Pontus gave birth to many Orthodox Saints and we are all proud of it, however, my homeland gave birth to important philosophers and thinkers too. One of them was Diogenes the Cynic (Ancient Greek: Διογένης ὁ Κυνικός), a great Greek philosopher (and one of the founders of Cynic philosophy) who was born in Sinope (modern-day Sinop, Turkey), an Ionian colony on the Black Sea (Pontus), most likely in the year 412 or 404 BC and died most probably in Corinth, Greece in 323 BC. Alexander the Great met with Diogenes one morning in Corinth. The conqueror had heard stories of Diogenes and wished to meet the philosopher. The legend goes like this: while Diogenes was bathing in the morning sunlight, Alexander appeared before him. The King of Macedonia asked Diogenes if there was anything he (a man who seemingly had everything) could do for him. The philosopher responded, “Yes, stand a little out of my sunshine.” Alexander was said to have been so impressed with the remark that he then stated “If I were not Alexander, I would wish to be Diogenes”.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 12:17:24 +0000