The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers · Character

Democritus

The laughing atomist of Abdera, who spent his inheritance on travel, dissected animals to find the soul, and said speech is the shadow of action.

supporting

Also known as he of Democritus

First appearance: Democritus

As a supporting figure in The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, Democritus is not background color—the story leans on what they do once the chapter opens.

Cited as a source for Thales' parentage and as confirming his astronomical work.

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Democritus inherited a fortune, took the smallest share in cash so he could wander Egypt, Persia, and perhaps India in search of wisdom, and returned to shut himself in a garden cottage where he cut himself off from the world. He was so absorbed in inquiry that he failed to notice his father's sacrificial ox tethered nearby, and so averse to glory that he came to Athens and let no one know him. As the great theorist of atoms and void, and the philosopher who laughed where Heraclitus wept, he gives the Lives its most compelling portrait of the solitary, self-sufficient thinker.

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Character Web

19 connections

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Relationship types

Other

Character groups

Diverse Pre-Socratics, Sophists, and Later Philosophers
Major Philosophers and Biographers
Pre-Socratics and Skeptics

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Narrative arc

Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Falling action.

Setup
Escalation
Breaking point
Aftermath
Closing

Monimus’s feigned madness and destruction of the money is the emotional and psychological peak because it dram…

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In the story

Democritus appears across 8 companion beats. Open any chapter in the free preview to see the notes beside the text.

Thales
Cited as a source for Thales' parentage and as confirming his astronomical work.
Anaxagoras
Anaxagoras was said to be hostile to him, failing to gain admission for conversation.
Book IX: The Skeptics and the Eleatic School
Wrote the 'Great World' and 'Little World'; lived over 100 years; Plato allegedly wished to burn his writings.
Melissus
Mentioned in analogy: Hippocrates recommended Democritus to the Abderites, as Melissus recommended Heraclitus to the Ephesians.
Democritus
Subject of the chapter; atomist philosopher, pupil of Leucippus, known for his atomic theory and ethics of cheerfulness.
Protagoras
Mentioned as Protagoras's teacher and the one who recognized his potential when he was a porter.
Anaxarchus
Mentioned as a possible teacher in the lineage of Anaxarchus (through Nessus and Metrodorus).
Pyrrho
Mentioned as a precursor to Skepticism; Pyrrho was especially fond of him.

Chapter companion notes

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