Zeno of Tarsus

Zeno of Tarsus (Greek: Ζήνων ὁ Ταρσεύς, Zenon ho Tarseus; fl. 200 BC) was a Stoic philosopher and the son of Dioscorides.

This article is about the fourth scholarch of the Stoa. For the founder of Stoicism and its first scholarch, see Zeno of Citium. For other uses, including many other philosophers, see Zeno.

Biography

Zeno was a pupil of Chrysippus,[1] and when Chrysippus died c. 206 BC, he succeeded him to become the fourth scholarch of the Stoic school in Athens.[2]

According to Diogenes Laërtius, he wrote very few books, but left a great number of disciples.[1] According to the testimony of Philodemus, Zeno rebutted the opinions of the Peripatetic philosopher Hieronymus of Rhodes in "five books Against Hieronymus" (Philodemus, Sto. hist., col. 48, fr. 18).[3]

Little is known about Zeno's philosophical views. He was apparently an orthodox Stoic, but doubted the doctrine of the conflagration of the universe.[2] This was a considerable modification of the physical theory of the Stoics, who held that the universe periodically dissolved into fire.

It is not known when he died. He was succeeded as head of the Stoic school by Diogenes of Babylon.

References

1.  Laërtius, Diogenes (1925). "Book VII: The Stoics" . Lives of the Eminent Philosophers. 2:7. Translated by Hicks, Robert Drew (Two volume ed.). Loeb Classical Library. § 35 Cf. 41, 84.
2. Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica, 15. 18.
3. Shiner, Roger A.; Jost, Lawrence John (2003). Eudaimonia and well-being: ancient and modern conceptions. Academic Printing & Publishing. p. 80.

Further reading

• "Zeno of Tarsus" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 28 (11th ed.). 1911. p. 972.

Preceded by Chrysippus

Leader of the Stoic school 206 – ? BC

Succeeded by Diogenes of Babylon