Philodemus of Gadara
A Greek Epicurean who worked in Italy, and whose writings make up most of the readable texts in the Herculaneum library.
2 min read · Updated 11 November 2026 · Last checked 11 November 2026
Life and work #
Philodemus was born at Gadara, in what is now Jordan. He studied at Athens under Zeno of Sidon, who led the Epicurean school there, and moved to Italy, probably in the 70s BCE.1
In Italy he was linked with the Roman senator Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus. Cicero attacks Piso in a speech and describes Philodemus, without naming him, as a refined man who wrote witty verse.2
Most of the readable texts found at Herculaneum are by him, among them On Vices and On the Gods. They are our best view of how Epicureans argued with other schools in the first century BCE.3,4
A four-line summary of Epicurean teaching, the tetrapharmakos, is preserved in a papyrus attributed to him.5
What to be careful about #
It is often said that he lived and wrote in the Villa of the Papyri. That is a popular conjecture, and scholars treat it with caution.
Dates for his birth and death are estimates.
On this site #
See also: Epicurus, Diogenes of Oenoanda.
Notes
- David Blank, 'Philodemus', Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. ↩
- Blank, 'Philodemus'. ↩
- Herculaneum Society (University of Oxford), 'The Villa of the Papyri'. ↩
- Diamond Light Source, 'New secrets revealed from the Herculaneum scrolls', 25 June 2026. ↩
- Philodemus, untitled work beginning Pros tous… (Herculaneum papyrus PHerc. 1005), column 4, the source of the four-part remedy. Scholars disagree about whether the lines were a standard Epicurean slogan or the view of Philodemus’s opponents. ↩
Ancient sources cited
- Philodemus, untitled work beginning Pros tous… (Herculaneum papyrus PHerc. 1005), column 4, the source of the four-part remedy
The end of the title is lost, so the work's purpose is disputed. Editions are by Sbordone (1947) and Angeli (1988). Some scholars read the four lines as the view of Philodemus's opponents and not his own; the damaged text does not settle it.
Modern works cited
- Herculaneum Society (University of Oxford), 'The Villa of the Papyri' — read online
A careful short account by scholars who work on the papyri. - Diamond Light Source, 'New secrets revealed from the Herculaneum scrolls', 25 June 2026 — read online
An institutional news release, not a scholarly edition. - David Blank, 'Philodemus', Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — read online
Gives his dates as about 110 to about 30 BCE, his study under Zeno of Sidon at Athens, his move to Italy probably in the 70s BCE, and his link to Piso through Cicero. It treats the idea that he lived in the Villa of the Papyri as a popular conjecture and not a fact.
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