Crates ( grc-gre, Κράτης ὁ Θηβαῖος; c. 365 – c. 285 BC) of
Thebes was a
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
Cynic philosopher,
the principal pupil of
Diogenes of Sinope
Diogenes ( ; grc, Διογένης, Diogénēs ), also known as Diogenes the Cynic (, ) or Diogenes of Sinope, was a Greek philosopher and one of the founders of Cynicism (philosophy). He was born in Sinope, an Ionian colony on the Black Sea ...
and the husband of
Hipparchia of Maroneia
Hipparchia of Maroneia (; el, Ἱππαρχία ἡ Μαρωνεῖτις; fl. c. 325 BC) was a Cynic philosopher, and wife of Crates of Thebes. She was the sister of Metrokles, the cynic philosopher.
She was born in Maroneia, but her family m ...
who lived in the same manner as him. Crates gave away his money to live a life of poverty on the streets of
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
. Respected by the people of Athens, he is remembered for being the teacher of
Zeno of Citium
Zeno of Citium (; grc-x-koine, Ζήνων ὁ Κιτιεύς, ; c. 334 – c. 262 BC) was a Hellenistic philosopher from Citium (, ), Cyprus. Zeno was the founder of the Stoic school of philosophy, which he taught in Athens from about 300 B ...
, the founder of
Stoicism
Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in the early 3rd century Common Era, BCE. It is a philosophy of personal virtue ethics informed by its system of logic and its views on the natural world, asser ...
.
Various fragments of Crates' teachings survive, including his description of the ideal Cynic
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
.
Life
Crates was born c. 365 BC in
Thebes. He was the son of Ascondus, and was the heir to a large fortune, which he is said to have renounced to live a life of Cynic poverty in
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
.
Diogenes Laërtius
Diogenes Laërtius ( ; grc-gre, Διογένης Λαέρτιος, ; ) was a biographer of the Ancient Greece, Greek philosophers. Nothing is definitively known about his life, but his surviving ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a ...
preserves several different accounts of this story; one of them has Crates giving his money away to the citizens of Thebes, apparently after seeing the beggar king
Telephus
In Greek mythology, Telephus (; grc-gre, Τήλεφος, ''Tēlephos'', "far-shining") was the son of Heracles and Auge, who was the daughter of king Aleus of Tegea. He was adopted by Teuthras, the king of Mysia, in Asia Minor, whom he succeeded ...
in a tragedy; whereas another account has him placing his money in the hands of a banker, with the agreement that he should deliver it to his sons, unless they too became philosophers, in which case he should distribute it among the poor.
He moved to Athens where tradition says he became a pupil of
Diogenes of Sinope
Diogenes ( ; grc, Διογένης, Diogénēs ), also known as Diogenes the Cynic (, ) or Diogenes of Sinope, was a Greek philosopher and one of the founders of Cynicism (philosophy). He was born in Sinope, an Ionian colony on the Black Sea ...
; the precise relationship between Crates and Diogenes is uncertain, but there is one apparent reference to Crates referring to himself as "a fellow-citizen of Diogenes, who defied all the plots of envy". Crates is also described as being the student of
Bryson the Achaean, and of
Stilpo
Stilpo (or Stilpon; el, Στίλπων, gen.: Στίλπωνος; c. 360 – c. 280 BC) was a Greek philosopher of the Megarian school. He was a contemporary of Theophrastus, Diodorus Cronus, and Crates of Thebes. None of his writings survive, ...
. He lived a life of cheerful simplicity, and
Plutarch
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''P ...
, who wrote a detailed biography of Crates which unfortunately does not survive, records what sort of man Crates was:
He is said to have been deformed with a lame leg and hunched shoulders. He was nicknamed the Door-Opener ( el, θυρεπανοίκτης) because he would enter any house and people would receive him gladly and with honour:
He attracted the attentions of
Hipparchia of Maroneia
Hipparchia of Maroneia (; el, Ἱππαρχία ἡ Μαρωνεῖτις; fl. c. 325 BC) was a Cynic philosopher, and wife of Crates of Thebes. She was the sister of Metrokles, the cynic philosopher.
She was born in Maroneia, but her family m ...
, the sister of one of Crates' students,
Metrocles
Metrocles ( grc-gre, Μητροκλῆς; fl. c. 325 BC) was a Cynic philosopher from Maroneia. He studied in Aristotle’s Lyceum under Theophrastus, and eventually became a follower of Crates of Thebes, who married Metrocles’ sister Hippar ...
. Hipparchia is said to have fallen in love with Crates and with his life and teachings, and thus rejecting her wealthy upbringing in a manner similar to Crates, she married him. The marriage was remarkable (for ancient Athens) for being based on mutual respect and equality between the couple. Stories about Hipparchia appearing in public everywhere with Crates are mentioned precisely because respectable women did not behave in that way, and as part of Cynic shamelessness, they had sexual intercourse in public. They had at least two children, a girl, and a boy named Pasicles. We learn that Crates is supposed to have initiated his son into sex by taking him to a brothel, and he allowed his daughter a month's trial marriage to potential suitors.
He was the teacher of
Zeno of Citium
Zeno of Citium (; grc-x-koine, Ζήνων ὁ Κιτιεύς, ; c. 334 – c. 262 BC) was a Hellenistic philosopher from Citium (, ), Cyprus. Zeno was the founder of the Stoic school of philosophy, which he taught in Athens from about 300 B ...
in the last years of the century, and was undoubtedly the biggest influence on Zeno in his development of
Stoic
Stoic may refer to:
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* ''Stoic'' (film), a 2009 film by Uwe Boll
* ''Stoic'' (mixtape), a 2012 mixtape by rapper T-Pain
*' ...
philosophy. Zeno always regarded Crates with the greatest respect, and some of the accounts we have of Crates have probably come down to us via Zeno's writings. His other pupils included
Metrocles
Metrocles ( grc-gre, Μητροκλῆς; fl. c. 325 BC) was a Cynic philosopher from Maroneia. He studied in Aristotle’s Lyceum under Theophrastus, and eventually became a follower of Crates of Thebes, who married Metrocles’ sister Hippar ...
,
Monimus
Monimus (; grc-gre, Μόνιμος; 4th century BC) of Syracuse, was a Cynic philosopher who endorsed philosophical skepticism, denying that there was a criterion of truth.
Biography
According to Diogenes Laërtius, Monimus was the slave of a C ...
,
Menippus
Menippus of Gadara (; el, Μένιππος ὁ Γαδαρεύς ''Menippos ho Gadareus''; fl. 3rd century BC) was a Cynic satirist. The Menippean satire genre is named after him. His works, all of which are lost, were an important influence o ...
,
[ The list of pupils at vi. 95 are at the end of the Life of Metrocles, but probably refer to Crates. Cf. R. Bracht Branham, Marie-Odile Goulet-Cazé, (2000), ''The Cynics: The Cynic Movement in Antiquity and Its Legacy'', pp. 392, 398; pointing out that, Diogenes , also returns to the biography of Crates.] Cleomenes,
Theombrotus,
and Crates' brother
Pasicles. He may also have taught
Cleanthes
Cleanthes (; grc-gre, Κλεάνθης; c. 330 BC – c. 230 BC), of Assos, was a Greek Stoic philosopher and boxer who was the successor to Zeno of Citium as the second head (''scholarch'') of the Stoic school in Athens. Originally a boxer, he ...
, Zeno's successor as head of the Stoic school.
Crates was, apparently, in Thebes in 307 BC, when
Demetrius Phalereus
Demetrius of Phalerum (also Demetrius of Phaleron or Demetrius Phalereus; grc-gre, Δημήτριος ὁ Φαληρεύς; c. 350 – c. 280 BC) was an Athenian orator originally from Phalerum, an ancient port of Athens. A student of Theophrast ...
was exiled there. He is said to have died at a great age (c. 285 BC), and was buried in
Boeotia
Boeotia ( ), sometimes Latinized as Boiotia or Beotia ( el, Βοιωτία; modern: ; ancient: ), formerly known as Cadmeis, is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Greece. Its capital is Livadeia, and its lar ...
.
Philosophy
Crates wrote a book of letters on philosophical subjects, the style of which is compared by Diogenes Laërtius to that of
Plato
Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
; but these no longer survive. There are 36 surviving ''
Cynic epistles
The Cynic epistles are a collection of letters expounding the principles and practices of Cynic philosophy mostly written in the time of the Roman empire but purporting to have been written by much earlier philosophers.
Letters and dating
The tw ...
'' attributed to Crates, but these are later, 1st-century, compositions. Crates was also the author of some philosophical tragedies, and some smaller poems apparently called ''Games'' ( grc, Παίγνια, ''Paignia'').
Several fragments of his thought survive. He taught a simple asceticism, which seems to have been milder than that of his predecessor
Diogenes
Diogenes ( ; grc, Διογένης, Diogénēs ), also known as Diogenes the Cynic (, ) or Diogenes of Sinope, was a Greek philosopher and one of the founders of Cynicism (philosophy). He was born in Sinope, an Ionian colony on the Black Sea ...
:
Some of his philosophical writings were infused with humour, in the form of
spoudaiogeloion
Spoudaiogeloion ( el, σπουδαιογέλοιον) denotes the mixture of serious and comical elements stylistically. The word comes from the Greek σπουδαῖον ''spoudaion'', "serious", and γελοῖον ''geloion'', "comical".
The co ...
. He urged people not to prefer anything but
lentils
The lentil (''Lens culinaris'' or ''Lens esculenta'') is an edible legume. It is an annual plant known for its lens-shaped seeds. It is about tall, and the seeds grow in pods, usually with two seeds in each. As a food crop, the largest produ ...
in their meals, because luxury and extravagance were the chief causes of seditions and insurrections in a city. This jest would later be the cause of much satire, as in book 4 of
Athenaeus
Athenaeus of Naucratis (; grc, Ἀθήναιος ὁ Nαυκρατίτης or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; la, Athenaeus Naucratita) was a Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourishing about the end of th ...
' ''
Deipnosophistae
The ''Deipnosophistae'' is an early 3rd-century AD Greek work ( grc, Δειπνοσοφισταί, ''Deipnosophistaí'', lit. "The Dinner Sophists/Philosophers/Experts") by the Greek author Athenaeus of Naucratis. It is a long work of liter ...
'' where a group of Cynics sit down for a meal and are served course after course of lentil soup.
One of his poems parodied a famous hymn to the
Muses
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the p ...
written by
Solon
Solon ( grc-gre, Σόλων; BC) was an Athenian statesman, constitutional lawmaker and poet. He is remembered particularly for his efforts to legislate against political, economic and moral decline in Archaic Athens.Aristotle ''Politics'' ...
. But whereas Solon wished for prosperity, reputation, and "justly acquired possessions," Crates had typically Cynic desires:
There are also several fragments surviving of a poem Crates wrote describing the ideal Cynic state which begins by parodying
Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
's description of
Crete
Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...
.
[Homer, ''Odyssey'' 19.172–74] Crates' city is called ''Pera'', which in Greek refers to the beggar's wallet which every Cynic carried:
The word ''tuphos'' ( el, τῦφος) in the first line, is one of the first known Cynic uses of a word which literally means mist or smoke. It was used by the Cynics to describe the mental confusion which most people are wrapped-up in. The Cynics sought to clear away this fog and to see the world as it really is.
Later cultural references
The relationship between Crates and Hipparchia became the subject of a number of fictional accounts, such as the play ''Spozalizio d' Ipparchia filosofa'', written by Italian nun Clemenza Ninci in the 17th century, or
Christoph Martin Wieland
Christoph Martin Wieland (; 5 September 1733 – 20 January 1813) was a German poet and writer. He is best-remembered for having written the first ''Bildungsroman'' (''Geschichte des Agathon''), as well as the epic ''Oberon'', which formed the ba ...
's novel ''Krates und Hipparchia'' (1804). A fictional biography of Crates was written by French author
Marcel Schwob
Mayer André Marcel Schwob, known as Marcel Schwob (23 August 1867 – 26 February 1905), was a French symbolist writer best known for his short stories and his literary influence on authors such as Jorge Luis Borges, Alfonso Reyes, Roberto Bola ...
in his 1896 work ''Vies imaginaires''.
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
Laërtius, Diogenes (1925c). "
The Cynics: Crates". ''
Lives of the Eminent Philosophers
Diogenes Laërtius ( ; grc-gre, Διογένης Λαέρτιος, ; ) was a biographer of the Ancient Greece, Greek philosophers. Nothing is definitively known about his life, but his surviving ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a ...
''. Translated by
Hicks, Robert Drew (Two volume ed.). Loeb Classical Library. §85–93
*
*
External links
Crates and Hipparchia Handbook
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crates Of Thebes
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