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Diogenes: biography
The canvas of the German painter Johann Tischbein “Diogenes was looking for a man”, written in 1780, depicts an antique gray-haired old man with a burning candle in a closed lantern. He walks down the street among women and men against the backdrop of a Greek statue and an Egyptian pyramid.
Leaning on a staff, Diogenes illuminates the space around him. His face is focused and purposeful. People watching him seem to be waiting for an answer or direction from the sage.
The artist idealized the attitude of his contemporaries towards Diogenes of Sinop. Decent appreciation, recognition, quotation of catchphrases, the title of “philosophical saxaul” – everything will come to him much later.
The exact date of birth of Diogenes, as well as the circumstances of his death, have not yet been established. He was born around 412 BC in the Greek colony of Sinop on the southern coast of the Black Sea.
Diogenes and Alexander the Great
Diogenes of Sinope died in the city of Corinth at a rather respectable age on the same day as the great commander Alexander the Great – June 10, 323 BC, who lived three times less than the old man. Diogenes was a contemporary of Aristotle, an outstanding philosopher, student of Plato and mentor of Alexander the Great.
Alexander the Great and Diogenes
History knows the facts of meetings during the lifetime of a beggar philosopher and the ruler of half the world. The Macedonian admired the sage, declared that he would like to be Diogenes. The seer predicted the death of Alexander in the campaign against India.
Diogenes and his history
Diogenes’ father was engaged in minting and changing coins. Apparently, he was an influential person in society, as coins were found with a picture of a personal profile.
Attracting his son to the family craft, he took part in the public life of the city. But he amassed problems in the battle between the Persian and Greek factions for the establishment of political power.
Diogenes was predicted that he would have a reassessment of values. The young man got into the service. There he fought, was captured by the Macedonians and sold into slavery. The slave owner who bought Diogenes appreciated the mind and talents of the captive Greek. He entrusted him with teaching his sons javelin throwing, horse riding, poetry and history.
In philosophy, Diogenes adhered to the ideas of cosmopolitanism. He considered his teacher Antiphen, the founder of the school of the Cynics (literal meaning – a true dog). It is not known for certain whether they met personally with each other.
At one time, Antiphenes studied with Socrates. This continuity of thought was traced in the teachings of philosophers and Diogenes was called “crazy Socrates.” Being an opponent of Plato, he disputed with him the material essence of things: “I see the cup, but the cup I don’t.”
An active promoter of complete freedom and independence, chastity and self-control, the destroyer of generally accepted foundations, moral norms and religious ceremonies, Diogenes ridiculed even the interpreters of dreams.
Great ascetic
The author of numerous tragedies and treatises composed by him, representing a single system of views, chose shocking as a form of his behavior. The thinker shocked fellow citizens with his ascetic and harsh lifestyle. He lived in a barrel, voluntarily depriving himself of absolutely everything.
Seeing how the boy deftly drinks water from the palms put under the stream, he broke his only earthen cup. Deciding that he could well do without her. His only servant is Manes, and he fled from his master. The sage asked for something from the silent statues, accustoming himself to refusals and misunderstanding.
Monument to Diogenes of Sinop
The ideas of the philosopher, whom the great Alexander the Great envied, have no nationality, they are of a universal scale. The monument to the man of the world, as he called himself, stands in Turkey, the homeland of the philosopher. The marble Diogenes of Sinop with a lantern and a dog is still looking for a man among people.
In this video “Diogenes of Sinope” additional information to the article
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