Editing Antisthenes (section)

==Life==
Antisthenes was born {{circa}} 446 BCE, the son of Antisthenes, an [[Athenian]]. His mother was thought to have been a [[Thracians|Thracian]],<ref>''[[Suda]]'', ''Antisthenes''.; {{harvnb|Laërtius|1925|loc=§ 1}}.</ref> though some say a [[Phrygians|Phrygian]], an opinion probably derived from his sarcastic reply to a man who reviled him as not being a genuine [[Athens|Athenian]] citizen, that the mother of the gods was a Phrygian<ref>{{Cite web|title=A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology — Antisthenes|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=antisthenes-bio-2|url-status=live|access-date=2021-08-10|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210531064318/https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=antisthenes-bio-2 |archive-date=2021-05-31 }}</ref> (referring to [[Cybele]], the Anatolian counterpart of the Greek goddess [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]]).<ref>{{Cite web|title=CYBELE (Kybele) - Phrygian Goddess, Mother of the Gods|url=https://www.theoi.com/Phrygios/Kybele.html#:~:text=KYBELE%20(Cybele)%20was%20the%20ancient,gods--the%20Titaness%20Rhea.|access-date=2021-08-10|website=www.theoi.com}}</ref> In his youth he fought at [[Battle of Tanagra (426 BC)|Tanagra]] (426 BCE), and was a disciple first of [[Gorgias]], and then of [[Socrates]]; so eager was he to hear the words of Socrates that he used to walk daily from the port of [[Peiraeus]] to Athens (about 9 kilometres), and persuaded his friends to accompany him.<ref name="EB1911" /> Eventually he was present at Socrates' death.<ref>Plato, ''Phaedo'', 59b.</ref> He never forgave his master's persecutors, and is said to have been instrumental in procuring their punishment.{{sfn|Laërtius|1925|loc=§ 9}} He survived the [[Battle of Leuctra]] (371 BCE), as he is reported to have compared the victory of the [[Thebans]] to a set of schoolboys beating their master.<ref>Plutarch, ''Lycurgus'', 30.</ref> Although [[Eudokia Makrembolitissa]] supposedly tells us that he died at the age of 70,<ref>Eudocia, ''Violarium'', 96</ref> he was apparently still alive in 366 BCE,<ref>Diodorus Siculus, xv. 76.4</ref> and he must have been nearer to 80 years old when he died at Athens, {{circa}} 365 BCE. He is said to have lectured at the [[Cynosarges]],{{sfn|Laërtius|1925|loc=§ 13}} a gymnasium for the use of Athenians born of foreign mothers, near the temple of [[Herakles|Heracles]]. Filled with enthusiasm for the Socratic idea of virtue, he founded a school of his own in the Cynosarges, where he attracted the poorer classes by the simplicity of his life and teaching. He wore a cloak and carried a staff and a wallet, and this costume became the uniform of his followers.<ref name="EB1911"/>

[[Diogenes Laërtius]] says that his works filled ten volumes, but of these, only fragments remain.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Antisthenes|volume=2|page=146}}</ref> His favourite style seems to have been dialogues, some of them being vehement attacks on his contemporaries, as on [[Alcibiades]] in the second of his two works entitled ''Cyrus'', on [[Gorgias]] in his ''Archelaus'' and on [[Plato]] in his ''Satho''.<ref>Athenaeus, v. 220c-e</ref> His style was pure and elegant, and [[Theopompus]] even said that Plato stole from him many of his thoughts.<ref>Athenaeus, xi. 508c-d</ref> [[Cicero]], after reading some works by Antisthenes, found his works pleasing and called him "a man more intelligent than learned".<ref>"''Κῦρος δ᾽, ε᾽ mihi sic placuit ut cetera Antisthenis, hominis acuti magis quam eruditi''". Cicero, ''Epistulae ad Atticum'', Book XII, Letter 38, section 2. In English translation: "Books four (δ᾽) and five (ε᾽) of ''Cyrus'' I found as pleasing as the others composed by Antisthenes, he is a man who is sharp rather than learned".</ref> He possessed considerable powers of wit and sarcasm, and was fond of playing upon words; saying, for instance, that he would rather fall among crows (''korakes'') than flatterers (''kolakes''), for the one devour the dead, but the other the living.{{sfn|Laërtius|1925|loc=§ 4}} Two declamations have survived, named ''Ajax'' and ''Odysseus'', which are purely rhetorical.

Antisthenes's nickname was ''The (Absolute) Dog'' ({{lang|grc|ἁπλοκύων}}, Diog. Laert. 6.13) <ref>{{cite journal |last= Prince|first=Susan (Dept. of Classics, University of Colorado, Boulder) |url=http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2001/2001-06-23.html |title=Review of LE. Navia - Antisthenes of Athens: Setting the World Aright |journal=Bryn Mawr Classical Review |access-date=6 August 2017}} — {{cite book |first=Luis E. |last=Navia |title=Antisthenes of Athens: Setting the World Aright |year=2001 |location=Westport |publisher=Greenwood Press |pages=xii, 176 |isbn=0-313-31672-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Magill |first=Frank N. |year=2003 |title=The Ancient World: Dictionary of World Biography   |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-45740-2 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=7NVFUi7G6TEC&pg=PA89 89]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Judge |first1=Harry George |last2=Blake |first2=Robert |year=1988 |title=World history |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=OokYAAAAIAAJ&q=Antisthenes++%27%27+Dog 104] |isbn=978-0-19-869135-8}}</ref>