1 - Ancient Cynics and their times

Summary

Historical overview

Of the philosophies of antiquity, Cynicism was one of the most varied and enduring. Although Diogenes was the first to be nicknamed “the Dog”, earlier Greeks such as Antisthenes and Socrates at least in part shared his views on social rebellion, the natural life, and indifference to fortune, with which his name would be associated. After him there are individuals known as Cynics down at least to the fifth century ce, possibly with minor gaps. Over these nine centuries, battles were fought, leagues joined and disbanded, empires won and lost. The battle of Chaeronea (338 bce) made the Macedonian kings leaders of mainland Greece. The battles of Granicus, Issus and Arbela/Gaugamela (331 bce) placed Alexander on the throne of Asia. The battle at Ipsus (301 bce) effectively settled the division of Alexander's empire into Antigonid, Seleucid and Ptolemaic kingdoms. A generation later, Pyrrhus won victories of sorts against the Romans but by the end of the century, after the first two Punic Wars, the Romans ruled Italy, including the old Greek cities in the south and in Sicily, and were looking further afield. The Seleucid Empire was whittled away, especially after the battle of Magnesia (190 bce). Antigonids and Ptolemies bowed out of history after Pydna (168 bce) and Actium (31 bce) respectively. Victorious everywhere, the Romans established their famous peace and so secure was this Pax Romana that for a time it might seem divinely ordained and everlasting.