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Lot Essay
Among the nearly 30 surviving portraits of the philosopher Epikouros, all share an elongated head, a bulbous nose, a weathered face and a full beard. His long wavy hair is typically arranged with flame-like locks that hook to the right across his forehead. Two examples with identifying inscriptions confirm his identity (see the double herm in the Capitoline Museum and a bronze bust from Herculaneum, now in the National Museum, Naples, nos. 1 and 8 in G.M.A. Richter, The Portraits of the Greeks, vol. 2).
Epikouros was born in 341 B.C., probably onSamos. He studied and later taught philosophy across the Greek world before eventually establishing his prominent school in Athens, where he would remain for 36 years. His philosophy continued to be popular through to the Roman period, and as Cicero informs, his devotees had pictures of him and even had his likeness on their drinking-cups and rings (De finibus bonorum et malorum, V,i,3).
Epikouros was born in 341 B.C., probably onSamos. He studied and later taught philosophy across the Greek world before eventually establishing his prominent school in Athens, where he would remain for 36 years. His philosophy continued to be popular through to the Roman period, and as Cicero informs, his devotees had pictures of him and even had his likeness on their drinking-cups and rings (De finibus bonorum et malorum, V,i,3).