Dionysios Metathemenos

Dionysios Metathemenos (Greek Διονύσιος ὁ Μεταθέμενος Dionýsios ho Metathémenos , also called Dionysius of Herakleia ; * approx. 330-325; † approx. 250) was a Stoic who became a Cyrenaic or Epicurean towards the end of his life .

He was born as the son of Theophantos in Herakleia Pontike and first attended the school of Herakleides Pontikos here . He later went to Athens and was tutored by Alexinos and Menedemus . He then studied stoicism with Zeno von Kition .

Suffering violently in the eyes (or kidneys), he later turned completely away from stoicism and, because he could no longer consider pain to be something morally indifferent, went over to the Epicureans or the Cyrenaeans . Hence its nickname Metathemenos (the defector).

While he was known as a stoic for his celibate and exemplary life, as a cyrenaic he was also known as a brothel visitor or customer of hetaerae .

At the age of almost eighty, he ended his life by starving himself to death.

literature

Hans von Arnim : Dionysios 119) . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume V, 1, Stuttgart 1903, Col. 973 f.
Christian Guérard: Denys d'Héraclée. In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques. Volume 2, CNRS Éditions, Paris 1994, ISBN 2-271-05195-9 , pp. 724-725
Peter Steinmetz : Dionysios from Herakleia. In: Hellmut Flashar (ed.): Outline of the history of philosophy . The philosophy of antiquity , Vol. 4/2: The Hellenistic philosophy. Schwabe, Basel 1994, ISBN 3-7965-0930-4 , p. 558

Remarks

↑ The date of birth estimates RE V, 1, 974 between 330-325, since he still heard Herakleides Pontikos , who "can hardly have lived longer than 310"; with reference, among other things, to this student relationship and the information from Athenaios : Das Schehrtenmahl (Deipnosophistai) , vii, 281e (cf. also 10.437) that he was very old, as well as that of Diogenes Laertius , that he died of starvation at the age of 80 (Life and opinions of famous philosophers = vitae philosophorum 7,167), justifies Tiziano Dorandi: Chronology , in: Keimpe Algra, Jonathan Barnes, Jaap Mansfeld, Malcolm Schofield (eds.): The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy , Cambridge 1999, p. 31– 54, here p. 39, the life dates given here.
↑ Cf. Athenaios, Deipnosophistai 281e; Cicero : Tusculanae Disputationes II, 60; accordingly RE V, 1, 973: “after Zeno's death , but still during the lifetime of Kleanthes ”.

personal data
SURNAME	Dionysios Metathemenos
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Διονύσιος ὁ Μεταθέμενος (Greek); Dionysios ho metathemos; Dionysios from Heraclea
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Stoic
DATE OF BIRTH	around 330-325 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH	around 250 BC Chr.

[1] The date of birth estimates RE V, 1, 974 between 330-325, since he still heard Herakleides Pontikos , who "can hardly have lived longer than 310"; with reference, among other things, to this student relationship and the information from Athenaios : Das Schehrtenmahl (Deipnosophistai) , vii, 281e (cf. also 10.437) that he was very old, as well as that of Diogenes Laertius , that he died of starvation at the age of 80 (Life and opinions of famous philosophers = vitae philosophorum 7,167), justifies Tiziano Dorandi: Chronology , in: Keimpe Algra, Jonathan Barnes, Jaap Mansfeld, Malcolm Schofield (eds.): The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy , Cambridge 1999, p. 31– 54, here p. 39, the life dates given here.

[2] Cf. Athenaios, Deipnosophistai 281e; Cicero : Tusculanae Disputationes II, 60; accordingly RE V, 1, 973: “after Zeno's death , but still during the lifetime of Kleanthes ”.