The most powerful man in the known world walked up to him and asked if there was anything he could do for him. He was lying in the sun at the time. His answer was: "You could stand out of my light."
In this episode, Johnny Vaughan and Gavin "The Woodman" Woods tackle their first ever philosopher: Diogenes of Sinope, also known as Diogenes the Dog.
What You'll Hear in This Episode:
🏺 Life in a jar – the banker's son who was exiled for defacing his own city's currency, arrived in Athens with one servant, and gave up absolutely everything when the servant ran away
🐕 Why they called him a dog – he fawned on those who gave him things, barked at those who didn't, and would bite a scoundrel. He also farted in response to rival philosophers' speeches
🔥 "Behold, Plato's man" – Plato defined a human as a "featherless biped," so Diogenes plucked a chicken and marched it into the Academy. Plato's followers had to amend the definition
🪔 The lamp in broad daylight – walking the marketplace with a lit lamp, telling anyone who asked that he was looking for a human being
🏴☠️ Captured by pirates and sold as a slave – asked at auction what he could do, he replied "Governing men. Sell me to someone who needs a master." He ended up effectively running his new owner's household
👑 The Alexander encounter – the exchange at Corinth in 336 BC that's still quoted 2,300 years later, and Alexander's reply: "If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes."
💀 Three competing accounts of his death – holding his breath, eating a raw octopus, or a dog bite. Plus the dog carved in marble that was placed on his grave
Also: why Diogenes asked statues for money, what Plato meant by calling him "Socrates gone mad," and Johnny's theory that every bulldog he's ever owned has had the same philosophy sorted.
If you love ancient history, eccentric characters, Ancient Greece, big ideas made funny and unbelievable true stories, this episode of Bloomin' Legends is for you.
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Produced by Ben Fairclough
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