Do you know who the founder of Stoic Philosophy is?

Zeno of Kitium was one of the great minds of the Hellenistic Period. He was born in Kitium of Cyprus (today Larnaca) in 344 B.C. and was the son of a merchant. Kitium had very close connections with Athens and Piraeus.

Zeno was the founder of the Stoic Philosophy. He divided this in three chapters: 

1. Ethics: morality. One's wealth is virtue and bad thing is wickedness.
2. Logic: Derives from the person through experience.
3. Physics: Materialistic

 Zeno and the stoics believe that the perfect person is cultivated only through the struggle against passion. 

"Antigonos from Karystos says that he (Zeno) never denied the fact that he was from Kitium. When the names of those (also Zeno's) who had contributed forthe restoration of the public baths were written on a pillar and Zeno saw that his name was written as "Zeno the Philosopher", he demanded that next to that, the phrase "of Kitium" to be added" - Diogenes Laertius

"Zeno and Cleanthes did not accept the offer of becoming citizens of Athens because they did not want to give the impression of being unjust to their homelands" - Plutarch

"When you are about to have a meeting with someone in a high position, just bring into your mind how Socrates or Zeno would have acted and you will have no trouble in facing the situation" - Arrianus

"Accompanied by his students, he used to argue with them while walking up and down the Stoa Poikile which was  called Peisianaktios but it was named Poikile because it had been decorated by paintings of Polygnotos. He chose this place in order to escape from those who had nothing to do and who di not go there because during the reign of the Thirty Tyrants, 1400 Athenian citizens were murdered on the spot. There, the students of Zeno gathered and that is the reason why there were called the Stoics (from the word Stoa = porch), although at the beggining they were called Zenonians."- Diogenes Laertius

"The beauty (of the soul) said Zeno, is the flower of the structure of the body, though others have said that the structure of the body is the flower of beauty" - Diogenes Laertius

"He used to say that there is nothing which can keep us away from acquiring the perfect knowledge than pride itself and that there is nothing that we need so much as time" - Diogenes Laertius

"When Zeno was asked, how was a young man liable to make less mistakes, he said: "only if in the process of acting is thinking about those that he honours and respects" - Stovaios

"Zeno himself said that the vision received light from the air, while soul from the teachings"

References:

Iacovou, G. (Ed.) 1998. The Philosopher Zeno of Kitium, (Larnaca: Larnaca Municipality)

2023