| abstract
| - 500s BCE: Pythagoras, a Greek philosopher and "the father of numbers" teaches that a vegetarian diet is best for the body and spirit. Later Greek philosophers would learn from him and in turn extoll the benefits of vegetarianism. Vegetarians, though not a majority, were a very visible and important minority. (Now, the diets of Greeks are still largely vegetarian, and Greek classical literature is known world-wide.) 341 BCE: Epicurus is born on the island of Samos to Athenianian émigrés. He would later move to Athens and his legacy would become "Epicureanism". Epicureanism posits that everything is made of atoms, and that even the so-called "gods" are also made of atoms. While not wishing to be executed for disbelief, his ideas nonetheless stated that "gods" do not have any effect on the world. This philosophy also stated that the absense of pain (aponia) and freedom from worry (ataraxia) together were the greatest good. Interestingly, this meshed very well with Dharmic thought in India, and led to a later flowering of Buddhism and Jainism in Greek areas. It would also lead to increased atheism. In fact, atheists came to be called "Epicureans" in certain cultures. Epicureanism's idea of atoms would again be taken up (around 2,000 year later) by modern chemistry. Also, the related philosophy created more than two millennia later and called "Utilitarianism" was based on Epicureanism. Finally, Epicureanism gave the vegetarian movement in Western Civilization a major push, as Epicurus' school called "The Garden" is thought to have taught the virtues of vegetarianism. 340 BCE: Chandragupta Maurya is born in what is now India. He would later become the founder of the Mauryan Empire. He embraced Jainism and helped it become a major religion in India. 263-250 BCE: The Mauryan Emperor formerly called "The Cruel Ashoka" comes to be called "Ashoka the Great". This is due to guilt he feels later in life, and his full acceptance of Buddhism. His guilt is brought about in numerous ways, for example, he saw some of the destruction after a conquest of a neighboring state, he met the child of a man he had murdered, and his wife Devi left him because she abhorred violence. (Her two sons, who were also pacifists would later found Buddhism on Sri Lanka.) After his embrace of Buddhism, Ashoka showed compassion to other humans and animals, and becan a process of spreading Buddhism far and wide, which future emperors followed. Ashoka helped to spread Buddhism across Asia and into Europe. Buddhist proselytism during and after his reign reached places like Athens, Alexandria, and Antioch, and heavily influenced ancient Greece (already much influenced by Pythagoras' philosophies). A European branch of Buddhism is still a major religion in Greece and Byzantia.
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