Epiktet

Epiktet, known in English as Epictetus, was a Greek Stoic philosopher who lived roughly from 50 to 135 CE. Born a slave in Hierapolis, Asia Minor, he was taken to Rome to serve Epaphroditus, a former slave of Nero, and was eventually manumitted. He then left Italy and established a philosophical school in Nicopolis, in Epirus (modern-day Greece).

Epiktet taught that virtue is the only true good and that people should live in accordance with nature and reason. A central idea in his thought is the dichotomy of control: external events, wealth, health, and reputation are not up to us, while our own beliefs, choices, and actions are. By focusing on what lies within our power and maintaining equanimity toward what is not, a person can attain freedom and tranquility. He emphasized discipline, self-control, and the cultivation of good character as practical aims for daily life.

Because Epiktet did not produce written works himself, his teachings survive primarily through the notes of his pupil Arrian. Arrian compiled the Discourses (Dialogues) and, in a shorter form, the Enchiridion (Handbook), which distills Epiktet’s ethical guidance. Additional fragments are preserved in later writers.

Epiktet’s influence extended from late antiquity through modern times, shaping Roman and later Christian thought and contributing to the development of practical Stoicism. His ideas about the limits of external goods and the primacy of internal judgment have also been connected with contemporary cognitive-behavioral approaches that emphasize reframing and control over interpretations of events.