Diogenes and the Cynics

Diogenes of Sinope (c. 404–323 BCE) turned philosophy into a public performance. After being exiled from his home city, reportedly over a scandal involving defaced coinage, he lived in Athens and Corinth with almost no possessions, famously sleeping in a large storage jar. He was called 'the dog' (kyon), the root of the word Cynic, because he ignored social conventions, eating and living in public.

Diogenes taught that happiness comes from living according to nature, with self-sufficiency and discipline, and that most social customs, wealth and status are worthless. He 'defaced the currency' of convention, challenging accepted values with shocking acts and sharp wit. When asked where he came from, he said he was a 'citizen of the world' (kosmopolites). Many famous stories about him may be legends, but they show how later Greeks understood Cynicism: a radical critique of society through example rather than theory.