Zeno of Citium

/sish"ee euhm/

c340-c265 B.C., Greek philosopher, born in Cyprus. Also called Zeno, Zeno the Stoic.

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born с 335, Citium, Cyprus

died с 263 BC, Athens

Greek philosopher, founder of Stoicism.

He went to Athens с 312 BC and attended lectures by the Cynics Crates of Thebes (fl. late 4th century BC) and Stilpon of Megara (с 380–300 BC), as well as lectures at the Academy. He began to teach in the Stoa Poikile ("Painted Colonnade"), whence the name of his philosophy. His system included logic, epistemology, physics, and ethics. He taught that happiness lies in conforming the will to the divine reason, which governs the universe. In logic and epistemology he was influenced by Antisthenes (с 445–365 BC) and Diodorus Cronus (fl. 4th century BC), in physics by Heracleitus. Only fragmentary quotations from his many treatises have survived.

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▪ Greek philosopher

born c. 335 BC, , Citium, Cyprus

died c. 263, , Athens

      Greek thinker who founded the Stoic school of philosophy, which influenced the development of philosophical and ethical thought in Hellenistic and Roman times.

      He went to Athens c. 312 BC and attended lectures by the Cynic philosophers Crates of Thebes and Stilpon of Megara, in addition to lectures at the Academy. Arriving at his own philosophy, he began to teach in the Stoa Poikile (Painted Colonnade), whence the name of his philosophy. Zeno's philosophical system included logic and theory of knowledge, physics, and ethics—the latter being central. He taught that happiness lay in conforming the will to the divine reason, which governs the universe. In logic and the theory of knowledge he was influenced by Antisthenes and Diodorus Cronus, in physics by Heracleitus. None of his many treatises, written in harsh but forceful Greek, has survived save in fragmentary quotations.

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