Crates of Thebes

Crates of Thebes (Greek: Κράτης; c. 368/365 - c. 288/285 BCE), a Hellenistic philosopher, was one of the Cynics and the teacher of Zeno of Citium. Crates was from Thebes and was a student of Diogenes of Sinope.

It is said that he lost his ample fortune owing to the Macedonian invasion^[1], but according to Diogenes Laertius he sacrificed it in accordance with his principles, directing the banker, to whom he entrusted it, to give it to his sons if they should prove fools, but to the poor if his sons should prove philosophers.^[2]

He gave up his life to the attainment of virtue and the propagation of ascetic self-control. His habit of entering houses for this purpose, uninvited, earned him the nickname "Door-opener" (θυρεπανοίκτης). He married Hipparchia, daughter of a wealthy Thracian family, who was said to have wholeheartedly taken up the Cynic lifestyle with Crates.

His writings were few. According to Diogenes Laërtius, he was the author of a number of letters on philosophical subjects; but those extant under the name of Crates are spurious, the work of later rhetoricians. Diogenes Laërtius credits him with a short poem (Παίγνια), and several philosophic tragedies. Plutarch's life of Crates is lost. The great importance of Crates' work is that he formed the link between Cynicism and the Stoics, Zeno of Citium being his pupil.

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

References

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