Siro the Epicurean

"Siron" redirects here. For the food, see siron (food).

Siro (also Syro, Siron, or Syron; fl. c. 50 BC) was an Epicurean philosopher who lived in Naples.

He was a teacher of Virgil,^[1] and taught at his school in Naples. There are two poems attributed to Virgil in the Appendix Vergiliana,^[2] which mention Siro, and where the author speaks of seeking peace in the company of Siro:

I am setting sail for the havens of the blest to seek the wise sayings of great Siro, and will redeem my life from all care.^[3]

Cicero also mentions Siro several times and speaks of Siro along with Philodemus as being "excellent citizens and most learned men."^[4] The 5th-century commentator Servius claimed that Siro was commemorated in Virgil's sixth Eclogue as the character Silenus.^[5]