Lives of the Eminent Philosophers

A third-century AD compilation, in ten books, of the lives, doctrines and sayings of roughly eighty Greek philosophers, arranged by school and by succession from teacher to student. Its value is almost entirely documentary: Diogenes Laertius quotes and paraphrases works that have otherwise been lost, which makes him the principal surviving source for the Cynics, the Epicureans and much of early Stoicism — including the only complete texts of Epicurus’s letters.

Why it’s on the list: Assigned in UATX’s “Hellenistic and Roman Philosophy” course — for the Hellenistic schools he is not a secondary reading but the primary evidence, since the originals he transcribes did not survive.

Where I saw it: The University of Austin’s Fall 2025 reading list, 65 Texts Our Students Are Reading, published November 13 2025 and saved to Kyle’s “Books To Read” Apple Note. The full 65-text curriculum is transcribed on UATX Fall Reading List.

Connections

• UATX Fall Reading List — the curriculum this is assigned in.
• Stoicism — one of the schools this book is the main surviving source for.
• Plato and Socrates — both given lives here, in the succession scheme the book is organized around.