Contents
Zeno of Citium
Founding Stoicism, a philosophy centred on virtue and living in accordance with nature.
Republic · Living according to nature
- Born
- Unknown
- Birthplace
- Citium, Cyprus
- Died
- Unknown
More people
Zeno of Citium
Hellenistic philosopher who taught in Athens. His school joined ethics, logic and an account of the natural world into a single approach to life.
Early life
Cypriot origins
Came from Citium, a city with Greek and Phoenician cultural connections.
Learning in Athens
Studied with thinkers from several schools, including the Cynic Crates.
Career
- Late fourth century BCE
Philosophical study
Learned from Cynic and other teachers in Athens.
- Around 300 BCE
A new school
Began teaching at the Painted Stoa, giving Stoicism its name.
- Early third century BCE
Developing Stoicism
Taught and wrote on ethics, logic and nature.
Ideas & writings
Republic
An early vision of a community organized around virtue rather than conventional institutions.
Living according to nature
An ethical goal connecting reason and the order of the world.
Virtue as the good
A distinction between moral excellence and external advantages such as wealth.
Beyond philosophy
A modest life
Ancient accounts emphasize his restrained habits, although many details are anecdotal.
Texts largely lost
His ideas survive through fragments and the writings of later Stoics and their critics.
Sources & photo credit
Biography and references ↗Biography and contributions ↗Photo: Paolo Monti — later sculptural depiction, not a contemporary likeness. CC BY-SA 4.0 · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.
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