a Greek philosopher, born at Elis in Peloponnesus, flourished about 300 B.C. He was the disciple of Anaxarchus, whom he accompanied as far as India, where he conversed with the Brahmins and Gymnosophists. He had made painting his profession before he devoted himself to the study of philosophy. He established a sect whose fundamental principle was, That there is nothing true or false, right or wrong, honest or dishonest, just or unjust; or that there is no standard of any thing beyond law or custom, and that uncertainty and doubt belong to every thing. From this continual seeking after truth and never finding it, the sect obtained the name of *Sceptics* or *Pyrrhonians* from the founder, who is said to have acted upon his own principles, and to have carried his scepticism to such a ridiculous extreme, that his friends were obliged to accompany him wherever he went, that he might not be run over by carriages, or fall down precipices. If this was true, it was not without reason that he was ranked among those whose intellects were disturbed by intense study. But it is treated by a modern writer as a mere calumny invented by the dogmatists; and we are strongly inclined to be of his opinion, (see *Sceptics*.) Pyrrho died about the 96th year of his age, when his memory was honoured with a statue at Athens, and a monument erected to him in his own country.