Diogenes of Oenoanda

The surviving fragments of the wall, originally extended about 80 meters, form an important source of Epicurean philosophy.

The inscription itself, which had been dated to the late 2nd century,[1] has now been assigned on epigraphic grounds to the Hadrianic period, 117–138 AD.

[2] Diogenes was wealthy enough to acquire a large tract of land in the city of Oenoanda to construct (or possibly buy) a piazza to display his inscription.

As a man who had found peace by practicing the doctrines of Epicurus, he tells us that in his old age he was motivated "to help also those who come after us" and "to place therefore the remedies of salvation by means of this porch.

[7] The inscription contains three treatises written by Diogenes as well as various letters and maxims: Jürgen Hammerstaedt, philologist from the University of Cologne, and epigrapher Martin Ferguson Smith, have translated some of the fragments discovered in Oenoanda.