Q 01/05

Which American president called himself an Epicurean, ranking that system the most rational of the ancients?

A) John Adams

B) James Madison

C) Thomas Jefferson

D) John Quincy Adams

Answer · why

C) Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson defended Epicurus against centuries of caricature, calling his system frugal of vicious indulgence and fruitful of virtue.

Q 02/05

According to a hostile story passed on by Saint Jerome, what drove the Roman poet Lucretius mad before he died?

A) A love potion

B) A head wound

C) A marsh fever

D) A cup of tainted wine

Answer · why

A) A love potion

A love potion drove him insane, Jerome claimed four centuries later, adding that the poem was written in lucid intervals. Scholars now regard the repo...

Q 03/05

In the second century AD, how did the wealthy Diogenes of Oenoanda share Epicurus's philosophy with his whole city?

A) Minting it on coins

B) Staging it as plays

C) Singing it at festivals

D) Carving it on a wall

Answer · why

D) Carving it on a wall

Carving it on a wall some 80 metres long, he set out about 25,000 words of Epicurean teaching to help, as he put it, those who come after us.

Q 04/05

The English word 'epicure', taken from the name of Epicurus, now describes a person with refined taste in what?

A) Music

B) Food

C) Clothing

D) Perfume

Answer · why

B) Food

Food is the epicure's passion, a twist on the original: Epicurus and his followers were known for eating simple meals and taught that nature requires ...

Q 05/05

The Epicurean motto 'Non fui, fui, non sum, non curo' was commonly inscribed on what across the Roman Empire?

A) Wine cups

B) Temple doors

C) Gravestones

D) Signet rings

Answer · why

C) Gravestones

Gravestones carried the line, which means 'I was not; I have been; I am not; I do not mind', a shrug at mortality drawn from Epicurus's teaching.