Thomas Hobbes

5 April 1588 – 4 December 1679

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) was an English philosopher best known for his 1651 book Leviathan, a foundational work of modern political philosophy. Writing amid the English Civil War, he argued that people escape a violent state of nature by contracting to obey an absolute sovereign. He also made contributions to history, geometry, optics, and translated Homer in his old age.

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Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with Thomas Hobbes.

Life events

Born in Westport, near Malmesbury, Wiltshire, England
5 April 1588

Hobbes was born prematurely, reportedly when his mother heard of the approaching Spanish Armada.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Studied at Magdalen Hall, Oxford
c. 1603 – 1608

Hobbes entered Magdalen Hall (a predecessor of Hertford College) around 1603 and completed his BA in 1608.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Became tutor to William Cavendish, beginning a lifelong connection with the Cavendish family
1608

In 1608 Hobbes was engaged as tutor to the son of William Cavendish, Baron of Hardwick, a patronage relationship that shaped his career.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Published his English translation of Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War
1629

Hobbes's 1629 Thucydides translation was the first made directly from the Greek into English.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Fled to Paris ahead of the English Civil War
November 1640

Fearing reprisal for his royalist views after circulating The Elements of Law, Hobbes fled to Paris in late 1640 and remained in exile for eleven years.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Served as mathematics tutor to the future King Charles II in Paris
1646

From 1646 Hobbes taught mathematics to the exiled Prince of Wales, later Charles II.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Published Leviathan
1651

Hobbes's masterpiece of political philosophy, arguing for an absolute sovereign as the remedy for the state of nature, appeared in 1651.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Returned to England and submitted to the Council of State
1651

In the winter of 1651-1652 Hobbes returned from exile to London, making his peace with the Commonwealth regime.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Published verse translations of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey in his late eighties
1675 – 1676

Hobbes completed English translations of the Odyssey (1675) and the Iliad (1676) as his final literary projects.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Died at Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire, aged 91
4 December 1679

Hobbes died on 4 December 1679 at the Cavendish family's Hardwick Hall and was buried at Ault Hucknall.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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