Lives of the Stoics: The Art of Living From Zeno to Marcus Aurelius

TIMELINE OF THE STOICS AND THE GRAECO-ROMAN WORLD

Boldface indicates either philosophers who were a universal influence on all Stoics afterward or a Stoic person/place/event.

BC

535–475

Life of Heraclitus of Ephesus (influenced all the early Stoics)

490

First Persian invasion of Greece and the Battle of Marathon

470

Birth of Socrates outside the walls of Athens

450s

Completion of the Stoa Poikilē, the famous “painted porch” on the Athenian agora

430

Birth of Xenophon of Athens, student of Socrates

412

Birth of Diogenes of Sinope, founder with Antisthenes and Crates of Thebes of the Cynic school

399

Trial and execution of Socrates in Athens

387

Plato founds the Academy in Athens

384

Birth of Aristotle in Stagira, Chalkidiki

382

Birth of Antigonus the One-Eyed in Elimiotis, Macedonia

371

Birth of Theophrastus, successor to Aristotle, in Eresos, Lesbos

365

Birth of Crates of Thebes, Cynic student of Diogenes of Sinope

360

Birth of Stilpo of Megara

356

Birth of Alexander the Great in Pella, Macedonia

354

Death of Xenophon, whose book on Socrates would convert Zeno to philosophy

347

Aristotle establishes first school in Assos

343

Aristotle appointed tutor of the young Alexander the Great

336

Philip II of Macedon murdered; Alexander succeeds him

335

Aristotle founds the Lyceum in Athens

334

Birth of Zeno, founding scholarch (official head) of the Stoa, in Kition, Cyprus

333

Alexander liberates Cyprus from Persian rule

330

Birth of Cleanthes, the second scholarch of the Stoa, in Assos

323

Death of Alexander and start of the Wars of Succession

Death of Diogenes of Sinope in Corinth

323–322

Aristotle departs Athens for Chalcis, Euboea, where he dies in 322; Theophrastus succeeds him as head of the Lyceum

312

Zeno arrives in Athens following a shipwreck (following Persaeus’s account “at age twenty-two”)

Kition’s last king, Pumathion, killed by Ptolemy I

306

Epicurus founds his school in Athens

Demetrius the Besieger takes Cyprus from Ptolemy I; declares his father, Antigonus the One-Eyed, king

Birth of Persaeus of Kition, student, roommate, and personal secretary to Zeno

Birth of Aristo of Chios

305–304

Demetrius besieges Rhodes

301

Death of Antigonus the One-Eyed at the Battle of Ipsus, Phrygia

Zeno begins teaching at the Stoa Poikilē

279

Birth of Chrysippus, the third scholarch of the Stoa, in Soli, Cilicia

Gauls invade Macedonia, desecrating the royal tombs, killing Karaunos; aborted invasion of Greece

278

Antigonus II Gonatas and Antiochus I reach treaty creating Europe/Asia division

276

Antigonus II reestablished as king of Macedonia

Zeno of Kition and Aratus of Soli invited to Antigonus’s court in Pella

Ptolemy II defeated by Antiochus I in Syria

272

Victories by Ptolemy II in southern Anatolia

264

Arcesilaus succeeds as sixth head of the Academy, and is a primary skeptical opponent of the early Stoics

Antigonus II puts Athens under siege (until 262)

262

Death of Zeno, the founding scholarch of Stoicism, in Athens; succeeded by Cleanthes

261

Antigonus II defeats the navy of Ptolemy II at the Battle of Cos

256–253

Antigonus II restores Athenian autonomy, pulling his garrison out of Athens

245

Ptolemy III Euergetes appoints Eratosthenes, who studied with Zeno and Aristo, to head of the Library of Alexandria and as tutor to Ptolemy IV Philopator

243

Death of Zeno’s student and roommate Persaeus at battle with Aratus in Corinth

239

Death of Antigonus II

Seleucus defeated by Antiochus Hierax, retreating to Cilicia

235

Sphaerus joins the court of Cleomenes, king of Sparta

230

Death of Cleanthes in Athens; succeeded by Chrysippus

Birth of Diogenes in Seleucia on the Tigris in Babylon; he would become the fifth scholarch of the Stoa

226

A great quake topples the Colossus of Rhodes

222

Cleomenes III defeated by Antigonus III Doson, escapes to Egypt

Death of Ptolemy III; accession of Ptolemy IV Philopator

Sphaerus follows Cleomenes to Alexandria by invitation of Philopator

214

Carneades, the great Academic skeptic, born in Cyrene (modern-day Libya)

206

Death of Chrysippus in Athens; Zeno of Tarsus succeeds him as fourth scholarch of the Stoa

185

Birth of Panaetius in Rhodes, who would become the seventh and last scholarch of the Stoa

168

Romans defeat Perseus of Macedon, last of the Antigonids, in the Third Macedonian War, occupying Greece and Macedon

Crates of Mallus, a Stoic teacher and head of the Library of Pergamum, is sent by the Attalid king (allies of Rome) on a mission to Rome

158

Birth of Publius Rutilius Rufus

155

Greek philosophy comes to Rome when Athens sends ambassadors from the major schools—Carneades (Academy head), Critolaus (Lyceum head), and Diogenes (Stoa head)—to appeal imposed fine

149–146

Scipio’s siege of Carthage

144

Panaetius goes to Rome

142

Death of Diogenes of Babylon; succeeded by Antipater of Tarsus, sixth scholarch of the Stoa

140–138

Panaetius joins Scipio Aemilianus in his mission to the East

140

Archedemus of Tarsus founds a Stoic school in Babylon

138

Rutilius Rufus studies with Panaetius in Rome

135

Birth of Posidonius, the great polymath and disciple of Panaetius, in Apamea, Syria

133

Attalid dynasty cedes all territory to Rome

Death of Tiberius Gracchus and trial of Gaius Blossius, student and friend of Antipater of Tarsus

129

Death of Antipater of Tarsus; succeeded by Panaetius in Athens

Death of Scipio Aemilianus (Scipionic Circle)

Gaius Blossius commits suicide after participating in Aristonicus’s failed utopian coup against Rome in Pergamum (132–129)

Death of Carneades, head of the Academy

110

Epicurean philosopher Philodemus born in Gadara, Syria

109

Death of Panaetius in Athens; end of scholarchy, rival teachers carry on Stoic teachings

106

Birth of Cicero

100

Diotimus forges letters of Epicurus

95

Birth of Cato the Younger

88–86

Beginning of First Mithridatic War; Sulla’s siege of Athens, scattering of the major schools. Philo of Larissa becomes Cicero’s teacher in Rome.

86

Cicero’s first book, De Inventione (On Rhetorical Invention), completed

79

Cicero visits Rhodes, where he first studies with Posidonius

78

Cicero visits Rutilius Rufus in Smyrna; Rutilius dies not long after

74

Birth of Athenodorus Cananites near Tarsus, Cilicia, a Stoic teacher of Octavian

70

Birth of Porcia Cato

Birth of Arius Didymus?

60

Stoic teacher Diodotus dies in Cicero’s home, leaving him his estate

56

Cicero completes De Oratore (On Oratory)

55

Cicero “feasts on the library of Faustus Sulla” near his villa in Cumae, part of the war booty of Sulla’s siege of Athens, containing the library of Aristotle among other works

54

Cicero begins De Re Publica (On the Republic); publishes in 51 BC

51

Death of Posidonius; Cicero begins De Legibus (On Laws)

46

Death of Cato by suicide in Utica, Carthage; Cicero and Brutus write eulogies; Cicero writes Stoic Paradoxes

45

Cicero writes Consolation to Himself and Hortensius: An Exhortation to Philosophy (now lost), Academica, and On Moral Ends

45–44

Cicero writes Tusculan Disputations and On the Nature of the Gods

44

Cicero writes Cato Maior (On Old Age), On Divination, On Fate, On Reputation, Topica, Laelius (On Friendship), and On Duties (his last book)

Athenodorus Cananites comes to Rome with young Octavian

43

Death of Cicero by order of Mark Antony

40/35

Philodemus dies in Herculaneum, leaving his library at the Villa of Piso

31

Octavian defeats Mark Antony and Cleopatra at Actium

30

Octavian enters Alexandria with Arius Didymus

27

Octavian becomes Augustus, the first Roman emperor

c. 4

Birth of Seneca in Corduba (modern Córdoba) in southern Spain

AD

10

Death of Arius Didymus

c. 20

Birth of Gaius Musonius Rufus in Volsinii, Etruria

c. 35

Birth of Euphrates of Tyre

37

Death of Tiberius, succession of Caligula

Birth of Nero

c. 40

Birth of Dio Chrysostom in Prusa, Bithynia

41

Death of Caligula; succeeded by Claudius

Seneca exiled to Corsica by Claudius

49

Seneca recalled from Corsica to tutor Nero

50

Cornutus begins teaching in Rome, students include Lucan and Persius

c. 52

Saint Paul appears in court before Seneca’s brother Gallio (Acts 18:12–17)

Before or after this date, Paul gives his sermon on “Mars Hill” (Areopagus) in which he refers to Cleanthes’s Hymn to Zeus

54

Death of Claudius; succeeded by Nero

55

Birth of Epictetus in Hierapolis, Phrygia

60–62

Gaius Rubellius Plautus sent to exile in Syria by Nero, accompanied by Musonius Rufus

61

Birth of Pliny the Younger in Como, Italy

62

Plautus executed in Syria by Nero’s troops; Musonius Rufus returns to Rome

62–65

Seneca retreats from court life and begins his last flurry of writing, including his Moral Letters to Lucilius

64

Great Fire of Rome

65

Seneca commits suicide under the order of Nero

65–68

Musonius Rufus banished by Nero to the island of Gyara

66

Death of Thrasea Paetus

68–69

Nero commits suicide with the assistance of Epaphroditus; succeeded by Galba

Musonius Rufus returns to Rome under Galba

69

Year of the Four Emperors; Vespasian consolidates power

71

Vespasian banishes all philosophers from Rome except for Musonius Rufus for a time

75

Vespasian exiles and murders Helvidius Priscus; Musonius Rufus returns to Syria

78

Musonius Rufus returns to Rome with the support of Titus

79

Death of Vespasian; succeeded by Titus

Eruption of Vesuvius, witnessed by an eighteen-year-old Pliny the Younger

81

Death of Titus; succeeded by Domitian

Pliny the Younger serves as staff officer to the Gallic Third Legion in Syria, writes about his time with Euphrates there later

85

Epictetus, already studying with Musonius Rufus, is freed by Epaphroditus, Nero’s personal secretary; starts his own school in Rome

86

Birth of Arrian, historian and Stoic student of Epictetus who recorded his teachings, in Nicomedia, Bithynia

93

Domitian banishes philosophers from Rome, including Epictetus, who moves his school to Nicopolis

95

Domitian murders Epaphroditus for his role in Nero’s death

96

Death of Domitian; succeeded by Nerva

98

Death of Nerva; succeeded by Trajan

100

Birth of Junius Rusticus, grandson of Arulenus Rusticus, and Stoic mentor of Marcus Aurelius

101

Death of Musonius Rufus?

107–11

Arrian attends Epictetus’s lectures in Nicopolis and records them in what will become the Discourses and Handbook

112/3

Death of Pliny the Younger in Bithynia

117

Death of Trajan; succeeded by Hadrian

118

Euphrates of Tyre commits suicide by drinking hemlock, with Hadrian’s blessing

120

Hierocles flourishes, composing his Circles around this time

121

Birth of Marcus Aurelius in Rome on April 26

135

Death of Epictetus

131–37

Arrian appointed governor of Cappadocia by Hadrian

138

Death of Hadrian; succeeded by Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius’s adoptive father

161

Death of Antoninus Pius; succeeded by Marcus Aurelius

165

Execution of Justin Martyr by judgment of Junius Rusticus

170

Death of Junius Rusticus

176

Marcus Aurelius reestablishes the four chairs of philosophy in Athens

180

Death of Marcus Aurelius in Vindabona on March 17

197

Tertullian writes positively in Carthage about Cleanthes’s theology and Marcus Aurelius’s being “a protector” of Christians in his Apologetics

c. 200

Sextus Empiricus and Alexander of Aphrodisias write polemics against Stoicism

Clement of Alexandria writes about Stoic philosophical positions in his Stromata

Diogenes Laërtius begins the studies that will produce his Lives of the Eminent Philosophers