Zeno of Citium studied under the shelter of his teacher, Crates of Thebes. Mnaseas, a merchant by profession was the father of Citium. Even at the age of 42, Zeno himself was a merchant like his father. Legend has it that, on one fine merchant journey, Zeno’s ship was completely in ruins and due to that he landed up in Athens. He approached philosophers in Athens and gradually he started liking philosophy. He immediately started learning philosophy by studying the writings and preaching of philosophers like Stiplon, Crates and Xenocrates to name a few. On reaching Athens, Zeno asked someone who worked in a books shop that where will he able to find great thinkers such as Socrates. The man in the bookstore pointed towards some other person who was walking on the road and told Zeno to follow that person. The person walking along the street was none other than Crates, Zeno’s first mentor.

Zeno’s Stoicism:-
Zeno wrote around 20 books out of which none were to be found. His teachings are regarded as the commencement of stoicism. He was renowned for his platform of teaching called as the Painted Porch. He was of the opinion that for a man to reach the state of tranquility, one shouldn’t distinguish between pain and pleasure. The first time in the history of the world when slavery was condemned was the beginning of stoicism. It appears that Zeno might have been a slave for some period of time in his life. He was of the belief that when slaves are liberated to live a life on their own, they not only have a physical freedom but also the freedom to think in their own way. Later on, the theory of stoicism was adopted by many Romans. He always said that every human being is given equal rights to life. The fact that someone is superior to some others and because of that the others will act as slaves contradicts the very basic laws of nature as well of the society.

Description: This is a brief summary about Zeno of Citium, who was a Greek philosopher and was the one to mark the beginning of stoicism.