#Diogenes of sinope birth sign zodiac skin
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When he saw a youth dressing himself with care so as to look neat and handsome, he told him that if he was beautifying himself to impress men, he was to be pitied, and if for women, he was immoral.

#Diogenes of sinope birth sign zodiac skin

He told a man who gave himself airs because he was wearing a lion's skin not to disgrace the garb of nature. A young man who was splendidly attired asked him some questions, and Diogenes said he would not answer until he discovered if his questioner was a man or a woman. There were various stories told about his rude remarks to persons dressed in finery whom he met. He maintained that a person would attain happiness by satisfying his needs in the simplest possible way. He came to Athens and soon made a reputation as a man who rejected all conventions. Diogenes was exiled from Sinope on the south shore of the Black Sea, some said because either he or his father was the city's mint master and minted coins that were adulterated with base metal. But the philosopher who made a cult of shunning all luxury was Diogenes of Sinope, who founded the Cynic school of philosophy (though some credited its foundation to a disciple of Socrates named Antisthenes, whom Diogenes considered his teacher). 433 b.c.e.)-best known for defining the four elements of earth, air, fire and water-wore sandals with soles of bronze. Philosophers did not always dress according to convention. Also good, although more for the Cynics as a group than for Diogenes, is Eduard Zeller, Outlines of the History of Greek Philosophy (1881 trans.

Dudley, A History of Cynicism (1937), and Farrand Sayre, Diogenes of Sinope (1938). Further ReadingĮxcellent accounts of the life of Diogenes, as it can be pieced together from various ancient traditions, may be found in D. In addition to the influence which Diogenes had on numbers of his contemporaries, he also served as a source for the development of Stoicism.

Other accounts hold that the name Cynic (doglike) derives from the Gymnasium Kynosarges in Athens, where Antisthenes taught.Ĭrates, Diogenes's pupil, propagated the master's teachings after his death. It was perhaps this last characteristic of Diogenes and his followers which gave the sect its name, since anaideiainvolved carrying out acts in public which most men usually do in private. Through anaideia one could show the rest of humanity the contempt in which their conventions were held.

#Diogenes of sinope birth sign zodiac free

The second and third aims supported the first.ĭiogenes held that through a rigorous denial of all but the barest necessities of life one could train the body to be free of the world and its delusions. It involved a search for true happiness through the realization that wealth, rank, honors, success, and other such worldly aims were as nothing compared with complete independence of mind. The first was the ultimate goal at which the Cynic life aimed. His goals were self-sufficiency, a tough and ascetic way of life, and anaideia, or shamelessness. Indeed, it was Diogenes's application of Antisthenes's principles which gained for him the notoriety he enjoyed. Antisthenes, the pupil of Socrates, was his inspiration, and he put into practice his master's teachings in a way which made a striking impression upon his contemporaries. The date and place of his death are uncertain, although it is unlikely that he lived later than 325 B.C.ĭiogenes was not famous for developing a strong theoretical argument for his way of life. One certainty is that he developed a caustic wit which he used unsparingly on his contemporaries to show them the utter disregard in which he held their conventions and beliefs. Him the founder of Cynicism, a body of legend soon grew up about him and obscured the true accounts of his life. Because of his great notoriety and because many people in antiquity considered One persistent tradition is that he wrote tragedies, perhaps to show that the misfortunes celebrated in the works of that genre could have been averted through the way of life which he taught. His life in Athens was one of great poverty, but it was there that he adopted Antisthenes's teachings and became the chief exponent of Cynicism.Īlthough late authors attribute many works to Diogenes, none survives. He arrived in Athens after he and his father had been exiled from their native city for debasing the coinage in some way. The son of Hicesias, Diogenes was born in Sinope. 325 B.C.), a Greek philosopher, was the most famous exponent of Cynicism, which called for a closer imitation of nature, the repudiation of most human conventions, and complete independence of mind and spirit.