Diogenes of Phoenicia (; ) was a 6th-century Greek philosopher. He is known mainly for the fact that

Agathias Agathias Scholasticus (; Martindale, Jones & Morris (1992), p. 23–25582/594) was a Greek poet and the principal historian of part of the reign of the Roman emperor Justinian I between 552 and 558. Biography Agathias was a native of Myrina ( ...

mentions him as one of the seven well-known philosophers who influenced the

Academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

in its final years. Diogenes was born in

Phoenicia Phoenicians were an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syria, Syrian ...

, and like most other academy leaders of that time, a native of the Middle East. Diogenes was one of the philosophers who, after the closure of the Academy in 529, moved to the

Sassanid Empire The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranians"), was an Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, the length of the Sasanian dynasty's reign ...

, and took with him a large number of works of Greek philosophy, which eventually ended up being translated into the Syrian, Hebrew, Arabic and Persian languages. The philosophers later returned to the West, but their fates afterwards are unknown.

References

Neoplatonists in Athens 6th-century Greek philosophers 6th-century Byzantine writers People from the Sasanian Empire Phoenician philosophers 6th-century BC Phoenician people {{Phoenicia-stub