Learn About the Stoic Philosophers

Stoicism inspired philosophers, writers, and even an emperor

By
N.S. Gill
N.S. Gill
Ancient History and Latin Expert
  • M.A., Linguistics, University of Minnesota
  • B.A., Latin, University of Minnesota
N.S. Gill is a Latinist, writer, and teacher of ancient history and Latin. She has been featured by NPR and National Geographic for her ancient history expertise.
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Updated on November 07, 2020

Hellenistic Greek philosophers moderated and improved earlier philosophies into the ethical philosophy of Stoicism. The realistic, but morally idealistic philosophy was particularly popular among the Romans, where it was important enough to have been called a religion.

Originally, the Stoics were the followers of Zeno of Citium who taught in Athens. Such philosophers came to be known for the location of their school, the painted porch/colonnade or stoa poikile; whence, Stoic. For Stoics, virtue is all you need for happiness, although happiness is not the goal. Stoicism was a way of life. The goal of Stoicism was to avoid suffering by leading a life of apatheia (whence, apathy), which means objectivity, rather than not caring, and self control.

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Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius Coin
Marcus Aurelius Coin. © Trustees of the British Museum, produced by Natalia Bauer for the Portable Antiquities Scheme

Marcus Aurelius was the last of the five so-called good emperors, which is fitting for a leader who tried to live virtuously. Marcus Aurelius is more familiar to many for his Stoic philosophical writing known as

than his accomplishments as a Roman emperor. Ironically, this virtuous emperor was the father of a son known for his impropriety, Emperor Commodus.

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Zeno of Citium

Herm of Zeno of Citium.
Herm of Zeno of Citium. Cast in Pushkin Museum from original in Naples.

Shakko / Wikimedia Commons

None of the writing of the probably Phoenician Zeno of Citium (on Cyprus), the founder of Stoicism, remains, although quotations about him are contained in Book VII of Diogenes Laertius'

. Followers of Zeno were at first called Zenonians.

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Chrysippus

Chrysippus
Chrysippus.

Alun Salt / Flickr

Chrysippus succeeded founder Cleanthes as head of the Stoic school of philosophy. He applied logic to Stoic positions, making them more sound.

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Cato the Younger

Portia and Cato
Portia and Cato. Clipart.com

Cato, the ethical statesman who vehemently opposed Julius Caesar, and was trusted for integrity, was a Stoic.

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Pliny the Younger

Pliny the Younger, Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus (Como, 61-62 AD-112-113 AD), Roman writer, engraving, Italy, 1st-2nd century AD
De Agostini Picture Library / Getty Images

A Roman statesman and letter writer, Pliny the Younger admits that he is not Stoic enough to be merely content with the consciousness of having done his duty.

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Epictetus

Epictetus
An Engraving of Epictetus as conceived by S. Beyssent 18th C.

Public Domain

Epictetus was enslaved from birth in Phrygia but came to Rome. Eventually, he won his freedom from his crippling, abusive enslaver and left Rome. As a stoic, Epictetus thought man should be concerned solely with will, which alone he can control. External events are beyond such control.

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Seneca

Seneca Statue From Cordoba
Seneca statue taken in Barrio de la Juderia, Cordoba.

hermenpaca / Flickr

Lucius Annaeus Seneca (known as Seneca or Seneca the Younger) studied Stoic philosophy mixed with neo-Pythagoreanism. His philosophy is best known from his letters to Lucilius and his dialogues.

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Gill, N.S. "Learn About the Stoic Philosophers." ThoughtCo, Nov. 8, 2020, thoughtco.com/learn-about-the-stoic-philosophers-121146. Gill, N.S. (2020, November 8). Learn About the Stoic Philosophers. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/learn-about-the-stoic-philosophers-121146 Gill, N.S. "Learn About the Stoic Philosophers." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/learn-about-the-stoic-philosophers-121146 (accessed May 31, 2023).