examine the nature of the atom, Books 3 and 4 explore the nature of the soul, and Books 5
and 6 explicate the nature of the world. Book 1, after an invocation to the goddess Venus,
praise of Epicurus, and an attack on traditional religion, sets out the arguments for the
existence of atoms and the void, and criticizes the views of H, Empedokle ̄s,
and A; the book ends by describing the infinite nature of matter, space, and the
universe. Book 2 describes the motions, shapes, and characteristics of atoms, and explains
how worlds are created and destroyed. Book 3 sets out the nature of the soul in atomic
terms, arguing that the soul is mortal and thus that death is nothing to fear. Book 4 treats the
nature of atomic images and their role in perception and thinking, as well as the topics
of digestion, locomotion, sleeping, dreaming, and the evils of passionate love. Book 5 treats
the birth and growth of our world, the nature and motion of the heavenly bodies, and
the origins of life and development of human society. Finally, Book 6 treats meteorology
and geology, explaining thunder and lightning, clouds and rain, earthquakes, volcanoes,
magnets, and plagues; the book ends with a detailed description of the great plague at
Athens based on T’ account. The poem is unfinished, although scholars dis-
agree to what extent. As the summary of its contents indicates, the poem primarily treats
Epicurean physical theory, and omits an explicit account of Epicurean ethics, although
Lucretius clearly intended the poem to have consequences for how people lived their lives. It
has been argued that fragments of the poem can be identified among the charred papyrus
rolls from the Epicurean library buried at Herculaneum during the eruption of Vesuvius
in 79 CE.
C. Bailey, Lucretius 3 vv. (1947); KP 3.759–764, G. Schmidt; DSB 8.536–539, D.J. Furley; D. Clay,
Lucretius and Epicurus (1983); K. Kleve, “Lucretius in Herculaneum,” CrErc 19 (1989) 5–27; M. Gale,
Myth and Poetry in Lucretius (1994); OCD3 888 – 890, P.G. Fowler and D.P. Fowler; ECP 309 – 311, Walter
G. Englert; REP 5.854–856, M. Erler; D.N. Sedley, Lucretius and the Transformation of Greek Wisdom
(1998); BNP 7 (2005) 860–864, K. Sallmann.
Walter G. Englert
Lukome ̄de ̄s (120 BCE – 80 CE)
A, in G CMLoc 7.5 (13.92 K.), records two anodynes, based on henbane
and opium, the second also containing, e.g., Indian nard, parsley, pomegranate-flower, rose-
petals, saffron, and storax. The name is rarer after ca 100 BCE (LGPN), whereas the Indian
nard makes a date after ca 120 BCE more likely.
RE 13.2 (1927) 2300 (#14), F.E. Kind.
PTK
Luko ̄n of Iasos (335 – 270 BCE)
Pythagorean critic of Aristotle (D L 5.16; Ath. Deipn. 10 [418e];
E PE 15.2.8–10), whom De ̄me ̄trios of Magnesia, in D.L. 5.69, seems to place
before L T. (The Luko ̄n cited by A A in Schol. Nik.
The ̄r. 585, and the Pythagorean Lukos of Ath., Deipn. 2.80 [69e], are probably L
N).
FGrHist 1110; DPA 4 (2005) 200–203, B. Centrone and C. Macris.
PTK
LUKO ̄N OF IASOS