# Democritus — The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers character guide

> Democritus in The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laërtius.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** he of Democritus

**First appearance:** 0087-democritus

## Snapshot

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.

## Who they are

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.

## In the story

### [Thales](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lives_and_opinions_of_eminent_philosophers_se/chapters/thales)

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

### [Anaxagoras](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lives_and_opinions_of_eminent_philosophers_se/chapters/anaxagoras)

Anaxagoras was said to be hostile to him, failing to gain admission for conversation.

### [Book IX: The Skeptics and the Eleatic School](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lives_and_opinions_of_eminent_philosophers_se/chapters/book-ix)

Wrote the 'Great World' and 'Little World'; lived over 100 years; Plato allegedly wished to burn his writings.

### [Melissus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lives_and_opinions_of_eminent_philosophers_se/chapters/melissus)

Mentioned in analogy: Hippocrates recommended Democritus to the Abderites, as Melissus recommended Heraclitus to the Ephesians.

### [Democritus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lives_and_opinions_of_eminent_philosophers_se/chapters/democritus)

Subject of the chapter; atomist philosopher, pupil of Leucippus, known for his atomic theory and ethics of cheerfulness.

### [Protagoras](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lives_and_opinions_of_eminent_philosophers_se/chapters/protagoras)

Mentioned as Protagoras's teacher and the one who recognized his potential when he was a porter.

### [Anaxarchus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lives_and_opinions_of_eminent_philosophers_se/chapters/anaxarchus)

Mentioned as a possible teacher in the lineage of Anaxarchus (through Nessus and Metrodorus).

### [Pyrrho](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lives_and_opinions_of_eminent_philosophers_se/chapters/pyrrho)

Mentioned as a precursor to Skepticism; Pyrrho was especially fond of him.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lives_and_opinions_of_eminent_philosophers_se/characters/democritus
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lives_and_opinions_of_eminent_philosophers_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lives_and_opinions_of_eminent_philosophers_se/characters