Sinope was being disputed between pro-Persian and pro-Greek factions in the 4 th century, and there may have been political rather than financial motives behind the act.
The coins were deliberately defaced in order to render them worthless as legal tender. Large numbers of defaced coins (smashed with a large chisel stamp) have been discovered at Sinope dating from the middle of the 4 th century BC, and other coins of the time bear the name of Hicesias as the official who minted them.ĭuring this time there was much counterfeit money circulating in Sinope. This aspect of the story seems to be corroborated by archaeology: It seems likely that Diogenes was also enrolled into the banking business aiding his father.Īt some point (the exact date is unknown), Hicesias and Diogenes became involved in a scandal involving the adulteration or debasement of the currency, and Diogenes was exiled from the city and lost his citizenship and all his material possessions. Nothing is known about Diogenes's early life except that his father, Hicesias, was a banker. He begged for a living and often slept in a large ceramic jar, or pithos, in the marketplace. But the veracity of those tales is argued.ĭiogenes made a virtue of poverty. There are many tales about his dogging Antisthenes' footsteps and becoming his faithful hound. He declared himself a cosmopolitan (The meaning of cosmopolitan in the ancient Greek world means the citizen of the universe) like a citizen of the world rather than claiming allegiance to just one place. He had a reputation for sleeping and eating wherever he chose in a highly non-traditional fashion, and took to toughening himself against nature. He used his simple lifestyle and behaviour to criticize the social values and institutions of what he saw as a corrupt, confused society. He modelled himself on the example of Heracles, and believed that virtue was better revealed in action than in theory. He was the son of a mint-master and was banished from Sinope for debasement of currency.Īfter being exiled, he moved to Athens and criticized many cultural conventions of the city.
He was born in Sinope, an Ionian colony on the Black Sea coast of Anatolia (Asia Minor) in 412 or 404 BC and died at Corinth in 323 BC.ĭiogenes was a controversial figure. Diogenes (Διογένης), also known as Diogenes the Cynic (Διογένης ὁ Κυνικός), was a Greek philosopher and one of the founders of Cynic philosophy.
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