300BCE
36 Asoka
Asoka was born into the Mauryan royal family some time near 300 BCE. After his father’s death, he became in 270 BCE the king of an empire extending from Afghanistan to Bengal, and covering the Ganges plain and the Deccan plateau. He pushed out the boundaries of his empire during the next decade, conquering Kalinga in 262 BCE. In this way he unified nearly all of India under his rule. He converted to Buddhism in 260 BCE and thenceforth propagated ideals of tolerance, equality, and public service.
37 Hebrew Love Songs
The Hebrew love songs in the collection known as the Song of Songs appear to be part of a song tradition whose style has evolved out of praise songs from Mesopotamia, Egypt, and possibly the Indian subcontinent. When the Hebrew songs are compared with Sumer, Tamil or Egyptian love songs, they are more lyrical and polished—as might be expected as the skills of poets evolved over time, building on the techniques established by their predecessors. The language in the Hebrew songs suggest this collection was compiled in the third century BCE.
38 Xunzi
Xunzi (or Hsün-tzu) was a native of Zhao (Chao), becoming a well-recognized scholar and rising to official posts, including that of magistrate. He lived in the period 298-238 BCE—during the disruptions known as the Warring States. Perhaps the disasters of this period caused him to see people as having an inherently evil nature that required social control. He integrated this view into his own version of Confucianism, developed in a logical manner in a book of some 32 chapters, perhaps the first collection of philosophical essays in China. Xunzi viewed people as being born with a conflicting mixture of desires that if allowed unfettered reign would lead to disaster. It was the role of society, through its culture (including music), to impose order onto the chaos of desires and channel them into constructive, rather than destructive, effort.
40 Koheleth
The word Ecclesiastes, the name of a book in the Christian Bible, comes from the Greek term for one who takes part in the deliberations of an assembled group. The general sense of this is contained in the Hebrew name Koheleth, the sage whose collection of sayings is contained in the Book of Ecclesiastes. He is seen as a member of a group of philosophers or students, of which he was the head. The work probably was written sometime in the first two centuries BCE.
41 Ben Sirach
In about 200 BCE, Jesus the son of Sirach, a Jewish scholar, wrote down a compilation of the wisdom he had gathered during his life. Some time after 132 BCE, this grandson translated it from Hebrew to Greek. The compilation has entered the Christian Bible as one of the books of the Apocrypha. The material Jesus Ben Sirach left behind depends strongly on Jewish religious traditions, but also contains much that is similar to the wisdom literature of the Egyptians. It is the wisdom literature that is extracted here.
42 Sima Qian
Sima Qian (or Ssi-ma Ch’ien), who lived from 145 to about 90 BCE, undertook the production of the first full history of China. This broad ranging work extending over 130 chapters includes annals, chronicles, treatises and extended biographies. It runs from the five sages of the prehistoric era to the Han dynasty of Sima Qian’s own time. The extracts give here concern the First Emperor of China, who founded the Qin dynasty (221-206 BCE). He unified China, built the Great Wall, and ordered the burning of books. Sima Qin presents us with historical facts, with the Emperor’s own account , and with a commentary.
43 Tiruvalluvar
The Tamil poet Tiruvalluvar is commonly believed to have been born in the First Century BCE in Madras (now called Chennai) in south eastern India.
He wrote in the Dravidian language of southern India, an older tongue than the Aryan languages of the north. He expressed his philosophy in the Kural, a collection of 1330 short couplets, primarily in the form of maxims. By this means he put forward a wide ranging humanitarian guide to life at home and in the local community.
44 Lucretius
The author of the poem, De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things), had the full name of Titus Lucretius Carus (c 99-55 BCE). Other than that, virtually nothing is known about him other than what can be deduced from the poem itself. From this source (some 7,400 hexameter lines), he appears to have been a well-educated Roman who had traveled as far as Sicily and avoided falling victim to the murderous politics of his time. His poem provides what is now the fullest surviving exposition of Epicurean philosophy.
45 Vitruvius
Little is know of the life of Marcus Vitruvius Pollio other than what he reveals in his ten books on architecture. He lived at some time between the death of Julius Caesar and the battle of Actium, probably in the reign of Augustus. The dedication of the books indicates that Augustus was the patron of Vitruvius, so that the books were probably presented in about 25 BCE.
46 Jesus of Nazareth
Jesus of Nazareth is thought to have been born about 6 BCE and crucified by the Romans in 27 CE. The earliest surviving Gospels that tell of his life date from about 200 CE. The gospel of Mark was probably written shortly after 70 CE and those of Matthew, Luke and John around 90 CE. Presented here are sayings that some scholars believe are genuine. The picture of Jesus that emerges is of a person who went against Judean custom by advocating love for one’s enemies, and gave a jaundiced portrayal of the local priesthood. He believed that the way of life he advocated would comfort the poor, the starving, and the distraught. His ideas on justice were distinctive.
47 Wang Ch'ung
Wang Ch’ung was born in China in 27 CE. He was an independent thinker, associating with no specific school, although he made use of both Taoist and Confucian principles. Quietly and in private, he wrote the book for which he is famous—the Lun-heng (Disquisitions). In some 85 chapters totaling 200,000 words he scrutinized and criticized common errors. Wang Ch’ung provided a skeptical review of the superstitions and religions of his day and strengthened the component of rationality in Chinese philosophy. Two millennia later, his criticisms are still pertinent to superstitious practices of our own time.
48 Epictetus
One of the most influential teachers of Stoicism, Epictetus (c. 50 - c. 130 CE) was believed to have been born a slave in Phyrigia, Asia Minor, and was given his freedom at perhaps the age of 18. His master, Nero’s administrative secretary, sent him to be educated by a leading Stoic teacher. When he was about 40, Epictetus settled in Epirus, in northwestern Greece, where he formed a major Stoic school.