Leonteus of Lampsacus

Lampsacus

Lampsacus was an ancient Greek city strategically located on the eastern side of the Hellespont in the northern Troad. An inhabitant of Lampsacus was called a Lampsacene. The name has been transmitted in the nearby modern town of Lapseki.-Ancient history:...

, was a pupil of Epicurus

Epicurus

Epicurus was an ancient Greek philosopher and the founder of the school of philosophy called Epicureanism.Only a few fragments and letters remain of Epicurus's 300 written works...

 early in the 3rd century BCE. He was the husband of Themista

Themista of Lampsacus

Themista of Lampsacus, the wife of Leonteus, was a student of Epicurus, early in the 3rd century BCE. Epicurus' school was unusual in the 3rd century, in that it allowed women to attend, and we also hear of Leontion attending Epicurus' school around the same time...

, who also attended Epicurus' school. Such was the esteem in which they held Epicurus that they named their son after him.

Leonteus is described by Strabo

Strabo

Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...

, as one of "the ablest men in the city" of Lampsacus, along with Idomeneus

Idomeneus of Lampsacus

Idomeneus of Lampsacus was a friend and disciple of Epicurus. We have no details of his life, except that he married Batis of Lampsacus, the sister of Metrodorus, and he was a court dignitary at Lampsacus around 306-301 BC...

. Plutarch

Plutarch

Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...

 describes a letter, written by Leonteus, in which Leonteus describes how Democritus

Democritus

Democritus was an Ancient Greek philosopher born in Abdera, Thrace, Greece. He was an influential pre-Socratic philosopher and pupil of Leucippus, who formulated an atomic theory for the cosmos....

was honoured by Epicurus "for having anticipated him in getting hold of correct knowledge," and how Epicurus originally proclaimed himself a "Democritean."