Parallel Universes

In De rerum natura, Titus Lucretius Caro, following the teachings of Epicurus, imagined the universe as a huge ensemble of atoms scattered throughout an infinite empty space. The atoms cluster together and dissipate through random motions (clinamen), creating and destroying all things, without the need for divine intervention. In his view, the immortality of the soul was a nefarious belief (tantum religio potuit suadere malorum, religion can induce such heights of evil) and, after death, the atoms of our body scatter and recombine in other forms.