Epicureanism has had a long and complex history. Established in Greece in the fourth century BC in response to the peculiar needs of a new age, it gained an immediate and widespread following throughout the Mediterranean world, and in Roman times competed on equal terms with Stoicism for the allegiance of the citizens of the empire. It was singled out by the early Church as a dangerous enemy of the faith, and the philosophy of the Garden became the target of a bitter campaign of denunciation and distortion; it was a one-dimensional Epicurus - the champion of earthly delights - who kept the name of the School alive throughout the Middle Ages. Coinciding with a renewed interest in the antique world, an Epicureanism truer to its classical parent re-emerged to add an important dimension to Renaissance philosophical debate, and in the 16th and 17th centuries, Epicurean theory contributed significantly to the growth of the new science of physics. Howard Jones' book, which is divided equally between the classical and post-classical eras, documents the story as it unfolds.
This book should be of interest to undergraduates, postgraduates and academics of classics, medieval philosophy, history of ideas and ancient history.