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Lives of Eminent Philosophers

Diogenes Laërtius

Lives of Eminent Philosophers

Paper book: €67.99

Digital: €21.99

Original publication
220
Bilingual edition
June 12, 2026
Pages
1385
Difficulty
Medium
Genres
Philosophy, History
Moods
Think it through, Travel back in time, Meet a real life
Translated from
English

Book summary

Diogenes Laertius tells the lives and ideas of the philosophers of ancient Greece, from Thales to Epicurus. We see Thales fall into a ditch while gazing at the stars, and Diogenes the Cynic looking for an honest man in broad daylight, lantern in hand, or asking Alexander the Great to stand out of his sun.

Funny or surprising, these anecdotes bring the great thinkers close and make them human. We understand what each one thought by seeing how he lived: a lively way into the origins of philosophy.

Each life is a story of its own, and the book can be read at your own pace in the language you are learning.

The plot

Three scenes from the book. An old woman takes Thales, a Greek scholar, out to look at the stars. He falls into a ditch. She laughs at him: he wants to understand the sky, yet cannot see what lies at his feet.

The world of the book

The schools of Athens. The book tells the lives of some eighty philosophers of ancient Greece, more than 2,000 years ago. Many of them teach in Athens, in the open air.

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