3. Principal Doctrines
    4. Vatican Sayings
    5. Lucretius
    6. Herodotus
    7. Pythocles
    8. Menoeceus
    9. Fragments - Usener Collection
    10. Torquatus On Ethics
    11. Velleius On Gods
    12. Greek/Latin Help
  7. Gallery
    1. Featured images
    2. Albums
    3. Latest Images
    4. Latest Comments
  8. Calendar
    1. Upcoming Events List
    2. Zoom Meetings
    3. This Month
    4. Sunday Zoom Meetings
    5. First Monday Zoom Meetings
    6. Wednesday Zoom Meeting
    7. Twentieth Zoom Meetings
    8. Zoom Meetings
  9. Other
    1. Featured Content
    2. Blog Posts
    3. Files
    4. Logbook
    5. EF ToDo List
    6. Link-Database
  • Login
  • Register
  • Search
This Thread
  • Everywhere
  • This Thread
  • This Forum
  • Forum
  • Articles
  • Blog Articles
  • Files
  • Gallery
  • Events
  • Pages
  • Wiki
  • Help
  • FAQ
  • More Options

Welcome To EpicureanFriends.com!

"Remember that you are mortal, and you have a limited time to live, and in devoting yourself to discussion of the nature of time and eternity you have seen things that have been, are now, and are to come."

Sign In Now
or
Register a new account
  1. New
  2. Home
    1. Get Started - Activities
    2. Posting Policies
    3. Community Standards
    4. Terms of Use
    5. Moderator Team
    6. Member Announcements
    7. Site Map
    8. Quizzes
    9. Articles
      1. Featured Articles
    10. All Blog Posts
      1. Elli's Blog / Articles
  3. Wiki
    1. Wiki Home
    2. FAQ
    3. Classical Epicureanism
    4. Physics
    5. Canonics
    6. Ethics
    7. Search Assistance
    8. Not NeoEpicurean
    9. Foundations
    10. Navigation Outlines
    11. Key Pages
  4. Forum
    1. New Activity
    2. New Threads
    3. Welcome
    4. General Discussion
    5. Featured
    6. Activism
    7. Shortcuts
    8. Dashboard
    9. Full Forum List
    10. Level 3+
    11. Most Discussed
  5. Podcast
    1. Lucretius Today Podcast
    2. Episode Guide
    3. Lucretius Today At Youtube
    4. EpicureanFriends Youtube Page
  6. Texts
    1. Overview
    2. Diogenes Laertius
    3. Principal Doctrines
    4. Vatican Sayings
    5. Lucretius
    6. Herodotus
    7. Pythocles
    8. Menoeceus
    9. Fragments - Usener Collection
    10. Torquatus On Ethics
    11. Velleius On Gods
    12. Greek/Latin Help
  7. Gallery
    1. Featured images
    2. Albums
    3. Latest Images
    4. Latest Comments
  8. Calendar
    1. Upcoming Events List
    2. Zoom Meetings
    3. This Month
    4. Sunday Zoom Meetings
    5. First Monday Zoom Meetings
    6. Wednesday Zoom Meeting
    7. Twentieth Zoom Meetings
    8. Zoom Meetings
  9. Other
    1. Featured Content
    2. Blog Posts
    3. Files
    4. Logbook
    5. EF ToDo List
    6. Link-Database
  1. New
  2. Home
    1. Get Started - Activities
    2. Posting Policies
    3. Community Standards
    4. Terms of Use
    5. Moderator Team
    6. Member Announcements
    7. Site Map
    8. Quizzes
    9. Articles
      1. Featured Articles
    10. All Blog Posts
      1. Elli's Blog / Articles
  3. Wiki
    1. Wiki Home
    2. FAQ
    3. Classical Epicureanism
    4. Physics
    5. Canonics
    6. Ethics
    7. Search Assistance
    8. Not NeoEpicurean
    9. Foundations
    10. Navigation Outlines
    11. Key Pages
  4. Forum
    1. New Activity
    2. New Threads
    3. Welcome
    4. General Discussion
    5. Featured
    6. Activism
    7. Shortcuts
    8. Dashboard
    9. Full Forum List
    10. Level 3+
    11. Most Discussed
  5. Podcast
    1. Lucretius Today Podcast
    2. Episode Guide
    3. Lucretius Today At Youtube
    4. EpicureanFriends Youtube Page
  6. Texts
    1. Overview
    2. Diogenes Laertius
    3. Principal Doctrines
    4. Vatican Sayings
    5. Lucretius
    6. Herodotus
    7. Pythocles
    8. Menoeceus
    9. Fragments - Usener Collection
    10. Torquatus On Ethics
    11. Velleius On Gods
    12. Greek/Latin Help
  7. Gallery
    1. Featured images
    2. Albums
    3. Latest Images
    4. Latest Comments
  8. Calendar
    1. Upcoming Events List
    2. Zoom Meetings
    3. This Month
    4. Sunday Zoom Meetings
    5. First Monday Zoom Meetings
    6. Wednesday Zoom Meeting
    7. Twentieth Zoom Meetings
    8. Zoom Meetings
  9. Other
    1. Featured Content
    2. Blog Posts
    3. Files
    4. Logbook
    5. EF ToDo List
    6. Link-Database
  1. EpicureanFriends - Home of Classical Epicurean Philosophy
  2. Forum
  3. History, Culture, Customs, and Places
  4. History, Culture, Customs - General
  • Sidebar
  • Sidebar

Epicureanism During the Middle Ages

  • Kalosyni
  • September 13, 2024 at 9:38 AM
  • Go to last post
Regularly Checking In On A Small Screen Device? Bookmark THIS page!
  • Kalosyni
    Student of the Kepos
    Points
    17,344
    Posts
    2,110
    Quizzes
    2
    Quiz rate
    90.9 %
    • September 13, 2024 at 9:38 AM
    • #1

    I just found this article (interview) and it mentions that he wrote an essay.

    A word of caution, at the start of this he goes with an "either/or" dichotomy - saying Epicurus taught that the wise refrained from engaging in "lust and debauchery" and instead "leaned towards a rather radical form of asceticism". (The Ethics forum has sections which deal with this issue, will try to post a link to a more specific section soon).

    But the article has some interesting ideas regarding history of Epicureanism.

    Quote

    Heretic and a slave to desire or radical ascetic and paragon of virtue: who was the real Epicurus? Retracing the history of representations of Epicureanism, the CNRS philosopher Aurélien Robert shows that the Middle Ages played an important role in rehabilitating a Greek philosopher who had been deprecated and caricatured since antiquity.

    Quote

    That said, your essay shows that the rehabilitation of Epicurus dates from the Middle Ages, and not from the Renaissance, contrary to a still widely held belief…
    A.R.: Indeed. For nearly 100 years it has been endlessly repeated that the chance rediscovery in the early 15th century, by an Italian humanist named Poggio Bracciolini, of De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things), a text by Lucretius from the first century BC containing an overview of Epicurean philosophy, enabled the return to grace of the Greek hedonist on the philosophical scene. This thesis is a myth. As paradoxical as it may seem, it was the Middle Ages that brought Epicurus out of the underworld, which quite simply went unnoticed until now due to the focus on texts (sermons, theological treatises, poems, etc.) that stigmatised Epicureans.

    A close look at the medieval documentation on Epicureanism in all its facets shows that, starting in the 12th century, philosophers like Pierre Abélard, his follower John Salisbury or the learned Englishman William of Malmesbury, praised the excellence of Epicurus’ ideas, especially in the realm of ethics. In addition, the early 13th century saw the proliferation of collections of ‘Lives of the Philosophers’, some of which presented him as a model of morality, including for Christians. In my work I show that the clerics of the Middle Ages contradicted thaemselves. Although perfectly aware of the substance of Epicurus’ philosophy, they discussed it only within their own elite circles, while deliberately propagating a false image of Epicureans to the public, as a simple but effective fear tactic.

    The Middle Ages brought Epicurus out of the underworld
    Heretic and a slave to desire or radical ascetic and paragon of virtue: who was the real Epicurus? Retracing the history of representations of Epicureanism,…
    news.cnrs.fr
  • JMGuimas
    01 - Introductory Member
    Points
    29
    Posts
    4
    • September 20, 2024 at 12:36 AM
    • #2

    I was looking for exactly this information. Thank!

  • Don
    ΕΠΙΚΟΥΡΕΙΟΣ (Epicurist)
    Points
    39,861
    Posts
    5,550
    Quizzes
    9
    Quiz rate
    92.8 %
    • September 20, 2024 at 6:36 AM
    • #3
    Aurélien Robert, Épicure aux enfers. Hérésie, athéisme et hédonisme...
    Spécialiste de la philosophie médiévale et de la Renaissance, en particulier de l’atomisme, Aurélien Robert consacre un ouvrage à l’histoire de la réputation…
    journals.openedition.org


    Aurélien Robert, Épicure aux enfers. Hérésie, athéisme et hédonisme...
    En dépit de ce que le titre semble en première lecture suggérer, le livre d’Aurélien Robert (= A. R.), Épicure aux Enfers, est moins la reconstruction d’une…
    journals.openedition.org


    Thread

    Aurelian Robert and His Book "Epicurus in The Underworld"

    epicureanfriends.com/wcf/attachment/1666/ This comes from Facebook - I hope we can encourage him to post here as well:



    I am very pleased to announce the publication of my book: Epicurus in the Underworld. Heresy, atheism and hedonism in the Middle Ages, published by Fayard, Paris (in French). Here is the link to the publisher's website, where you can read a few pages and buy the book (with links to many bookshops online). With a lot of pleasure!

    …
    Cassius
    February 26, 2021 at 3:37 PM

Unread Threads

    1. Title
    2. Replies
    3. Last Reply
    1. Does The Wise Man Groan and Cry Out When On The Rack / Under Torture / In Extreme Pain? 12

      • Cassius
      • October 28, 2019 at 9:06 AM
      • General Discussion
      • Cassius
      • June 17, 2025 at 10:15 PM
    2. Replies
      12
      Views
      859
      12
    3. Don

      June 17, 2025 at 10:15 PM
    1. New Translation of Epicurus' Works 1

      • Thanks 2
      • Eikadistes
      • June 16, 2025 at 3:50 PM
      • General Discussion
      • Eikadistes
      • June 16, 2025 at 6:32 PM
    2. Replies
      1
      Views
      190
      1
    3. Cassius

      June 16, 2025 at 6:32 PM
    1. Superstition and Friday the 13th 6

      • Like 2
      • Kalosyni
      • June 13, 2025 at 8:46 AM
      • General Discussion
      • Kalosyni
      • June 16, 2025 at 3:40 PM
    2. Replies
      6
      Views
      341
      6
    3. Eikadistes

      June 16, 2025 at 3:40 PM
    1. Epicurean Emporium 9

      • Like 3
      • Eikadistes
      • January 25, 2025 at 10:35 PM
      • General Discussion
      • Eikadistes
      • June 16, 2025 at 3:37 PM
    2. Replies
      9
      Views
      1.7k
      9
    3. Eikadistes

      June 16, 2025 at 3:37 PM
    1. The Religion of Nature - as supported by Lucretius' De Rerum Natura 2

      • Thanks 1
      • Kalosyni
      • June 12, 2025 at 12:03 PM
      • General Discussion
      • Kalosyni
      • June 16, 2025 at 11:42 AM
    2. Replies
      2
      Views
      291
      2
    3. Kalosyni

      June 16, 2025 at 11:42 AM

Latest Posts

  • Does The Wise Man Groan and Cry Out When On The Rack / Under Torture / In Extreme Pain?

    Don June 17, 2025 at 10:15 PM
  • Welcome Lamar

    Cassius June 17, 2025 at 11:00 AM
  • Reconciling Cosma Raimondi and Diogenes Laertius On the Bull of Phalaris Question

    Cassius June 17, 2025 at 8:22 AM
  • New Translation of Epicurus' Works

    Cassius June 16, 2025 at 6:32 PM
  • Superstition and Friday the 13th

    Eikadistes June 16, 2025 at 3:40 PM
  • New "TWENTIERS" Website

    Eikadistes June 16, 2025 at 3:38 PM
  • Epicurean Emporium

    Eikadistes June 16, 2025 at 3:37 PM
  • The Religion of Nature - as supported by Lucretius' De Rerum Natura

    Kalosyni June 16, 2025 at 11:42 AM
  • Is All Desire Painful? How Would Epicurus Answer?

    TauPhi June 15, 2025 at 9:23 PM
  • Best Translaton Of PDO1 To Feature At EpicureanFriends?

    Bryan June 14, 2025 at 2:44 PM

Similar Threads

  • Augustine of Hippo, The City of God, XI.5; & Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus, III.6

    • Don
    • November 10, 2023 at 7:47 AM
    • General Discussion

EpicureanFriends - Classical Epicurean Philosophy

  1. Home
    1. About Us
    2. Classical Epicurean Philosophy
  2. Wiki
    1. Getting Started
  3. Frequently Asked Questions
    1. Site Map
  4. Forum
    1. Latest Threads
    2. Featured Threads
    3. Unread Posts
  5. Texts
    1. Core Texts
    2. Biography of Epicurus
    3. Lucretius
  6. Articles
    1. Latest Articles
  7. Gallery
    1. Featured Images
  8. Calendar
    1. This Month At EpicureanFriends
Powered by WoltLab Suite™ 6.0.22
Style: Inspire by cls-design
Stylename
Inspire
Manufacturer
cls-design
Licence
Commercial styles
Help
Supportforum
Visit cls-design