Ancient Greek Philosopher, Founder of the Stoic School
Zeno of Citium (c. 334–262 BC, a different person from the Zeno who proposed the "flying arrow" paradox) was an ancient Greek philosopher who, by tradition, was stranded in Athens after a shipwreck while trading, took an interest in philosophy on chancing to hear stories of Socrates, and thereafter lectured at a painted colonnade (the Stoa Poikile) in the Athenian marketplace — whence the name of the "Stoic" school. He held that the cosmos is governed by "Logos" (the law of reason), that a human being should live in accord with natural reason, that the violent swings of emotion are a disturbance to rational judgment, and that only by using reason to temper emotion and to distinguish "what is in our control" from "what is not" can one attain true inner tranquility (apatheia) — a teaching later developed and spread by Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, and others, profoundly shaping the ethical way of life of the Roman age, and one of the theoretical sources of modern cognitive behavioral therapy.
Zeno was originally a Phoenician merchant who, on a voyage carrying purple dye, met with shipwreck and lost all his goods; stranded in Athens, he chanced in a bookshop upon Xenophon’s account of the words and deeds of Socrates, and, deeply moved, asked where such men could be found, and, the philosopher Crates passing just then, followed him to study philosophy and so set out on the road of intellectual inquiry.
Zeno did not, like Plato and Aristotle, found an independent school building, but chose to lecture to the public at a fresco-decorated public colonnade (the Stoa Poikile) in the Athenian marketplace, where any passerby could stop to listen; the word "Stoic" derives precisely from this open public place of lecture, fitting too the school’s spirit that "philosophy should serve the practical wisdom of public life."
Zeno of Citium is an entirely different person from Zeno of Elea, who proposed the motion paradoxes such as the "flying arrow," and the two are often confused historically; this site’s entry refers specifically to the founder of the Stoic school.
Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.
That email didn’t look right? Free · unsubscribe anytime · Privacy