Cleanthes (Greek: Κλέανθης, Kléanthēs) of Assos, lived c. 330- c. 230 BC, was a Greek Stoic philosopher and the successor to Zeno as the second head (scholarch) of the Stoic school in Athens. Originally a boxer, he came to Athens where he took up philosophy, listening to Zeno's lectures. He supported himself by working as water-carrier at night. After the death of Zeno, c. 262 BC, he became the head of the school, a post he held for the next 32 y...
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Cleanthes (Greek: Κλέανθης, Kléanthēs) of Assos, lived c. 330- c. 230 BC, was a Greek Stoic philosopher and the successor to Zeno as the second head (scholarch) of the Stoic school in Athens. Originally a boxer, he came to Athens where he took up philosophy, listening to Zeno's lectures. He supported himself by working as water-carrier at night. After the death of Zeno, c. 262 BC, he became the head of the school, a post he held for the next 32 years. Although not seen as an especially original thinker, he successfully preserved and transmitted Zeno's doctrines to his pupil Chrysippus who became one of the most important Stoic thinkers. Among the fragments of Cleanthes' writings which have come down to us, the largest is a Hymn to Zeus.
Cleanthes was born in Assos in the Troad about 330 BC. According to Diogenes Laërtius, he was the son of Phanias, and early in life he was a boxer. With but four drachmae in his possession he came to Athens, where he took up philosophy, listening first...
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