Philodemus
Philosopher and poetWikipedia
18
MENTIONS
5
EPISODES
5
PODCASTS
Search complete. 18 mentions across 5 episodes found for "Philodemus".
Oct 6, 2026
LutherHOST
All right, but metaphorically only, because literally opening it is the part that ruins it.
LutherHOST
What we actually have is the Villa of the Papyri, probably owned by Julius Caesar's father-in-law's family, stuffed with Epicurean philosophy, especially Philodemus, some Stoic stuff, some Latin.
LutherHOST
It's not a greatest hits vault of every lost classic yet.
Beard LawsHOST
All right.
9 MINS LATER
Beard LawsHOST
What kind of books were in this library?
LutherHOST
Well, there's mostly Greek Epicurean philosophy.
LutherHOST
The star author is Philodemus of Gadara, first century BCE.
LutherHOST
Philosophy, ethics, aesthetics, stuff like that.
Brent SealesGUEST
But everything that's there, we were able to unwrap and read, including the title and the author, which is kind of amazing.
Brent SealesGUEST
And a third scroll also gave us another title and an author, Philodemus on God's Book Eight.
Brent SealesGUEST
Which means that there were at least
Nick TawilHOST
eight books on God by this guy.
Nick TawilHOST
And no
Brent SealesGUEST
one knew that Philodemus had written those books.
Brent SealesGUEST
So again, you know, that can start more speculation about, you know, what's in the books, what's in book A we're going to read.
Brent SealesGUEST
So those things, you know, we unpacked that in June.
Johnny GwynnHOST
to a four.
Johnny GwynnHOST
Okay, well, the library belonged to the Greek philosopher named Philodemus, an Epicurean.
Johnny GwynnHOST
A man who was alive in that town when the volcano went.
Johnny GwynnHOST
Previously unknown books of his, plus a treatise.
Scott BrickNARRATOR
Warren Buffett called Charlie Munger his abominable no-man for the rate at which he vetoed his ideas, for which Buffett was ultimately grateful.
Scott BrickNARRATOR
The dictator's dilemma was already a long-standing fixture of study by the time of Augustus, whose education might have included Greek texts concerned with the matter, such as Xenophon's Hiero, Isocrates' Tunicocles, and Philodemus' On Frank Speech.
Scott BrickNARRATOR
As emperor, the eminently sensible Augustus called on senators at random to stifle premeditated remarks, periodically rotated his advisory council, and tolerated libel and jokes at his own expense.
Scott BrickNARRATOR
He ran three censuses of Roman citizens, kept his own ledger of the empire's legions and treasuries, and instituted Rome's first courier carriage system so that, like Lincoln, he could interrogate a direct source of information before anyone could corrupt it.
BennyHOST
And I'm also joined by Maria Nic- uh, Maria Chiara Robustelli.
BennyHOST
Um, she's a member of the Vesuvius Challenge, uh, papyrology team, and a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Naples in Fede- uh, of Federico II, and she's currently preparing a critical edition of a Herculaneum scroll on the Stoics, um, and the Philodemus' The Stoics.
BennyHOST
Um, and together they have been at the heart of a, of for me, a remarkable project, um, to read the Herculaneum scrolls, and we're gonna go really into depth of this, and I'm very excited about it.
BennyHOST
Um, and we're gonna go a little bit more.
35 MINS LATER
Federica NicolardiGUEST
Yeah, sure.
Federica NicolardiGUEST
So first of all, we have the PH Paris 4, which is stored in Paris, uh, at the Institut de France, and it was given as gift to Napoleon Bonaparte by Ferdinand IV.
Federica NicolardiGUEST
And this was the first Herculaneum scroll to be successfully virtually unwrapped, and it gave us a completely new Epicurean text possible by, uh, Philodemus of Gadara, uh, an Epicurean philosopher.
Federica NicolardiGUEST
And the main subject of this text is epistemology, uh, that is, in other words, the field of philosophy that deals, uh, with how we perceive and acquire knowledge of things.