Glückselig und unsterblich

'Thus the Epicurean gods have a beneficial influence on men. By emitting images like all objects, they allow men to form the vision of the blissful life and thus to have an ideal before the mind's eye, which the wise approach.'

Since ancient times, Epicureans have faced attacks on their doctrine of the gods. The accusations range from atheism to absurdity. The main argument is the impossibility of the existence of the gods in the atomistic worldview: the Epicurean conception of God as an imperishable and blissful living being seems incompatible with the laws of Epicurean physics, according to which everything is made of atoms and all atomic bonds are dissolvable. A clear answer of the Epicureans is not preserved. For the resolution of the contradiction one can start on both sides. Either one assumes a special, imperishable corporeality for the gods as an exception in Epicurean physics or one declares them to be a mere concept, a thought projection, which as such would not fall under physical laws. A central role is given to the concept that is made of the gods, the prolepse of the gods, which is illuminated from all directions: Cicero and Diogenes Laertius describe function of prolepsis, Lucretius and Hermarch the concept formation. Philodem gives the theoretical basis for this and explains how false concepts of the gods arise. Taken together, the sources point to an external origin of the concept, to gods from special atoms. The evidence on the Epicurean doctrine of prolepsis and gods all argues against the assumption of thought constructs.