Theodorus the Atheist
E237907
Cyrenaic philosopher
Hellenistic-era philosopher
ancient Greek philosopher
atheist
hedonist philosopher
Theodorus the Atheist was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Cyrenaic tradition, known for his outspoken rejection of traditional religion and advocacy of rational hedonism.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Theodorus the Atheist canonical | 2 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T2131692 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Theodorus the Atheist Context triple: [Cyrenaic school of philosophy, hasNotableMember, Theodorus the Atheist]
-
A.
Philo of Larissa
Philo of Larissa was a Hellenistic philosopher and prominent Academic Skeptic who led Plato’s Academy in its later period and influenced Roman intellectuals such as Cicero.
-
B.
Xenophanes of Colophon
Xenophanes of Colophon was an early Greek philosopher and poet known for his critique of traditional religion and anthropomorphic gods, and for proposing a single, transcendent deity.
-
C.
Cleanthes of Assos
Cleanthes of Assos was an ancient Greek Stoic philosopher, successor to Zeno of Citium as head of the Stoic school, known for his piety, moral rigor, and the famous "Hymn to Zeus."
-
D.
Heraclides Ponticus
Heraclides Ponticus was a 4th-century BCE Greek philosopher and astronomer known for proposing that the Earth rotates on its axis and for early heliocentric ideas.
-
E.
Antisthenes
Antisthenes was an ancient Greek philosopher, a pupil of Socrates and a key forerunner of Cynicism known for his advocacy of virtue, self-sufficiency, and ascetic living.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Theodorus the Atheist Target entity description: Theodorus the Atheist was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Cyrenaic tradition, known for his outspoken rejection of traditional religion and advocacy of rational hedonism.
-
A.
Philo of Larissa
Philo of Larissa was a Hellenistic philosopher and prominent Academic Skeptic who led Plato’s Academy in its later period and influenced Roman intellectuals such as Cicero.
-
B.
Xenophanes of Colophon
Xenophanes of Colophon was an early Greek philosopher and poet known for his critique of traditional religion and anthropomorphic gods, and for proposing a single, transcendent deity.
-
C.
Cleanthes of Assos
Cleanthes of Assos was an ancient Greek Stoic philosopher, successor to Zeno of Citium as head of the Stoic school, known for his piety, moral rigor, and the famous "Hymn to Zeus."
-
D.
Heraclides Ponticus
Heraclides Ponticus was a 4th-century BCE Greek philosopher and astronomer known for proposing that the Earth rotates on its axis and for early heliocentric ideas.
-
E.
Antisthenes
Antisthenes was an ancient Greek philosopher, a pupil of Socrates and a key forerunner of Cynicism known for his advocacy of virtue, self-sufficiency, and ascetic living.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Cyrenaic philosopher
ⓘ
Hellenistic-era philosopher ⓘ ancient Greek philosopher ⓘ atheist ⓘ hedonist philosopher ⓘ |
| activePeriod |
early 3rd century BCE
ⓘ
late 4th century BCE ⓘ |
| associatedWith |
Cyrenaic tradition of hedonism
ⓘ
Hellenistic ethical debates ⓘ |
| birthPlace | Cyrene ⓘ |
| citizenship | Cyrene ⓘ |
| deathPlace | uncertain ⓘ |
| ethnicOrigin | Greek ⓘ |
| heldView |
acts such as theft, adultery, and sacrilege are not bad by nature but only by social convention
ⓘ
evil consists in grief (lype) ⓘ friendship is not an end in itself but is based on utility ⓘ good consists in joy (chara) ⓘ pleasure and pain are not goods or evils in themselves ⓘ the gods do not exist or are irrelevant to human life ⓘ the wise person is above conventional laws when acting rationally ⓘ the wise person will not risk his life for his country ⓘ the world is his country (cosmopolitanism) ⓘ wisdom and justice are intrinsically good because they produce joy ⓘ |
| influenced |
Bion of Borysthenes
ⓘ
later discussions of atheism in antiquity ⓘ |
| influencedBy |
Aristippus
ⓘ
surface form:
Aristippus of Cyrene
Cyrenaic hedonism ⓘ |
| knownFor |
advocacy of rational hedonism
ⓘ
being called “the Atheist” for his views on the gods ⓘ cosmopolitan doctrine that the world is his country ⓘ ethical theory identifying good with joy and evil with grief ⓘ rejection of traditional Greek religion ⓘ teaching that wisdom and justice are goods in themselves ⓘ |
| mentionedIn |
Cicero’s philosophical works
ⓘ
Diogenes Laertius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers ⓘ
surface form:
Diogenes Laertius’ Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers
Plutarch’s writings ⓘ |
| name |
Theodorus of Cyrene
ⓘ
Theodorus the Atheist self-link ⓘ |
| philosophicalSchool |
Cyrenaic school of philosophy
ⓘ
surface form:
Cyrenaic school
Theodorean variant of Cyrenaicism ⓘ |
| reputation |
notorious for impiety in antiquity
ⓘ
paradigmatic ancient atheist ⓘ |
| studentOf |
Anniceris
ⓘ
Aristippus ⓘ
surface form:
Aristippus the Younger
Eubulides of Megara ⓘ
surface form:
Dionysius the dialectician
|
| teacherOf | Bion of Borysthenes ⓘ |
| works | no surviving works; known through later reports ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Theodorus the Atheist Description of subject: Theodorus the Atheist was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Cyrenaic tradition, known for his outspoken rejection of traditional religion and advocacy of rational hedonism.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.