Philodemus
Φιλόδημος
(Φιλόδημος),of Gadara, in Palestine, an Epicurean philosopher and epigrammatic poet, contemporary with Cicero, who makes a violent attack upon him, though without mentioning his name, as the abettor of Piso in all his profligacy (Cic. in Pis. 28, 29), though in another place he speaks of him in the following high terms :--Sironem et Philodemum cum optimos viros, tum doctissimos homines
(De Fin. 2.35); and indeed, in the former passage, while attacking his character, he praises his poetical skill and elegance, his knowledge of philosophy, and his general information, in the highest terms. From the language of Cicero, it may be inferred that Philodemus was one of the most distinguished Epicurean philosophers of his time, and that he lived on terms of intimacy with men of the highest rank in Rome. He is also mentioned by Diogenes Laertius (10.3), by Strabo (xvi. p.759), and by Horace (Sat. 1.2. 121).
Works
Epigrams
His epigrams were included in the Anthology of Philip of Thessalonica, and he seems to have been the earliest poet who had a place in that collection. The Greek Anthology contains thirty-four of them, which are chiefly of a light and amatory character, and which quite bear out Cicero's statements concerning the licentiousness of his matter and the elegance of his manner.
Prose writing
Of his prose writings Diogenes (l.c.) quotes from the tenth book τῆς τῶν φιλοσόφων συντάξεως, and a MS. has been discovered at Herculaneum containing a work by him on music, περὶ μουσικῆς.
Further Information
Menag. ad Diog. Läcrt. l.c.; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. iii. p. 609, iv. p. 491; Brunck, Anal. vol. ii. p. 83; Jacobs, Anth. Graec. vol. ii. p. 70, xiii. p. 937; Orelli, Onom. Tullian. s. v.
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.