Analyzing Zeno of Citirum

Scholars studying Hellenistic ethics focus on four main chairs of philosophy in Athens that were endowed in 176 CE by Roman Empire Marcus Aurelius: Plantonism, Aristotelianism, Epicureanism, and Stoicism. The expansion, admiration and assimilation of Greek culture and language, known as Hellenism, also contributed to the philosophy that continued in Ancient Rome. One school in particular, Stoicism, flourished in the Roman world (Sellars, 2). Understanding the foundations of Stoicism is an important topic in philosophy due to many misconceptions of what it means to embrace a Stoic lifestyle. These misconceptions stem from the lack of understanding that scholars have about early stoic writings. Almost none of the works by early stoics remain. Scholars mainly analyze quotes and summaries by the successors of the original founder.

Zeno of Citium founded the philosophy of Stoicism around 300 BCE. His school met informally at the Painted Stoa, a covered colonnade on the northern edge of the Athenian Agora (Sellars, 1). Zeno was the son of a merchant from Citium in Cyprus, but his environment was heavily influenced by the Greeks. Although there is no way of knowing exactly what sparked his interest in philosophy, it is believed that his father brought home many Socratic books from his travels to Athens (Sandbach, 20). Zeno finally journeyed to Athens, most likely inspired by his readings, when he was 22 years old. While in Athens, Zeno was exposed to many different ways of thinking, but he was most affected by the Cynic outlook (Sandbach, 20). Second-hand accounts and late stoic writings tell the story of how Zeno came across the Cynics. He was said to have been reading a Socratic book in a bookstall that prompted him to ask the bookse...

... middle of paper ...

...n, even unfavorable ones and Roman societies valued facing these types of situations with virtus. Virtus is a specific virtue that combined the ideas of valor, courage, strength and toughness (“Philosophers”). Stoicism was a philosophy that gave Roman’s a chance to incorporate these values.

Emperor Justinian I eventually banned stoicism when he closed all pagan philosophy schools in 529 AD. This was due to his belief that their pagan character was in conflict with Christian beliefs (Sedley). Although it dropped out of the public eye for thousands of years, Stoicism is slowly becoming more relevant in the modern day. The ‘Stoicism Today’ project, run by a team of cognitive behavioral therapists, launched International Stoic Week in 2012 (Robertson). These scholars hope to bring back Ancient Stoic principles, but also modernize the philosophy to ensure its revival.