Thinkers of the Classical Antiquity
Vitruvius
79 BCE – 14 BCE
Technologyquotes
Vitruvius was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work titled De architectura. As the only treatise on architecture to survive from antiquity, it has been regarded since the Renaissance as the first book on architectural theory, as well as a major source on the canon of classical architecture. It is not clear to what extent his contemporaries regarded his book as original or important.
Cold winds are disagreeable, hot winds enervating, moist winds unhealthy.
Seneca the Younger
4 BCE – 65
Philosophyquotes
Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger, usually known mononymously as Seneca, was a Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome, a statesman, a dramatist, and in one work, a satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature.
I am endeavouring to live every day as if it were a complete life.
Julius Caesar
100 BCE – 44 BCE
Politicsquotes
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman who was the dictator of the Roman Republic almost continuously from 49 BC until his assassination in 44 BC. A member of the First Triumvirate, he led the Roman armies through the Gallic Wars and defeated his political rival Pompey in Caesar’s civil war. He consolidated power and proclaimed himself dictator perpetuo in 44 BC, which contributed to the political conditions that led to the collapse of the Roman Republic and the emergence of the Roman Empire.
C. Julius Caesar Jona Lendering's in‑depth history of Caesar
Philo
14 BCE – 50
Philosophyquotes
Philo of Alexandria, also called Philō Judæus, was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt.
Nothing will a man rue more than refusal to listen to the wise.
Ovid
42 BCE – 17
Literaturequotes
Publius Ovidius Naso, known in English as Ovid, was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature. The Imperial scholar Quintilian considered him the last of the Latin love elegists.
Qui finem quaeris amoris,Cedit amor rebus; res age, tutus eris.
Diodorus Siculus
89 BCE – 19 BCE
Historyquotes
Pliny the Elder
20 – 79
Sciencequotes
Gaius Plinius Secundus, known in English as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, scientist, naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, procurator, and friend of the emperor Vespasian. Pliny wrote the encyclopedic Naturalis Historia, a thirty-seven-volume work covering a vast array of topics on human knowledge and the natural world, which became an editorial model for encyclopedias. He spent most of his spare time studying, writing, and investigating natural and geographic phenomena in the field.
Always act in such a way as to secure the love of your neighbour.
Apollonius of Tyana
15 – 100
Philosophyquotes
Apollonius of Tyana was a Greek philosopher and religious leader from the town of Tyana, Cappadocia in Roman Anatolia, who spent his life travelling and teaching in the Middle East, North Africa and India. He is a central figure in Neopythagoreanism and was one of the most famous "miracle workers" of his day.
To speak falsely is the mark of a slave, but the truth is noble.
Words from December 4
"Cold winds are disagreeable, hot winds enervating, moist winds unhealthy."
Vitruvius
79 BCE
"Bricks should be made in Spring or Autumn so that they may dry uniformly."
Vitruvius
79 BCE
"I am endeavouring to live every day as if it were a complete life."
Seneca the Younger
4 BCE
"He knows his own strength; he knows that he was born to carry burdens."
Seneca the Younger
4 BCE
"C. Julius Caesar Jona Lendering's in‑depth history of Caesar"
Julius Caesar
100 BCE
"The Heart of Change: Julius Caesar and the End of the Roman Republic"
Julius Caesar
100 BCE