3rd-century Roman biographer of Greek philosophers
For other people named Diogenes, see Diogenes (disambiguation).
Diogenes Laërtius (/daɪˌɒdʒɪniːzleɪˈɜːrʃiəs/dy-OJ-in-eez lay-UR-shee-əs;[1] Greek: Διογένης Λαέρτιος, Laertios; fl. 3rd century AD) was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Little is definitively known about his life, but his surviving Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers is a principal source for the history of ancient Greek philosophy. His reputation is controversial among scholars because he often repeats information from his sources without critically evaluating it. He also frequently focuses on trivial or insignificant details of his subjects' lives while ignoring important details of their philosophical teachings and he sometimes fails to distinguish between earlier and later teachings of specific philosophical schools. [citation needed] However, unlike many other ancient secondary sources, Diogenes Laërtius generally reports philosophical teachings without attempting to reinterpret or expand on them, which means his accounts are often closer to the primary sources. Due to the loss of so many of the primary sources on which Diogenes relied, his work has become the foremost surviving source on the history of Greek philosophy.
^"Diogenes Laërtius", The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 2013
invariably refer to a "LaertiusDiogenes", and this form of the name is repeated by Sopater and the Suda. The modern form "DiogenesLaertius" is much rarer,...
Diogenes (/daɪˈɒdʒɪniːz/ dy-OJ-in-eez; Ancient Greek: Διογένης, romanized: Diogénēs [di.oɡénɛːs]), also known as Diogenes the Cynic (Διογένης ὁ Κυνικός...
as evidence of Diogenes' disregard for authority, wealth, and decorum. Plutarch and DiogenesLaërtius report that Alexander and Diogenes died on the same...
DiogenesLaërtius, viii. 12; Plutarch, Non posse suav. vivi sec. Ep. p. 1094 Porphyry, in Ptol. Harm. p. 213; DiogenesLaërtius, viii. 12. Diogenes Laërtius...
Diogenes Laërtius, vii. 181. cf. Green 1993, p. 639 DiogenesLaërtius, vii. 179. cf. Dorandi 1999, p. 40 DiogenesLaërtius, vii. 184 DiogenesLaërtius, vii...
multitude." DiogenesLaërtius relates several stories of an expensive, gold tripod or bowl that is to go to the most wise. In one version (that Laërtius credits...
Machine. DiogenesLaertius, Life of Plato, IV Notopoulos 1939, p. 135 Seneca, Epistulae, VI 58:29–30; translation by Robert Mott Gummere Laërtius 1925, § 4...
disputed. DiogenesLaërtius states that Plato "was born, according to some writers, in Aegina in the house of Phidiades the son of Thales". Diogenes mentions...
He was said to be of Phoenician descent. The ancient biographer DiogenesLaertius attributes the aphorism, "Know thyself", engraved on the front facade...
life of Heraclitus is the doxographer DiogenesLaërtius. Although most of the information provided by Laertius is unreliable, the anecdote that Heraclitus...
located in Magna Graecia. DiogenesLaertius says that his father was Pires, and that he belonged to a rich and noble family. Laertius transmits two divergent...
from DiogenesLaertius; his work on Pyrrho's life drew primarily from the works of mid-third century BC biographer Antigonus of Carystus. Diogenes Laërtius...
his philosophy is due to later authors, particularly the biographer DiogenesLaërtius, the Epicurean Roman poet Lucretius and the Epicurean philosopher...
virtue and peace of mind. Few writings by Epicurus have survived. DiogenesLaërtius preserves three letters written by Epicurus, as well as a list of...
ὅλων ἀτόμους καὶ κενόν, τὰ δ'ἀλλα πάντα νενομίσθαι [δοξάζεσθαι]. (DiogenesLaërtius, Democritus, Vol. IX, 44) Now his principal doctrines were these....
Dionysius of Chalcedon, (DiogenesLaërtius, ii. 106) DiogenesLaërtius, ii. 107 DiogenesLaërtius, vii. 16 DiogenesLaërtius, ii. 106; Cicero, Academica...
biographer DiogenesLaertius reports that Xenophanes was born in Colophon, a city that once existed in Ionia, in present-day Turkey. Laertius says that...
and Roman Biography and Mythology. DiogenesLaërtius, viii. 85 DiogenesLaërtius, iii. 9, viii. 15 DiogenesLaërtius, viii. 15, 55, 84, 85, iii. 9; Aulus...
according to DiogenesLaërtius 1925c, § 87, 365 BC is a reasonable guess for his year of birth. Laërtius 1925c, § 87–88. Laërtius 1925c, § 93. Laërtius 1925c...
that have been traditionally identified as authentic, as given in DiogenesLaërtius, is included below in alphabetical order. The authenticity of some...
Greek language. In the Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, DiogenesLaërtius observed that Xenophon was known as the "Attic Muse" because of the...
him as contemporary with Hippocrates, the father of Peisistratus. DiogenesLaërtius states that he was an old man in the 52nd Olympiad (572 BC), and that...
Diogenes of Apollonia (/daɪˈɒdʒɪniːz/ dy-OJ-in-eez; Ancient Greek: Διογένης ὁ Ἀπολλωνιάτης, romanized: Diogénēs ho Apollōniátēs; fl. 5th century BC) was...
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