300 - 1 CE Flashcards
Theophrastus
c. 371 - 287 BCE
The successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school which he managed for 36 years.
Considered the father of botany.
Studied grammar and language and continued Aristotle’s work on logic.
He regarded space as the mere arrangement and position of bodies, time as an accident of motion, and motion as a necessary consequence of all activity.
In ethics he regarded happiness as depending on external influences as well as on virtue.
Strato of Lampsacus
c. 335 - 269 BCE
The third director of the Lyceum after the death of Theophrastus.
Devoted himself especially to the study of natural science, building on naturalistic elements in Aristotle’s work.
He believed that there was no need to surmise that God created the universe, preferring instead to place the government of the universe in the unconscious force of nature alone.
Theodorus the Atheist
c. 340 - 250 BCE
Part of the Cyrenaic school.
Taught that the goal of life was to obtain joy and avoid grief. The former resulting from knowledge and the latter from ignorance .
Epicurus
c. 341 - 270 BCE
Founded Epicureanism, a highly influential school of philosophy.
He turned against the Platonism of his day and established his own school in Athens known as “The Garden”.
Openly allowed women and slaves to join the school as a matter of policy.
Asserted that philosophy’s purpose is to attain as well as to help others attain happy, tranquil lives characterised by ataraxia (peace and freedom from fear) and aponia (the absence of pain).
To live a self-sufficient life surrounded by friends.
Thought that the root of all human neuroses is death denial and the tendency for humans to believe that death will be horrific and painful - which leads to anxiety, selfishness and hypocrisy.
Believed that death is the end of both the body and the soul and should not be feared.
Gods exist but they have no involvement in human affairs.
You should act ethically not because you will be punished by God but because it will weigh on your conscience not to which causes ataraxia.
Empiricist - senses are a reliable source of knowledge.
Universe is infinite and eternal. All matter is made up of atoms.
Atomic swerve - atoms may deviate from their expected course thus permitting humans to possess free will in an otherwise deterministic universe.
Suppressed by the church but had a revival in the 17th century.
Influenced John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, Jeremy Bentham and Karl Marx.
Zeno of Citium
c. 334 - 262 BCE
Founder of Stoicism which emphasises goodness and peace of mind gained by living a life of virtue in accordance with nature.
This became popular in the Hellenistic period and through to the Roman era.
It is even popular today.
Aristarchus of Samos
c. 310 - 230 BCE
As an astronomer he developed the first known heliocentric model of the solar system with 1-year being a lap around the sun and 1-day being a revolution of the Earth. he also correctly identified the order of the planets.
Invented sundials?
Euclid
c. 300 BCE
Father of geometry.
Published Elements treatise which established the foundations of geometry until the early 19th century.
Some people think he studied at Plato’s Academy.
Archimedes of Syracuse
c. 287 - 212 BCE
The greatest mathematician of ancient history and one of the greatest of all time.
Anticipated modern calculus and analysis by applying the concept of the infinitely small and the method of exhaustion.
Was the first to calculate the area of a circle and the surface area / volume of a sphere
Came up with an approximation of pi.
Chrysippus
c. 279 - 206 BCE
Moved to Athens as a young man and studied under Stoic philosopher Cleanthes. Later became the head of the stoic school.
Because of his writings he is known as the second father of Stoicism.
Excelled in logic, theory of knowledge, ethics and physics.
Deterministic view of fate with space for personal freedom in thought and action.
Taught a therapy of extirpating the unruly passions which depress and crush the soul.
1Eratosthenes of Cyrene
c. 276 - 195 BCE
Chief librarian at the library of Alexandria.
Calculated the circumference and axial tilt of the Earth with remarkable accuracy.
Carneades
c. 214 - 129 BCE
Most prominent head of the skeptical academy in ancient Greece.
Attacked many doctrines such as Epicureanism and Stoicism.
Doubted the ability of the senses but also reason too in acquiring truth. However that we can ascertain probabilities.
Hipparchus
c. 190 - 120 BCE
The father of trigonometry and astronomy.
Discovered the procession of the equinoxes.
Considered the greatest astronomer of antiquity.
First known comprehensive star catalogue from the western world.
Invention of the astrolabe.
Cicero
106 - 43 BCE
Considered one of Rome’s greatest orators and prose stylists, he tried to uphold Optimate principles during the political crises that led to the establishment of the Roman empire.
Immense influence on Latin language, writing more than 3/4 of extant Latin literature that is known to have existed in his lifetime.
Introduced Hellenistic philosophy to Rome.
“The renaissance was above all things a revival of Cicero and only after him and through him of the rest of classical antiquity”. - Tadeusz Zielinski (Polish historian).
Influenced John Locke, David Hume, Montesquieu and Edmund Burke.
Lucretius
c. 99 - 55 BCE
Came up with the 3 age system (stone age, bronze age and iron age).
His one known poem was helpful in reconstructing Christian humanism in the Enlightenment.
