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Library Diogenes of Sinope

Letters of Diogenes (Cynic Epistles) — Diogenes of Sinope

Traditional attribution

Letters of Diogenes (Cynic Epistles)

Διογένους ἐπιστολαί

Mosaico de Diógenes (Colonia)
byDiogenes of Sinope

A collection of letters addressed to pupils, to his mother, to Alexander, to Plato or to citizens of various cities, in which the literary Diogenes sets out Cynic doctrine: staff, wallet and cloak as his only property, the praise of toil, the mockery of the powerful. They survive in Byzantine manuscripts and were edited by Rudolf Hercher (Epistolographi Graeci, 1873) and, with an English translation, by Abraham J. Malherbe. They are a valuable record of imperial-age Cynicism, not of Diogenes.

EnglishGriego antiguo

Authorship note

Spurious. The fifty-one letters transmitted under Diogenes' name, together with those of Crates and others, are pseudepigraphic compositions of the late Hellenistic and Roman periods, written by several authors as rhetorical exercises and Cynic propaganda. They should not be confused with the genuine letters mentioned by the ancient catalogues, now lost.

Editions and translations

Editions in your language first, without hiding the others. Each with its cover and its store.

English

  • The Cynic Epistles: A Study Edition — Diogenes of Sinope

    The Cynic Epistles: A Study Edition

    Scholars Press (Society of Biblical Literature), 1977

    Translation: Abraham J. Malherbe y otros

    ISBN 9780891301516

    Texto griego y traducción inglesa enfrentados.

Griego antiguo

  • Epistolographi Graeci (ed. Rudolf Hercher)

    Firmin-Didot (ed. digital en Internet Archive), 1873

    Edición crítica; dominio público.

Other works by Diogenes of Sinope

Sources

  • Malherbe, Abraham J. (ed. y trad.). The Cynic Epistles: A Study Edition. Scholars Press para la Society of Biblical Literature, Missoula, 1977 (Sources for Biblical Study, 12).

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