He embarrassed Plato, disputed his interpretation of Socrates and sabotaged his lectures. He became notorious for his philosophical stunts such as carrying a lamp in the daytime, claiming to be looking for an honest man.

Modern variations include barrel, tub, vat, wine-vat, and kennel. He begged for a living and slept in a large ceramic jarThe original Greek word describing Diogenes’ 'jar' is pithos, a large jar for storing wine, grain or olive oil. 16 Stobaeus, Florilegium, 13.19 Diogenes made a virtue of poverty. 6, 18, 21 Dio Chrysostom, Orations, viii. There are many tales about him dogging Antisthenes’ footsteps and becoming his faithful hound.Diogenes Laërtius, vi. He used his simple lifestyle and behaviour to criticise the social values and institutions of what he saw as a corrupt society. He believed that virtue was better revealed in action than in theory. Diogenes modelled himself on the example of Hercules.

After being exiled, he moved to Athens to debunk cultural conventions. His father minted coins for a living, and when Diogenes took to 'defacement of the currency,' he was banished from Sinope. The Suda puts his birth at the time of the Thirty Tyrants, which also gives 404 BC.ĭiogenes of Sinope was a controversial figure. But Censorinus ( De die natali, 15.2) says he died aged 81, which puts his year of birth at 404 BC. Diogenes Laërtius’s statement that Diogenes died 'nearly 90' would put his year of birth at 412 BC. says he died on the same day as Alexander the Great, which puts his death at 323 BC. Also known as Diogenes the Cynic ( Diogenēs ho Kunikos), he was born in Sinope (modern-day Sinop, Turkey), an Ionian colony on the Black Sea, Diogenes of Sinope in 412 or 404 BC and died at Corinth in 323 BC., Plutarch, Moralia, 717c. Diogenes of Sinope ( Diogenēs ho Sinōpeus) was a Greek philosopher and one of the founders of Cynic philosophy.

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