Persaios from Kition

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Persaios of Kition (* probably around 305 BC in Kition in Cyprus ; † probably 243 BC in Acrocorinth ) was an ancient Greek philosopher and politician. He was a student of Zeno of Kition and belonged to the stoic philosophy school. 

Life

Persaios came from a noble family from the port city of Kition in Cyprus. Only the name of his father Demetrios is known. The birth of the philosopher is reported around 305 BC. Dated. Persaios grew up in Athens in the house of Zenon von Kition, the founder of the Stoa, whose pupil he became. A tradition according to which he was a slave of Zeno is not credible. In 276, King Antigonus II Gonatas of Macedonia invited Zeno to come to his capital Pella . Zenon declined the invitation and decided to send Persaios to the Macedonian court instead. Antigonus made Persaios his adviser and tutor to his son Halcyoneus . At the royal court, Persaios is said to have led the life of a courtier rather than that of a philosopher.

The poet Aratos of Soloi stayed with Persaios in Pella. It is unclear whether Aratos was a pupil of Persaios, as is partly assumed in research, or whether he only took part in Zeno's lessons with him in Athens.

After it was Antigonus in 244 BC. BC had succeeded in bringing the city of Corinth into his power, he subordinated the local fortress Akrokorinth to the troop leader Archelaus and the apparently militarily inexperienced Persaios. The following year, Aratos of Sicyon raided Acrocorinth and captured the fortress. Various information is available about the fate of Persaios. According to an antistoic tradition, he escaped capture, fled to Antigonus and then had to admit that the stoic doctrine that as a “wise man” you are inevitably also a good general had proven to be incorrect. The account according to which Persaios was killed defending Acrocorinth is more credible. 

Works and teaching

In the list of writings of Persaeus, the philosophy historian Diogenes Laertius narrated eleven now lost works are enumerated: About the kingdom , the Spartan state , about marriage , about the wickedness , Thyestes , about love , exhortations , diatribes , Chrien , Memories and Seven Books against Plato's work “ The Laws ” . Two fragments of the writing on the Spartan state have been preserved. Known from other mentions are three now lost works by Persaios with the titles About the Gods , Ethical Lectures and Conversations at the Feast . The latter writing is possibly identical with the memorabilia cited by Diogenes Laertios , About godlessness is perhaps to be equated with About the gods .

Little is known about the philosophical positions of Persaios. He interpreted the gods of popular belief and cult euhemeristically as historical people who had been shown so much veneration and gratitude for their helpful discoveries and inventions that they were considered divine beings after their death. But it does not necessarily follow from this that Persaios was a consistent atheist. 

According to an antistoic legend, Persaios confessed at the Macedonian court to the stoic ideal of apatheia (dispassion) and ataraxia (imperturbability, peace of mind ). This ideal demands that the philosopher, as a “wise man”, completely frees himself from his affects, does not allow himself to be disturbed by anything and remains indifferent in every situation. Persaios is said to have boasted of this superiority over fate. Then, in order to put him to the test, King Antigonus instigated some merchants to tell of an alleged catastrophe in the hometown of the Stoic: pirates kidnapped Persaios's wife, killed his son and stole his property. Persaios had fallen into despair because of the fabricated report, and it had become apparent that the talk about stoic equanimity was nothing but senseless chatter. 

Text editions and translations

  • Hans von Arnim (Ed.): Stoicorum veterum fragmenta. Volume 1, Teubner, Leipzig 1905, pp. 96-102 (critical edition; additions by Jean-Baptiste Gourinat: Persaïos de Kition . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques. Volume 5, part 1, Paris 2012 , Pp. 234–243, here: 234 f.)
  • Rainer Nickel (Ed.): Stoa and the Stoics. Volume 1, Artemis & Winkler, Düsseldorf 2008, ISBN 978-3-538-03504-1 , pp. 55-67 (Greek text with translation)

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Jean-Baptiste Gourinat: Persaeus de Kition . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. 5, Part 1, Paris 2012, pp. 234–243, here: 237.
  2. ↑ Peter Steinmetz: Persaios from Kition . In: Outline of the History of Philosophy. The philosophy of antiquity , Volume 4: The Hellenistic Philosophy , Half Volume 2, Basel 1994, pp. 555–557, here: 555 f .; Jean-Baptiste Gourinat: Persaïos de Kition . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. 5, Part 1, Paris 2012, pp. 234–243, here: 237 f.
  3. ↑ Peter Steinmetz: Persaios from Kition . In: Outline of the History of Philosophy. The philosophy of antiquity , Volume 4: The Hellenistic Philosophy , Half Volume 2, Basel 1994, pp. 555–557, here: 557; Jean-Baptiste Gourinat: Persaïos de Kition . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. 5, Part 1, Paris 2012, pp. 234–243, here: 238.
  4. ↑ Peter Steinmetz: Persaios from Kition . In: Outline of the History of Philosophy. The Philosophy of Antiquity , Volume 4: The Hellenistic Philosophy. Halbband 2, Basel 1994, pp. 555-557, here: 556; Jean-Baptiste Gourinat: Persaïos de Kition. In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques. Vol. 5, Part 1, Paris 2012, pp. 234–243, here: 239–241.
  5. ↑ Peter Steinmetz: Persaios from Kition . In: Outline of the History of Philosophy. The Philosophy of Antiquity , Volume 4: The Hellenistic Philosophy , Half Volume 2, Basel 1994, pp. 555–557, here: 556; Jean-Baptiste Gourinat: Persaïos de Kition . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques. Vol. 5, Part 1, Paris 2012, pp. 234–243, here: 241–243.
  6. ↑ Peter Steinmetz: Persaios from Kition . In: Outline of the History of Philosophy. The philosophy of antiquity , Volume 4: The Hellenistic Philosophy , Half Volume 2, Basel 1994, pp. 555–557, here: 557; Jean-Baptiste Gourinat: Persaïos de Kition . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. 5, Part 1, Paris 2012, pp. 234–243, here: 241 f.
  7. ^ Rainer Nickel (Ed.): Stoa and the Stoics , Vol. 1, Düsseldorf 2008, pp. 60–63.
personal data
SURNAME Persaios from Kition
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Persaeus citiensis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH around 305 BC Chr.
PLACE OF BIRTH Kition
DATE OF DEATH uncertain: 243 BC Chr.
Place of death Acrocorinth