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Epictetus Biography

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About 9 pages (2,637 words)
Epictetus Summary

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Name: Epictetus
Birth Date: c. 50
Death Date: c. 135
Place of Birth: Hierapolis, Asia Minor
Nationality: Greek
Gender: Male
Occupations: philosopher

Dictionary of Literary Biography on Epictetus

A slave who lived for many years in Rome, Epictetus was also a Stoic philosopher who taught that wisdom consisted in achieving independence from external circumstances and in learning to meet adversity with patience and fortitude. In a manner that perhaps too openly parallels the life of Socrates, whom he deeply admired, Epictetus left behind no writings. The words that are credited to him to him in the Diatribes, better known in English as the Discourses (late first century/early second century A.D.) are actually sections from the notes made by his student Arrian, who later became the noted historian of Alexander the Great. Around A.D. 108 Arrian attended a school that Epictetus conducted in the town of Nicopolis. In a letter to a friend that prefaces the extant text, Arrian claims that he wrote down Epictetus's words as they were actually spoken and avoided any effort to embellish or otherwise polish his notes.

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    Michele Valerie Ronnick, Wayne State University. Epictetus from Dictionary of Literary Biography. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.

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