Antipater of Tyre

Antipater (Greek: Ἀντίπατρος; 1st century BC) of Tyre was a Stoic philosopher, and a friend of Cato the Younger and Cicero.^[1]

Life

Antipater lived after, or was at least younger than, Panaetius. Cicero, in speaking of him, says, that he died "recently at Athens", which must mean shortly before 45 BC.^[2] He is mentioned by Strabo as a "famous philosopher" from Tyre.^[3] Antipater is said to have befriended Cato when Cato was a young man, and introduced him to Stoic philosophy:^[4]

Having gained the intimate acquaintance of Antipater the Tyrian, the Stoic philosopher, he [Cato] devoted himself to the study, above everything, of moral and political doctrine.

Works

Little is known about his writings. From Cicero we can perhaps infer that Antipater, like Panaetius, wrote a work On Duties (Latin: de Officiis):

Antipater of Tyre, a Stoic philosopher who recently died at Athens, claims that two points were overlooked by Panaetius — the care of health and of property.

Diogenes Laërtius^[5] refers to a another work by him called On the Cosmos (Greek: περὶ κόσμου):

The whole world is a living being, endowed with soul and reason, and having aether for its ruling principle: so says Antipater of Tyre in the eighth book of his treatise On the Cosmos.

—Diogenes Laërtius, vii. 139

Notes