Zeno of Citium was a Hellenistic philosopher from Citium, Cyprus.
He was the founder of the Stoic school of philosophy, which he taught in Athens from about 300 BC. Based on the moral ideas of the Cynics, Stoicism laid great emphasis on goodness and peace of mind gained from living a life of virtue in accordance with nature. It proved very popular, and flourished as one of the major schools of philosophy from the Hellenistic period through to the Roman era, and enjoyed revivals in the Renaissance as Neostoicism and in the current era as Modern Stoicism.
Zeno of Citium. Bust in the Farnese collection, Naples. Photo by Paolo Monti, 1969.
Modern bust of Zeno in Athens
Socrates, Plato, Pythagoras, Aristotle & Zeno by François Pouqueville
Zeno, portrayed as a medieval scholar in the Nuremberg Chronicle
Hellenistic philosophy is Ancient Greek philosophy corresponding to the Hellenistic period in Ancient Greece, from the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC to the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. The dominant schools of this period were the Stoics, the Epicureans and the Skeptics.
Chrysippus, the third leader of the Stoic school, wrote over 300 books on logic. His works were lost, but an outline of his logical system can be reconstructed from fragments and testimony.
In Stoic physics, the universe begins and ends in a divine artisan-fire.
Roman Epicurus bust
Pyrrho of Elis, marble head, Roman copy, Archeological Museum of Corfu
