Pyrrho
c. 360 BCE–c. 270 BCE · Elis (Peloponnese)
Founder of Pyrrhonian Skepticism; after accompanying Alexander to India, taught suspension of judgment (epochē) as the path to imperturbable tranquility (ataraxia).
Did you know?
A Greek philosopher marched to India — and met its sages
Pyrrho of Elis, the founder of Greek Skepticism, traveled east with Alexander's army during its Indian campaign of 327–325 BCE. According to the ancient biographical tradition, he conferred there with Indian “gymnosophists” (naked ascetics) and with the Magi — an encounter later writers linked to his doctrine of suspending judgment.
How we know
Pyrrho c. 360–270 BCE; accompanied Alexander to India 327–325 BCE; the meeting with the Indian gymnosophists and the Magi is reported by Diogenes Laërtius, Lives 9.61.
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Elis (Peloponnese)
What they did here
Born in Elis; began as a painter before turning to philosophy under Bryson and Anaxarchus.
About Elis (Peloponnese)
A region of the northwestern Peloponnese that guarded the sanctuary of Olympia and its Games, and whose native sons included the sophist Hippias and Pyrrho, founder of Greek Skepticism.
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers, teachers, and rulers whose lives overlapped with Pyrrho’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
Graeco-Roman world
- Heraclides Ponticus· 390 BCE–310 BCE
- Aeschines· 389 BCE–314 BCE
- Philip of Opus· 385 BCE–
- Demades· 380 BCE–319 BCE
- Aristoxenus· 375 BCE–315 BCE
- Theophrastus· 371 BCE–287 BCE
- Crates of Thebes· 365 BCE–285 BCE
- Dicaearchus of Messana· 360 BCE–285 BCE
- Dinarchus· 360 BCE–290 BCE
- Hecataeus of Abdera· 360 BCE–290 BCE
- Demetrius of Phaleron· 350 BCE–280 BCE
- Menander· 342 BCE–290 BCE
- Epicurus· 341 BCE–270 BCE
- Crantor· 340 BCE–275 BCE
- Herophilus of Chalcedon· 335 BCE–280 BCE
- Strato of Lampsacus· 335 BCE–269 BCE
- Zeno of Citium· 334 BCE–262 BCE
- Metrodorus of Lampsacus· 331 BCE–278 BCE
- Cleanthes· 330 BCE–230 BCE
- Hermarchus of Mytilene· 325 BCE–250 BCE
- Lycophron· 320 BCE–250 BCE
- Arcesilaus· 316 BCE–241 BCE
- Aratus Solensis· 315 BCE–240 BCE
- Theocritus· 300 BCE–260 BCE
Scientists
Egyptian world
Luminaries & Explorers world
Jewish world
Mesopotamian world
Rulers world
- Seleucus I Nicator· 358 BCE–281 BCE
- Demetrius I Poliorcetes· 337 BCE–283 BCE
- Lysimachus· 360 BCE–281 BCE
- Bindusara· –273 BCE
- Chandragupta Maurya· –297 BCE
- Pyrrhus of Epirus· 319 BCE–272 BCE
- Alexander the Great· 356 BCE–323 BCE
- Antigonus I Monophthalmus· 382 BCE–301 BCE
- Philip II of Macedon· 382 BCE–336 BCE
- Ashoka the Great· 304 BCE–232 BCE
Works
No works attributed in the corpus yet.