Ancient · c. 330–230 BC
Who influenced Cleanthes?
Influences and legacy
Stoic successor of Zeno: a former boxer who hymned Zeus and paid for philosophy by carrying water.
Cleanthes was influenced by Zeno of Citium, and went on to influence Chrysippus. That is 2 lines of the 448 documented lines of influence between the 279 thinkers on this map.
Read on Wikipedia Portrait: Theodoor Galle, Public domain See the whole map
Who was Cleanthes?
Cleanthes of Assos was a boxer who came to Athens, heard Zeno lecture and took up philosophy, supporting himself by carrying water at night. When Zeno died around 262 BC, Cleanthes became the second head of the Stoic school and led it for 32 years.
He kept and developed Zeno's teaching, adding new ideas in Stoic physics along materialist and pantheist lines. The largest surviving fragment of his writing is the Hymn to Zeus. His pupil Chrysippus became one of the most important Stoics.
Summarized from the lead of the Wikipedia article.
Who influenced Cleanthes?
1 direct influence on this map, earliest first.
- Zeno of Citium c. 334–262 BC
Who did Cleanthes influence?
1 thinker on this map draws directly on Cleanthes.
- Chrysippus c. 279–206 BC
The line of teachers behind Cleanthes
The longest documented line of influence ending at Cleanthes runs 8 generations back, to Thales of Miletus.
Two steps away from Cleanthes
Indirect influences
- Through Zeno of Citium: Diogenes of Sinope, Crates of Thebes
Contemporaries of Cleanthes
Thinkers on this map born within 25 years of Cleanthes, with no direct line between them.
- Timon of Phlius c. 320–230 BC
- Epicurus 341–270 BC
- Xunzi c. 310–235 BC
- Hipparchia c. 350–280 BC
Cleanthes by the numbers
- Direct influences
- 1
- Direct followers
- 1
- Thinkers upstream
- 10
- Thinkers downstream
- 1
- Wikipedia languages
- 41 — #47 of 54 among ancient philosophers
- Card rarity
- Rare
Questions about Cleanthes
- Who influenced Cleanthes?
- Zeno of Citium.
- Who did Cleanthes influence?
- Chrysippus.
- When did Cleanthes live?
- c. 330–230 BC. The map files Cleanthes under the ancient world.
- How rare is the Cleanthes card?
- Wikipedia carries an article on Cleanthes in 41 languages, which makes it a Rare card. Legendary starts at 100 languages, Epic at 50 and Rare at 25.
More ancient philosophers
- Confucius 551–479 BC
- Aristotle 384–322 BC
- Plato c. 428–348 BC
- Socrates c. 470–399 BC
- Pythagoras c. 570–495 BC
- Laozi c. 6th c. BC
- Cicero 106–43 BC
- Thales of Miletus c. 624–546 BC