Bion of Borysthenes - Wikipedia Bion of Borysthenes From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search Bion of Borysthenes Bronze head of a philosopher from Antikythera shipwreck, possibly of Bion Born c. 325 BC Olbia Died c. 250 BC Chalcis School Cynicism Influences Xenocrates, Crates of Athens, Crates of Thebes, Theodorus, Theophrastus Influenced Menippus Bion of Borysthenes (Greek: Βίων Βορυσθενίτης, gen.: Βίωνος; c. 325 – c. 250 BC) was a Greek philosopher. After being sold into slavery, and then released, he moved to Athens, where he studied in almost every school of philosophy. It is, however, for his Cynic-style diatribes that he is chiefly remembered. He satirized the foolishness of people, attacked religion, and eulogized philosophy. Contents 1 Life 2 Philosophy 3 Notes 4 References 5 Further reading 6 External links Life[edit] Bion was from the town of Olbia on the north coast of the Black Sea by the mouth of the river Borysthenes (modern-day Dnieper). He lived c. 325-c. 250 BC, but the exact dates of his birth and death are uncertain. Strabo[1] mentions him as a contemporary of Eratosthenes, who was born 275 BC. Diogenes Laërtius has preserved an account in which Bion describes his parentage to Antigonus II Gonatas, King of Macedonia.[2] His father was a freedman and a dealer in salt fish, with which he combined the occupation of smuggling. His mother, Olympia, was a Lacedaemonian prostitute. The whole family were sold as slaves, on account of some offence committed by the father. In consequence of this, Bion fell into the hands of a rhetorician, who made him his heir. Having burnt his patron's library, he went to Athens, and applied himself to philosophy, in the course of which study he embraced the tenets of almost every sect in succession. First he was an Academic studying under Xenocrates[3] and Crates of Athens,[4] then he became a Cynic,[4] (perhaps under Crates of Thebes), afterwards he attached to Theodorus,[5] the Cyrenaic philosopher whose alleged atheism is supposed to have influenced Bion,[6] and finally he became a pupil of Theophrastus the Peripatetic.[5] After the manner of the sophists of the period, Bion travelled through Greece and Macedonia, and was admitted to the literary circle at the court of Antigonus II Gonatas.[7] He subsequently taught philosophy at Rhodes,[8] and died at Chalcis in Euboea.[6] Philosophy[edit] Because of his early association with the Academy, Diogenes Laërtius placed Bion among the Academics, but there is nothing in his life or thought suggesting an affinity with Platonism and modern scholars regard him as a Cynic, albeit an atypical one with strong Hedonistic or Cyrenaic leanings.[9][10] Much of what Laërtius has to say about Bion seems to have been drawn from hostile sources so care has to be taken in using his account to reconstruct Bion's life and thought.[11] Laërtius reveals to us a man of considerable intellectual acuteness, but quite ready to attack everyone and everything. He was essentially a popular writer, and in his Diatribes he satirized the foolishness of people. While eulogizing poverty and philosophy, he attacked the gods, musicians, geometricians, astrologers, and the wealthy, and denied the efficacy of prayer. Laërtius claims Bion was an atheist (which he renounced at the time of his death)[12] but the surviving fragments reveal only a religious skepticism concerning mystery religions, oracles, etc.[11] The quotations of Bion recorded by Teles, and preserved by Stobaeus reveal a man who "treats of ordinary human problems in a common-sense spirit, though for emphasis employing all the devices of contemporary prose style. ... The situations dealt with are those that may confront any person, from the universalia of old age, poverty, exile, slavery, the fear of death, down to the more particular case of a nagging wife."[11] His influence is distinctly traceable in succeeding writers, e.g. in the satires of Menippus. Horace alludes to his satires and caustic wit.[13] Examples of this wit are his sayings: "The miser did not possess wealth, but was possessed by it." "Impiety was the companion of credulity, [and] avarice the metropolis of vice." "Good slaves are really free, and bad freemen really slaves." One saying is preserved by Cicero:[14] "It is useless to tear our hair when we are in grief, since sorrow is not cured by baldness." Another is cited by Plutarch:[15] "Though boys throw stones at frogs in sport, the frogs do not die in sport but in earnest." Notes[edit] ^ Strabo i.2.2 ^ Diogenes Laërtius, iv. 46–47 ^ Diogenes Laërtius, iv. 10 ^ a b Diogenes Laërtius, iv. 51 ^ a b Diogenes Laërtius, iv. 52 ^ a b Diogenes Laërtius, iv. 54 ^ Diogenes Laërtius, iv. 46, 54 ^ Diogenes Laërtius, iv. 49, 53 ^ Eduard Zeller, Outlines of the History of Greek Philosophy, 13th Edition, page 247 ^ Luis E. Navia, (1996), Classical Cynicism: A Critical Study, pages 154–5. Greenwood ^ a b c Donald Dudley, (1937) A History of Cynicism, pages 64–6 ^ Diogenes Laërtius, iv. 54: "In his familiar talk he would often vehemently assail belief in the gods, a taste which he had derived from Theodorus." See also iv. 56. ^ Horace, Epistles, ii. 2.60 ^ Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, iii. 62 , "In quo facetum illud Bionis, perinde stultissimum regem in luctu capillum sibi evellere quasi calvitio maeror levaretur." ^ Plutarch, Moralia, xii. 66 References[edit]  Laërtius, Diogenes (1925). "The Academics: Bion" . Lives of the Eminent Philosophers. 1:4. Translated by Hicks, Robert Drew (Two volume ed.). Loeb Classical Library. Further reading[edit] Wikisource has the text of a 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article about Bion. Kindstrand, J., (1976) Bion of Borysthenes: A Collection of the Fragments with Introduction and Commentary. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. ISBN 91-554-0486-3 External links[edit] Quotations related to Bion of Borysthenes at Wikiquote v t e Cynic philosophers Greek era Antisthenes Diogenes Diodorus Zoilus Onesicritus Philiscus Crates Hipparchia Metrocles Monimus Cleomenes Bion Sotades Menippus Menedemus Cercidas Teles Meleager Roman era Favonius Demetrius Dio Chrysostom Agathobulus Secundus Demonax Peregrinus Proteus Theagenes Oenomaus Pancrates Crescens Heraclius Horus Asclepiades Sallustius Authority control BIBSYS: 90299125 BNE: XX1063362 GND: 118974246 ISNI: 0000 0000 7506 1319 LCCN: no2010016071 NKC: ola2002153198 NTA: 069873909 SUDOC: 03494110X VIAF: 106932431 WorldCat Identities: lccn-no2010016071 Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bion_of_Borysthenes&oldid=929973332" Categories: 4th-century BC births 3rd-century BC deaths 3rd-century BC philosophers Ancient Greek writers Ancient Greeks in Macedon Ancient Greek slaves and freedmen Ancient Pontic Greeks Cynic philosophers Hellenistic-era philosophers in Athens Hidden categories: Use dmy dates from January 2015 Articles with hCards Articles containing Greek-language text Wikipedia articles incorporating the template Lives of the Eminent Philosophers Wikipedia articles with BIBSYS identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNE identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with NKC identifiers Wikipedia articles with NTA identifiers Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Languages Català Čeština Deutsch Ελληνικά Español Français Galego Italiano עברית Mirandés Nederlands 日本語 Polski Português Русский Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska Українська Edit links This page was last edited on 9 December 2019, at 11:57 (UTC). 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