Person
Epictetus
Stoic teacher whose student Arrian compiled the Discourses and the Enchiridion. He had been enslaved in Rome and later taught at Nicopolis.
Life
Epictetus was born at Hierapolis in Phrygia. The ancient account is that he was enslaved and brought to Rome, in the household of Epaphroditus, a freedman of Nero, and that he was later freed. He taught Stoicism in Rome until Domitian banished philosophers from the city. He then taught at Nicopolis, on the western coast of Greece.
He did not leave a book written in his own hand. Arrian, a student, published the Discourses from notes, and the short Enchiridion is a handbook drawn from that teaching. The dates of his birth and death are estimates, often given as about 50 and about 135. The picture on this page is an Indian-ink drawing of 1653, made for a French book of moral extracts. The file itself calls it imaginary.
Abric, imaginary portrait of Epictetus, 1653, from a book of moral extracts by Jean Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin. Not a portrait from life. Public-domain reproduction via Wikimedia Commons. Image file. Public domain. See the Commons file for the reproduction status outside the United States.
