I had been blogging for a while and came across a blog entitled Bags in Trees ( I did a search for it just now but it seems to have disappeared). Diogenes explained, " I am searching for the bones of your father but cannot distinguish them from those of a slave.".
Alexander then declared, " If I were not Alexander, then I should wish to be Diogenes", to which Diogenes replied, " If I were not Diogenes, I should also wish to be Diogenes." In another account of the conversation, Alexander found the philosopher looking attentively at a pile of human bones. Diogenes replied, " Yes, stand out of my sunlight". The accounts of Plutarch and Diogenes Laërtius recount that they exchanged only a few words: while Diogenes was relaxing in the sunlight in the morning, Alexander, thrilled to meet the famous philosopher, asked if there was any favour he might do for him. It was in Corinth that a meeting between Alexander the Great and Diogenes is supposed to have taken place. The reasons for the defacement of the coinage are unclear Sinope was being disputed between pro-Persian and pro-Greek factions in the 4th century, and there may have been political rather than financial motives behind the act. This aspect of the story seems to be corroborated by archaeology: large numbers of defaced coins (smashed with a large chisel stamp) have been discovered at Sinope dating from the middle of the 4th century BCE, and other coins of the time bear the name of Hicesias as the official who minted them.
At some point (the exact date is unknown), Hicesias and Diogenes became embroiled in a scandal involving the adulteration or debasement of the currency, and Diogenes was exiled from the city. It seems likely that Diogenes was also enrolled into the banking business aiding his father. Nothing is known about his early life except that his father Hicesias was a banker. All we have is a number of anecdotes concerning his life and sayings attributed to him in a number of scattered classical sources.ĭiogenes was born in the Greek colony of Sinope on the south coast of the Black Sea, in either 412 BC or 404 BCE. None of Diogenes' many writings has survived, but details of his life come in the form of anecdotes (chreia), especially from Diogenes Laërtius, in his book Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers. There he passed his philosophy of Cynicism to Crates, who taught it to Zeno of Citium, who fashioned it into the school of Stoicism, one of the most enduring schools of Greek philosophy. Diogenes was also responsible for publicly mocking Alexander the Great.Īfter being captured by pirates and sold into slavery, Diogenes eventually settled in Corinth. He embarrassed Plato, disputed his interpretation of Socrates and sabotaged his lectures. He became notorious for his philosophical stunts such as carrying a lamp in the daytime, claiming to be looking for an honest man. He begged for a living and slept in a large ceramic jar in the marketplace. There are many tales about him dogging Antisthenes' footsteps and becoming his faithful hound. He used his simple lifestyle and behaviour to criticise the social values and institutions of what he saw as a corrupt society. He believed that virtue was better revealed in action than in theory. Diogenes modelled himself on the example of Hercules. After being exiled, he moved to Athens to debunk cultural conventions. His father minted coins for a living, and when Diogenes took to debasement of currency, he was banished from Sinope. Also known as Diogenes the Cynic (Ancient Greek: Διογένης ὁ Κυνικός, Diogenēs ho Kunikos), he was born in Sinope (modern-day Sinop, Turkey), an Ionian colony on the Black Sea, in 412 or 404 BCE and died at Corinth in 323 BCE.ĭiogenes of Sinope was a controversial figure. He used his simple lifestyl Diogenes of Sinope (Greek: Διογένης ὁ Σινωπεύς, Diogenēs ho Sinōpeus) was a Greek philosopher and one of the founders of Cynic philosophy. Diogenes of Sinope was a controversial figure. Also known as Diogenes the Cynic (Ancient Greek: Διογένης ὁ Κυνικός, Diogenēs ho Kunikos), he was born in Sinope (modern-day Sinop, Turkey), an Ionian colony on the Black Sea, in 412 or 404 BCE and died at Corinth in 323 BCE. Diogenes of Sinope (Greek: Διογένης ὁ Σινωπεύς, Diogenēs ho Sinōpeus) was a Greek philosopher and one of the founders of Cynic philosophy.
0 kommentar(er)
