Recent Updates From Across EpicureanFriends.com

REMINDER: SUNDAY WEEKLY ZOOM - January 18, 2026 -12:30 PM EDT - Ancient text study and discussion: De Rerum Natura, Starting at Line 136 - Level 03 members and above - read the new update.

Recent Activities

  • Eikadistes January 16, 2026 at 9:19 PM

    Post
    Overwhelmingly, I find that Lucertius' neologisms compliment the insight of Epicurus. Referring to particles as "firstlings" is a great example. I actually think that he could have even added a few others, but, in general, I think his translation is a…

  • Cassius January 16, 2026 at 2:43 PM

    Thread
    Welcome to Episode 317 of Lucretius Today. This is a podcast dedicated to the poet Lucretius, who wrote "On The Nature of Things," the most complete presentation of Epicurean philosophy left to us from the ancient world. Each week we walk you through the…

  • Don January 16, 2026 at 7:25 AM

    Replied to the thread Ancient Greek Homes.
    Post
    And the house was big enough for Memmius to consider tearing down and making into a villa, so there's that.

    https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?do…13%3Aletter%3D1

    https://www.uvm.edu/~jbailly/comme…oadfam13.1.html

  • Eikadistes January 15, 2026 at 11:05 PM

    Replied to the thread Happy Birthday General Thread.
    Post
    Happy birthday(s)!

  • Cassius January 15, 2026 at 11:45 AM

    Replied to the thread Happy Birthday General Thread.
    Post
    Yes I see we have two valued members with the same birthday. Happy birthday to Onenski and DaveT!

  • Cassius January 15, 2026 at 9:04 AM

    Post
    JC, FWIW, I happen to be aware that Martin is traveling this week and likely away from internet access so if he is delayed in responding that may well be a factor.

  • Kalosyni January 15, 2026 at 7:59 AM

    Replied to the thread Happy Birthday General Thread.
    Post


    Happy Birthday to Onenski and DaveT  :)

  • jcblackmon January 15, 2026 at 7:07 AM

    Post
    Hi Martin. Thanks for your valuable feedback. You wrote that you needed more time to finish reading the paper. I'd be very interested in your final thoughts. I'd also appreciate any advice you might have on addressing the normalization issue. It seems to…

  • Cassius January 15, 2026 at 4:05 AM

    Replied to the thread Happy Birthday General Thread.
    Post
    Happy Birthday to DaveT! Learn more about DaveT and say happy birthday on DaveT's timeline: DaveT

  • Cassius January 15, 2026 at 4:05 AM

    Replied to the thread Happy Birthday General Thread.
    Post
    Happy Birthday to Onenski! Learn more about Onenski and say happy birthday on Onenski's timeline: Onenski

  • kochiekoch January 14, 2026 at 9:40 PM

    Posted the thread Ancient Greek Homes.
    Thread
    During the chat tonight it came up what Epicurus' house in Athens might have looked like. This video shows how they were laid out, in ancient times, from a basic working-class house to an upper middle-class house, which might be similar to Epicurus'…

  • Cassius January 14, 2026 at 9:38 PM

    Post
    More recent discussion with the video and updated discussion of the location of Epicurus' house is here:

    Don Boozer - Where Was The Garden of Epicurus? Discussion

  • Cassius January 14, 2026 at 9:34 PM

    Post
    I am sure that this is probably included in the video but in tonight's zoom meeting it was impressed on me for the first time that I had failed to appreciate the location of Epicurus' "house." I think something about the name "Milete" led me to think…

  • Matteng January 14, 2026 at 3:53 PM

    Post
    Yes thank you 😅
    It is from podcasts/essays.
    Today in a podcast it was about how important experience of suffering is to grow.
    I first thought this would be against Epicurean Philosophy, but then I realized: No, for greater benefit, it is recommend. For…

  • Cassius January 14, 2026 at 2:08 PM

    Post
    Thanks for those comments Bryan. I suppose to nail down another aspect of this discussion, would you or anyone else here advocate for Lucretius taking off in a bold new direction from Epicurus as to the nature of atoms? I suppose an interesting case…

  • Cassius January 14, 2026 at 1:59 PM

    Post
    Good topic Matteng but please edit your first line:

    […]

    I it looks like you mean to say " read / hear "

    because you've included a lot that I don't think you read HERE! :)

  • Matteng January 14, 2026 at 1:19 PM

    Thread
    In the past I often read/hear:

    Stoicism = Stress management

    Epicureanism = Stress avoidance

    And that Suffering belongs to Life, and is needed for growing and that it is bad to shun pain.

    And that Epicurean philosophy would teach to shun pain.

    Stoics train…

  • Kalosyni January 14, 2026 at 12:45 PM

    Uploaded the image Many more pleasures than pains.
    Image/Video
    Many more pleasures than pains

  • Bryan January 14, 2026 at 10:50 AM

    Post
    […]

    At every turn Lucretius is trying to translate, not transliterate, Epicurus. There are only a few exceptions (Such as homoeomeria, for which he apologizes for using only the transliteration.) To consider this translation a transformation is of course …

  • Cassius January 14, 2026 at 4:56 AM

    Post
    One more comment:

    If what Nail is saying is that he sees much more emphasis on motion in Lucretius than he does in Epicurus, and that this is why we should not be overly focused on anything that is static, then I completely agree. I think motion is a…

  • Cassius January 14, 2026 at 4:30 AM

    Post
    Also Eikadistes I just glanced back over your recent article. What you wrote makes perfect sense to me in going over the many different words that were used as apparent synonyms for particles and stressing that we should pay attention to them.

    But while I…

  • Cassius January 14, 2026 at 4:10 AM

    Post
    I just read the article. I agree with some of Nail's points on ethics (especially his implicit or explicit criticism of too much focus on static / katastematic ideas) but I am not seeing the profound differences between Lucretius and Epicurus that he…

  • Eikadistes January 13, 2026 at 9:54 PM

    Post
    That's what I found, as well. H. A. J. Munro is the only author I've found who seems to consistently stick to Lucretius' neologisms, as opposed to inserting modern scientific jargon. I made a list of the vocabulary words and phrases that Lucretius uses…

  • Kalosyni January 13, 2026 at 9:49 PM

    Thread
    The following page contains a long explanation by the author Thomas Nail (Professor of Philosophy at the University of Denver) of his ideas regarding Lucretius, including his stance that Lucretius never used the word "atoms".

    …

  • kochiekoch January 13, 2026 at 9:16 PM

    Post
    Stunning reconstruction of Rome in all its colorful beauty.

    One thing this version has that other's I've seen is lots of people. Those streets must have been PACKED.

  • Cassius January 13, 2026 at 9:37 AM

    Thread
    Watching a video of a reconstruction of ancient Rome brought my attention to "Fausta Felicitas."

    In addition to Virgil's "Felix quit potuit...." passage I presume that the Romans in general would have connected the word "Felicitas" to the happiness…

  • kochiekoch January 12, 2026 at 8:41 PM

    Post
    In this subject I recalled that religion in ancient societies like the Greeks and Romans had religion DEEPLY intertwined with public life. Denying the gods was unthinkable and, in their view, dangerous as it invited retaliation from the gods. There…

  • Kalosyni January 12, 2026 at 8:16 AM

    Thread
    I just found this interesting article on how important exercise is, and that it is as effective as pharmacological threatments or psychological treatments. And it also helps with neuroplasticity:

    […]

    You can read the full article here.

  • TauPhi January 11, 2026 at 7:02 PM

    Replied to the thread Updating Of EpicurusToday.com.
    Post
    Aristippus' anecdotes about sea voyages he took. Both come from Gnomologium Vaticanum (link below).

    Aristippus the Cyrenian philosopher was shipwrecked sailing into Athens, and having been taken in by the Athenians and asked what he intended to tell his…

  • Don January 11, 2026 at 6:30 AM

    Replied to the thread Welcome JLPENDALL!.
    Post
    Welcome aboard, jlpendall

Finding Things At EpicureanFriends.com

Here is a list of suggested search strategies:

  • Website Overview page - clickable links arrranged by cards.
  • Forum Main Page - list of forums and subforums arranged by topic. Threads are posted according to relevant topics. The "Uncategorized subforum" contains threads which do not fall into any existing topic (also contains older "unfiled" threads which will soon be moved).
  • Search Tool - icon is located on the top right of every page. Note that the search box asks you what section of the forum you'd like to search. If you don't know, select "Everywhere."
  • Search By Key Tags - curated to show frequently-searched topics.
  • Full Tag List - an alphabetical list of all tags.