34 Facts About Diogenes

Diogenes advocated for a return to nature, the renunciation of materialism, and introduced early ideas of cosmopolitanism by proclaiming himself a "citizen of the world".

In contrast, Eubulides claims that Diogenes himself committed the act and had to leave the city with his father.

One related account states that Diogenes once asked Apollo's oracle at Delphi how he might gain renown.

Furthermore, Diogenes himself says that he embraced philosophy in Athens, well after the alleged offense occurred.

Diogenes' exile marked a turning point, and a moment of profound spiritual conversion.

Diogenes rejected this sentimental attachment, embracing exile as the ultimate detachment from worldly ties.

In Cynic thought, noble exiles like Odysseus and especially Heracles, about whom Diogenes wrote tragedies, served as models of exemplary behaviour.

Diogenes spent his mild winters in Athens, taking shelter in a jar, and his summers outdoors in Corinth, cooled by breezes from the Isthmus.

Diogenes compared his lifestyle to that of the Great King of Persia, who endured winter in the scorching cities of Babylon and Susa and enjoyed summer in the milder climate of Ecbatana.

Diogenes' life was marked by radical self-sufficiency, courage through passivity to fate, and a rational indifference to suffering.

Diogenes went barefoot, and folded his tunic so that it could double as bedding.

Diogenes openly engaged in behaviours that defied social norms, such as masturbating, spitting, or even urinating on people, and supported himself by begging, which he saw as fair compensation for his role in challenging society's values.

Diogenes was asked to oversee the education of his sons and to manage the affairs of his household.

At the approach of so many people, Diogenes sat up a little and fixed his eyes on Alexander.

Some sources claim that Diogenes died on the same night as Alexander the Great, but this is likely legendary.

Censorinus writes that Diogenes died at the age of 81, while Laertius holds that he lived to be about 90.

Diogenes showed little concern for his burial, instructing that his body be discarded, either left unburied outside the city wall for wild animals, thrown into a ditch and covered with dust, or even dumped into the river Ilisos.

Diogenes' followers ended up in a violent dispute over how and who should manage his burial, an anecdote that seems to convey they had not fully embraced his lesson of indifference to human customs.

Eubulus, on the other hand, reports that Diogenes was buried by the children of Xeniades, for whom he had served as a tutor.

Pausanias, writing in the 2nd century AD, noted that Diogenes' tomb was among those visible near Corinth.

Diogenes is believed to have written a work called Politeia, known mainly through the accounts of Laertius and Philodemus.

Diogenes' tragedies explored major mythological narratives, featuring characters such as Helen, Thyestes, Heracles, Achilles, Medea, Chrysippus, and Oedipus.

Laertius states that Diogenes became a disciple of Antisthenes, himself a student of Socrates.

Diogenes invented an early form of cosmopolitanism, and probably the term itself.

Diogenes maintained that "the only true commonwealth was that which was commensurate with the universe".

Diogenes used a large ceramic jar, originally meant for food storage, as a makeshift shelter.

However, Diogenes never lived in a barrel, as such containers did not exist in his time.

Diogenes is portrayed next to Aristotle in a fresco from 1475 by Davide Ghirlandaio.

In Raphael's The School of Athens, Diogenes is depicted sprawled on the steps, his disheveled, weathered cloak covering only part of his body, utterly indifferent to the renowned philosophers gathered around him, especially Plato and Aristotle, who loom above him on the top step.

Jean-Leon Gerome's Diogenes portrays the philosopher seated at the mouth of his jar, adjusting his lamp while being observed by four dogs.

John William Waterhouse's Diogenes depicts him inside his jar, holding a scroll with a lamp nearby, as three elegant young women look on.

Honore Daumier created a series of caricatures featuring Diogenes, occasionally including figures like Alcibiades or Alexander the Great.

The eponym is generally considered a misnomer as Diogenes deliberately rejected common standards of material comfort, actively sought human company by venturing daily to Agora, and was a minimalist.

The fictional Diogenes Club, named after the philosopher, appears in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's story "The Greek Interpreter" as the club to which Sherlock Holmes' brother, Mycroft, belongs.